Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Seafarers' Pensions Convention, 1946 (No. 71) - Norway (Ratification: 1949)

Previous comment

The Committee notes the observations of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) on the application of the Convention, communicated with the Government’s report. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments in this respect.

Articles 1 and 2(2) of the Convention. Exemptions from pension schemes for seafarers. The Committee takes note of the Government’s information that persons employed in hotel and restaurant activity, on board tourist ships registered with the Norwegian International Ship Register (NIS), are entitled to specific compensations under section 5 of Regulation No. 145, of 18 February 2005. The Committee observes that, according with section 5, such compensations include, inter alia, entitlement to old-age pension and disability benefits based on the same legislation as the National Norwegian Insurance Scheme. In this regard, the Committee takes note of the observation provided by the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions that compensations under section 5 are not regularly confirmed and monitored by the Norwegian Maritime Authority and that shipowners have reported that, in practice, it is not possible to obtain such guarantees from financial institutions. In this regard, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on how the National Maritime Authority monitors and confirms that compensations are provided to workers employed by ships registered with the Norwegian International Ship Register (NIS) under Section 5 of Act No. 145 of 2005.

Article 3(1). Pension scheme for seafarers. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government as to the several amendments to the Act No. 7 of 3 December 1948, concerning Pension Insurance for Seafarers, by which a new income-based pension for seafarers was introduced in Chapter X, which applies to new members, irrespective of age, and existing members who had not reached 50 years of age by 1 January 2020.

Article 3(1)(a)(i). Minimum retirement age. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government that according to section 35 of Act No. 7, the period of payment under the income-based scheme starts at the age of 62 and the seafarer decides for how many years the pension will be received at the time of the application, which cannot be less than seven years. The Committee wishes to recall that Article 3(1)(a)(i) establishes that pensions shall be payable to seafarers having completed a prescribed period of sea service on attaining the age of 55 or 60. In this context, the Committee requests the Government to explain in a detailed manner how the new income-based scheme gives effect to Article 3 of the Convention in which refers to the minimum age for retirement, indicating whether it is possible for seafarers to retire at the age of 60, respecting the prescribed minimum guaranteed rate of replacement.

Article 3(1)(a)(ii). Level of pension. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government that, according to section 33 of Act No. 7, the annual pension under the new scheme is based on an accumulated pension stock, which amounts to 6.3 per cent of the seafarer’s annual salary, whereas the contribution borne by the seafarers rises to 1.7 per cent. Moreover, according to section 38, if the seafarer has earned the right to pension from both the sea service-based pension and the income-based pension, the sea service-based pension will be converted into the portfolio by the age of sixty-two and paid out in accordance with the rules for the income-related plan. The Committee recalls that Article 3(1)(a)(ii) of the Convention stipulates that the pensions provided shall be at a rate of not less than 1.5 per cent of the remuneration for each year of sea service, if the scheme provides pensions on attaining the age of 55, or 2 per cent of such remuneration for pensions at the age of 60. In this regard, the Committee requests the Government to provide further information on: (i) the calculation method and the guaranteed replacement rate of pensions paid under the new income-based scheme for members in transition between both schemes; and (ii) the average earnings of the seafarers affiliated to the scheme and the average pension amounts paid to insured persons who have attained the conditions to retire under both schemes.