Solicitud directa (CEACR) - Adopción: 2009, Publicación: 99ª reunión CIT (2010)

Convenio sobre las horas de trabajo a bordo y la dotación de los buques, 1996 (núm. 180) - Francia (Ratificación : 2004)

The Committee notes the Government’s communication that, due to internal administrative constraints related to preparations for ratification of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, the services in charge of reporting on maritime Conventions were unable to submit the reports on time and will make efforts to communicate them to the Office as soon as possible. In the meantime, the Committee is bound to repeat its previous comment, which read as follows:

Article 1, paragraph 2, of the Convention. In its report the Government states that Directive No. 2003/88/EC applies to fishers. This Directive nevertheless needs to be incorporated in French law. The Committee requests the Government to provide further details on the incorporation of the Directive.

Article 5, paragraph 1(b)(ii). National laws and regulations appear not to contain a provision requiring at least 77 hours of rest in any seven-day period. Ten hours of rest a day does not amount to 77 in seven days. The Committee requests the Government to indicate how the 77 weekly hours of rest required by the Convention are observed taking as a basis the hours of rest option.

The Committee observes that in the maritime industry there are watch schedules of four hours and of six hours, and notes the risks involved in the six-hour system. It requests the Government to state whether ships registered in France use the six-hour watch schedule. If so, the Government is asked to indicate:

(i)    the measures that have been taken to avoid non-compliance with the Convention (to the six hours of the watch must be added commercial and fiscal management and the requirements imposed by the ISPS Code);

(ii)   whether examination of the schedule of hours of work has brought to light any inconsistencies with the Convention;

(iii)  the measures that have been taken to anticipate future inconsistencies.

Article 5, paragraph 4. Section 15 of Decree No. 2005-305 of 31 March 2005 provides for on-call duty only in port. The Convention, however, provides for no such limitation. There may be situations when a seafarer is on call when the ship is at sea. Furthermore, when on call, seafarers must have adequate compensatory rest if the normal period of rest is disturbed, whether the ship is at sea or in port. The Committee requests the Government to indicate, or to take, measures to ensure that seafarers who are called upon to work during their normal period of rest have adequate compensatory rest.

Article 5, paragraph 5. The Government does not indicate in its report whether there are collective agreements or arbitral awards ensuring that paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Article are properly applied. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether there are collective agreements or arbitral awards enabling paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Article to be applied, and to send a copy of them.

Article 7, paragraph 3. The Maritime Labour Code provides in section 26-1, paragraph 1, in fine, that “overtime performed in the event of urgent work … gives no entitlement to compensatory rest”. However, the Convention stipulates that seafarers should be provided with an adequate period of rest after the normal situation has been restored. Consequently, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the manner in which it ensures that seafarers are guaranteed an adequate period of rest after emergency work.

Article 13. According to available information, it would appear that Decree No. 67-432 of 26 May 1967 respecting crews on board commercial, fishing and pleasure vessels is no longer in force. The Committee asks the Government to indicate how application of this Article is ensured in law and in practice.