Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2015, published 105th ILC session (2016)

Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention, 1958 (No. 108) - Malta (Ratification: 1965)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that the next report will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous comments.

Repetition

Article 4 of the Convention. Form and content of seafarer’s identity document. Practical application. The Committee notes that sections 195-203 of the Merchant Shipping Act (Cap. 234) continue to give effect to the main provisions of the Convention. The Committee notes, however, that apart from the “seaman’s card”, the Merchant Shipping Act also provides in section 126 for a “discharge certificate” while in an earlier report a sample “seaman’s record book” was attached. The Committee requests the Government to provide further clarifications as to the different documents attesting the seafarer’s identity and employment record that may be currently in use and to forward a specimen (and not a copy) of the seafarer’s’ identity document. In addition, the Committee requests the Government to supply up-to-date information on the practical application of the Convention, including, for instance, statistical information on the number of seamen’s cards issued by the Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen during the reporting period, and extracts from inspection reports showing the number and nature of any infringements observed.

Finally, the Committee recalls that Convention No. 108 has been revised by the Seafarers’ Identity Documents Convention (Revised), 2003 (No. 185). Convention No. 185 aims to enhance port and border security, while at the same time facilitating the freedom of movement of seafarers, by developing a more secure and globally uniform seafarers’ identity document. The Committee therefore invites the Government to examine the possibility of ratifying Convention No. 185 in the near future and to provide information on of any decision taken in this respect.