Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2002, publiée 91ème session CIT (2003)

Convention (n° 147) sur la marine marchande (normes minima), 1976 - Terres australes et antarctiques françaises

Article 2 of the Convention. In its most recent report, the Government indicates that although Convention No. 147 is not directly applicable to the French Southern and Antarctic Territories, any developments in law concerning the conditions of work of seafarers of Metropolitan France and the Overseas Departments are generally reflected in the contracts of seafarers employed on board ships registered in these Territories. The Committee recalls that the Government, in a letter to the Director-General dated 13 June 1990, communicated its decision, in accordance with article 35 of the Constitution of the ILO, to extend the application of Convention No. 147 to these Territories, and that under the terms of the Convention, each Member which ratifies this Convention undertakes, among other things, to have laws or regulations and to exercise effective jurisdiction or control over ships which are registered in its territory in respect of safety standards, appropriate social security measures, and shipboard conditions of employment and shipboard living arrangements. The Convention also contains other provisions requiring ratifying States to ensure by means of inspections that ships registered in their territory are in conformity with the applicable international labour standards which they have ratified. The Committee recalls the decision to extend to the French Southern and Antarctic Territories all the Conventions listed in the appendix to Convention No. 147, except the Shipowners’ Liability (Sick and Injured Seamen) Convention, 1936 (No. 55), and the Sickness Insurance (Sea) Convention, 1936 (No. 56), for which the French authorities have undertaken to enact legislation broadly equivalent to the provisions of one or other of these two Conventions. The Committee notes, however, that despite the extension, the applicability of these instruments remains relative, since the Overseas Labour Code established by Act No. 52-1322 of 15 December 1952, which is applicable to all crew members without distinction, was not complemented by Orders of the Administrateur supérieur of the French Southern and Antarctic Territories implementing its provisions in areas of fundamental importance to the safety of ships and their crews, such as the form and content of the employment contract, the minimum wage, the duration of work, rest periods or trade union rights. The Committee notes that this also applies to Act No. 96-151 of 26 February 1996 concerning the registration of ships in the French Southern and Antarctic Territories for which, as far as the Committee is aware, the Council of State Decrees needed for its implementation have not been adopted. The Committee is furthermore concerned at the de facto existence of different social security systems for French seafarers (or those of comparable status) and non-resident foreign personnel serving on board ships registered in the Territories, who are covered by special provisions under the "Interim Instruction" No. 56GM/1 of 3 May 1996 of the Maritime Affairs Department, which establishes the rules for applying the conditions of employment in force on board such ships to foreign seafarers. The Committee notes lastly that non-resident foreign seafarers working on ships registered in the French Southern and Antarctic Territories do not enjoy the social security protection provided by the Etablissement national des invalides de la marine, unlike their French counterparts on the same ships. The Committee notes that this legal deficiency is prejudicial above all to this category of seafarer - non-resident foreign seafarers recruited to work on ships registered in the French Southern and Antarctic Territories who, in addition, suffer discrimination by being employed under conditions that differ form those applied to French crew members.

The Committee requests the Government to reply to the questions which it raised in its previous observation, and hopes that the Government will soon be able to report on measures taken or envisaged with a view to adopting or effectively applying the Convention, including by adopting the necessary implementing texts and by carrying out appropriate inspections to ensure that national laws and regulations are in conformity with the present Convention.