Protocol of 1996
to the Merchant Shipping (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1976
(adoption
22.10.1996)
The
General Conference of the International Labour Organization,
Having
been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office
and having met in its Eighty-fourth Session on 8 October 1996, and
Noting
the provisions of Article 2 of the Merchant Shipping (Minimum Standards)
Convention, 1976 (referred to below as "the principal Convention"),
which states in part that:
"Each Member which
ratifies this Convention undertakes -
(a) to have laws or
regulations laying down, for ships registered in its territory -
(i) safety standards,
including standards of competency, hours of work and manning, so as to ensure
the safety of life on board ship;
(ii) appropriate social
security measures; and
(iii) shipboard conditions
of employment and shipboard living arrangements, in so far as these, in the
opinion of the Member, are not covered by collective agreements or laid down by
competent courts in a manner equally binding on the shipowners and seafarers
concerned;
and to satisfy itself that
the provisions of such laws and regulations are substantially equivalent to the
Conventions or Articles of Conventions referred to in the Appendix to this
Convention, in so far as the Member is not otherwise bound to give effect to
the Conventions in question"; and
Noting
also the provisions of Article 4, paragraph 1, of the principal Convention,
which states that:
"If a Member which has
ratified this Convention and in whose port a ship calls in the normal course of
its business or for operational reasons receives a complaint or obtains
evidence that the ship does not conform to the standards of this Convention,
after it has come into force, it may prepare a report addressed to the
government of the country in which the ship is registered, with a copy to the
Director-General of the International Labour Office, and may take measures
necessary to rectify any conditions on board which are clearly hazardous to
safety or health"; and
Recalling
the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958, Article 1,
paragraph 1, of which states that:
"For the purpose of
this Convention the term discrimination includes -
(a) any distinction,
exclusion or preference made on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion,
political opinion, national extraction or social origin, which has the effect
of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity or treatment in employment
or occupation;
(b) such other distinction,
exclusion or preference which has the effect of nullifying or impairing
equality of opportunity or treatment in employment or occupation as may be
determined by the Member concerned after consultation with representative
employers' and workers' organisations, where such exist, and with other
appropriate bodies"; and
Recalling
the entry into force of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,
1982, on 16 November 1994, and
Recalling
the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and
Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978, as amended in 1995, of the International
Maritime Organization,
Having
decided on the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the partial
revision of the principal Convention, which is the fourth item on the agenda of
the session, and
Having
determined that these proposals should take the form of a Protocol to the
principal Convention;
adopts,
this twenty-second day of October one thousand nine hundred and ninety-six, the
following Protocol, which may be cited as the Protocol of 1996 to the Merchant
Shipping (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1976:
1.
Each Member which ratifies this Protocol shall extend the list of Conventions
appearing in the Appendix to the principal Convention to include the Conventions
in Part A of the Supplementary Appendix and such Conventions listed in Part B
of that Appendix as it accepts, if any, in accordance with Article 3 below.
2.
Extension to the Convention listed in Part A of the Supplementary Appendix that
is not yet in force shall take effect only when that Convention comes into
force.
A
Member may ratify this Protocol at the same time as or at any time after it
ratifies the principal Convention, by communicating its formal ratification of
the Protocol to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for
registration.
1.
Each Member which ratifies this Protocol shall, where applicable, in a
declaration accompanying the instrument of ratification, specify which
Convention or Conventions listed in Part B of the Supplementary Appendix it
accepts.
2.
A Member which has not accepted all of the Conventions listed in Part B of the
Supplementary Appendix may, by subsequent declaration communicated to the
Director-General of the International Labour Office, specify which other
Convention or Conventions it accepts.
1.
For the purposes of Article 1, paragraph 1, and Article 3 of this Protocol, the
competent authority shall hold prior consultations with the representative
organizations of shipowners and seafarers.
2.
The competent authority shall, as soon as practicable, make available to the
representative organizations of shipowners and seafarers information as to
ratifications, declarations and denunciations notified by the Director-General
of the International Labour Office in conformity with Article 8, paragraph 1,
below.
For
the purpose of this Protocol, the Repatriation of Seafarers Convention
(Revised), 1987, shall, in the case of a Member which accepts that Convention,
be regarded as a replacement of the Repatriation of Seamen Convention, 1926.
1.
This Protocol shall be binding only upon those Members of the International
Labour Organization whose ratifications have been registered with the
Director-General of the International Labour Office.
2.
This Protocol shall come into force 12 months after the date on which the
ratifications of five Members, three of which each have at least one million
gross tonnage of shipping, have been registered.
3.
Thereafter, this Protocol shall come into force for any Member 12 months after
the date on which its ratification has been registered.
A
Member which has ratified this Protocol may denounce it whenever the principal
Convention is open to denunciation in accordance with its Article 7, by an act
communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for
registration. Denunciation of this Protocol shall not take effect until one
year after the date on which it is registered.
1.
The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall notify all
Members of the International Labour Organization of the registration of all
ratifications, declarations and acts of denunciation communicated by the
Members of the Organization.
2.
When the conditions provided for in Article 6, paragraph 2, above have been
fulfilled, the Director-General shall draw the attention of the Members of the
Organization to the date upon which the Protocol shall come into force.
The
Director-General of the International Labour Office shall communicate to the
Secretary-General of the United Nations, for registration in accordance with
article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations, full particulars of all
ratifications and acts of denunciation registered by the Director-General in
accordance with