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

Merchant Shipping (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 147) - Dominica (Ratification: 2004)

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 2 of the Convention. Implementing legislation. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that a special Tripartite Committee has been appointed to advise the Government on all matters relating to legislation and institutional changes necessary for the ratification of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006). It also notes that a National Action Plan has been prepared in order to formulate recommendations to the Government on matters of maritime laws and administration. While welcoming the Government’s active steps towards the ratification of the MLC, 2006, the Committee is bound to observe that the Government’s first report on the application of Convention No. 147 does not contain any information on the laws or regulations and other measures giving effect to the specific requirements of the latter Convention. The Committee therefore requests the Government to indicate in detail how each of the Articles of the Convention is applied in national law and practice, and explain in particular in what manner the provisions of the International Maritime Act, 2002, and of the Dominica Maritime Regulations, 2002, are substantially equivalent to the Conventions mentioned in the Appendix of the Convention relating to safety standards, social security measures and shipboard conditions of employment and shipboard living arrangements, as required under Article 2 of the Convention.

Finally, the Committee wishes to recall that the notion of substantial equivalence has been incorporated and further defined in Article VI(3) and (4) of the MLC, 2006, while an innovatory and comprehensive inspection regime is established in Title 5 of the Convention. In this latter respect, the Committee wishes to highlight the adoption by an ILO tripartite experts’ meeting in September 2008 of the Guidelines for Flag State Inspections and the Guidelines for Port State Control Officers, as an essential aspect of ensuring widespread harmonized implementation of the MLC, 2006. The Committee accordingly requests the Government to keep the Office informed of any progress made in the process of ratification and effective implementation of the MLC, 2006.