Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

Seamen's Articles of Agreement Convention, 1926 (No. 22) - Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) (Ratification: 1944)

Articles 3–14 of the Convention. Articles of agreement. The Committee recalls that it has been formulating observations for many years on the need to adopt legislative or other provisions giving effect to the various Articles of the Convention. It also recalls that this situation gave rise to a discussion within the Committee on the Application of Standards at the session of the Conference held in 1977 and that the Government has announced on several occasions that new legislation would be drafted to ensure the full application of the Convention. The Committee notes with regret that, to date, despite the adoption of the Navigation Act in 1998 and the Maritime Activities Act in 2002, the Government has still not taken the necessary measures to transpose several basic rules and principles of the Convention into the national legislation.

As explained in detail by the Committee in its previous comments, the Government should take measures as soon as possible to: (i) ensure the conclusion of written articles of agreement signed by both the shipowner and the seafarer (Article 3(1) of the Convention); (ii) ensure conditions allowing the seafarer to examine and understand the provisions of the articles of agreement (Article 3(1) and (4)); (iii) require that the articles of agreement list the rights and obligations of the two parties and contain essential information such as the seafarer’s wages, annual leave and the right to terminate the agreement (Article 6(2) and (3)); (iv) allow either party to terminate an agreement for an indefinite period in any port where the vessel loads or unloads, provided that the notice period laid down is given (Article 9(1)); (v) determine the circumstances in which seafarers may demand their immediate discharge (Article 12); and (vi) ensure that seafarers have the right to obtain from the master a certificate as to the quality of their work or, failing that, a certificate indicating whether they have fully discharged their obligations under the agreement (Article 14(2)).

The Committee draws the Government’s attention to the fact that most of the provisions of Convention No. 22 have now been incorporated into Regulation 2.1 and the corresponding Code of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006). Ensuring the implementation of Convention No. 22 will therefore facilitate the application of the provisions of the MLC, 2006, once that Convention has been ratified and has entered into force. The Committee therefore urges the Government to take all necessary measures to give full effect to all provisions of the Convention.

Furthermore, the Committee hopes that the Government will soon be in a position to ratify the MLC, 2006, which revises Convention No. 22 as well as numerous other Conventions applicable to seafarers, establishes an up-to-date and comprehensive framework of standards regulating the living and working conditions of seafarers, particularly concerning the seafarers’ employment agreement, and encourages the establishment of conditions of fair competition for shipowners. The Committee requests the Government to keep the Office informed of any decisions taken in that regard.