Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Medical Examination (Seafarers) Convention, 1946 (No. 73) - Guinea-Bissau (Ratification: 1977)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous comments.

Repetition

Article 5 of the Convention. Period of validity of the medical certificate. The Committee takes note of the Government’s indication that it has initiated the ratification process of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006), and that it is, consequently, unable to report on the application of the present Convention. The Government indicates that a comparative analysis of the MLC, 2006, and national legislation was carried out with the Office’s assistance, and that the MLC, 2006, is currently before the Popular National Assembly for consideration.

The Committee recalls that Decree No. 45.969 of 15 October 1954, which in particular sets the rules regarding seafarers’ medical examination, does not apply to vessels over 200 tonnes. The MLC, 2006, applies to all ships, whether publically or privately owned, that are ordinarily engaged in commercial activities, irrespective of their tonnage, pursuant to its Article II(4). Only ships engaged in fishing or in similar pursuits, ships of traditional build such as dhows and junks, and warships or naval auxiliaries are excluded from its scope of application.

Moreover, the Committee recalls that, in previous comments, it had asked the Government whether the period of validity of the medical certificate was two years (as mentioned in section 187(6) of Decree No. 45.969) or three months (as indicated by the Government in its previous report). The Committee draws the Government attention to Standard A1.2(7)(a) of the MLC, 2006, which provides that a medical certificate will remain valid for a maximum period of two years unless the seafarer is under the age of 18, in which case the maximum period of validity will be one year, and unless a shorter period is required by reason of the specific duties to be performed by the seafarer concerned or under the Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978, as amended (STCW). The Committee requests the Government to provide full particulars in reply to the question regarding the period of validity of seafarers’ medical certificates. The Committee expresses the hope that the Government will soon conclude the ratification process of MLC, 2006, and requests the Government to keep the Office informed of any new development in that regard.

Finally, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the new Guidelines on the medical examinations of seafarers adopted by the Joint ILO–IMO Meeting on Medical Fitness Examination of Seafarers and Ships’ Medicine Chests, which took place in Geneva in September 2011. These Guidelines apply to seafarers in accordance with the requirements of the MLC, 2006, and the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978, as amended (STCW Convention). They are intended to provide maritime administrations with an internationally recognized set of criteria for use by competent authorities, and contain in appendices, among others, a suggested format for recording medical examinations of seafarers and a model medical certificate for service at sea.