Richard Schiferli
Launch of concetrated inspection campaign on MLC,2006
The Paris Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Port State Control will launch a Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) on the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC,2006). The aim of the CIC is to verify that the minimum standards for working and living conditions have been implemented on board. This inspection campaign will be held for a period of three months, commencing from 1 September 2016 and ending 30 November 2016.
The ship’s procedures and measures that are in place with respect to MLC,2006 will be checked in detail for compliance with the requirements during a regular Port State Control inspection.
Secretary General Richard Schiferli stated: “Working and living conditions on board have always been a prime area of attention. With the introduction of the MLC enforcement opportunities have greatly improved. Three years after the entry into force, the time is right to focus on the MLC during a concentrated inspection campaign”.
Port State Control Officers (PSCOs) will use a list of 12 selected questions to ensure that the required certificates and documentation are present, in particular those related to the seafarers on board. Additionally there are questions aimed at verification of records of the inspections of the accommodation, food and catering, and whether a safety committee has been established.
When deficiencies are found, actions by the port State may vary from recording a deficiency and instructing the master to rectify it within a certain period of time to detaining the ship until serious deficiencies have been rectified. In the case of detention, publication in the monthly detention lists of the Paris MoU web sites will take place.
It is expected that the Paris MoU will carry out approximately 4,500 inspections during the CIC. 2 The results of the campaign will be analyzed and findings will be presented to the Port State Control Committee. The CIC questionnaire on MLC, 2006 is also published on the Paris MoU website (http://www.parismou.org/)
Annex to PR CIC MLC,2006 PMoU Public Questionnaire
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Regional Port State Control was initiated in 1982 when fourteen European countries agreed to coordinate their port State inspection effort under a voluntary agreement known as the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Paris MOU). Currently 27 countries are member of the Paris MOU. The European Commission, although not a signatory to the Paris MOU, is also a member of the Committee.
The Paris MoU is supported by a central database THETIS hosted and operated by the European Maritime Safety Agency in Lisbon. Inspection results are available for search and daily updating by MoU Members. Inspection results can be consulted on the Paris MoU public website and are published on the Equasis website.
The Secretariat of the MoU is provided by the Netherlands Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment and located in The Hague.
Port State Control is a check on visiting foreign ships to verify their compliance with international rules on safety, pollution prevention and seafarers living and working conditions. It is a means of enforcing compliance in cases where the owner and flag State have failed in their responsibility to implement or ensure compliance. The port State can require defects to be put right, and detain the ship for this purpose if necessary. It is therefore also a port State’s defence against visiting substandard shipping.
