Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Seafarers' Pensions Convention, 1946 (No. 71) - Netherlands (Ratification: 1957)

Article 3(1) of the Convention. Pension schemes for seafarers. The Committee notes the comments made by the Netherlands Trade Union Confederation (FNV), received August 2010, according to which the Government’s intention to gradually increase the seafarers’ retirement age from 65 years to 67 years would be inconsistent with the Convention which provides that a seafarer is entitled to a pension on attaining the age of 55 or 60 years. The FNV indicates that in 2006–07, at the sectoral level, employers and workers made new financial arrangements to allow seafarers to retire at the age of 60, but the financing capacity of the sector has now reached its limits. In the view of the FNV and Nautilus International, the Government is not complying with its obligations under the Convention by further increasing the retirement age. The Committee requests the Government to submit any comments it may wish to make in reply to the observations of the FNV. The Committee also requests the Government to provide clarifications on the conditions under which seafarers are entitled to early retirement.

Part V of the report form. Practical application. The Committee requests the Government to provide up-to-date information on the manner in which the Convention is applied in practice, including, for instance, statistical information concerning the number of seafarers covered by the pension insurance scheme, copies of official publications such as annual reports of the Merchant Navy Pension Fund as well as extracts from reports of the services entrusted with the application of the relevant laws and regulations.