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

Certification of Able Seamen Convention, 1946 (No. 74) - Jersey

Article 2 of the Convention. Certification requirements for able seafarers. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that the Convention is implemented through the Shipping (Training, Certification and Manning) (Jersey) Order 2004, which provides in section 2 that the United Kingdom Training and Certification Regulations apply to Jersey as part of the law of Jersey. The Committee observes, however, that the United Kingdom legislation to which the above 2004 Order refers, i.e., the Merchant Shipping (Training and Certification) Regulations 1997 (S.I. 1997 No. 348) sets out only the certification requirements for ratings forming part of a navigational watch, pursuant to Regulation II/4.2 of the IMO Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978 (STCW), but does not contain any provisions on certification of able seafarers (AB). Noting the Government’s earlier statements that the age, experience and examination criteria for able seafarers are identical to those required for the United Kingdom, and also noting that sections 4 and 8 of the United Kingdom Merchant Shipping (Certificates of Competency as A.B.) Regulations 1970 appear to give full effect to the requirements of the Convention, the Committee requests the Government to provide additional explanations with regard to the implementing legislation.

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 data on the number of AB certificates delivered during the reporting period and relevant extracts from inspection reports showing any infringements of the relevant legislation.

Finally, the Committee recalls that the Convention, together with 36 other international maritime labour Conventions, is revised by the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006). It also recalls that, in the course of the negotiations that eventually led to the adoption of the MLC, 2006, it was agreed that the responsibility for the training and certification requirements for able seafarers – except for ships’ cooks – should be transferred to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and that the provisions of the present Convention would be eventually superseded by new mandatory provisions to be adopted under the IMO’s STCW Convention. The Committee notes, in this respect, that the Manila amendments to the STCW Convention and Code, adopted in June 2010 and due to enter into force on 1 January 2012, contain in Regulation II/5 new requirements for certification of ratings as able seafarers deck. Recalling that the Government continues to be bound by the provisions of Convention No. 74 until the MLC, 2006 enters into force for Jersey, the Committee requests the Government to keep the Office informed of any developments regarding the effective implementation of the MLC, 2006.