In this ISM News Update: amendments to MLC-2006 come into force as of 23rd December 2024

A quick overview of the amendments:

•  Social connectivity, including guidance to shipowners on providing internet access;
•  Ensuring that seafarers are informed of their rights prior to engagement;
•  Requirements for balanced and nutritious meals;
•  Disembarkation for medical care;
•  Prompt repatriation, including of the deceased;
•  Providing appropriately sized personal protective equipment.

Application:
All commercial vessels undergoing voyages outside their flag jurisdiction or outside the declared sheltered waters of their flag State to which the MLC-2006 code applies. Although not all flagstates have taken the amendments 2022 into their
legislation yet, the convention is in force from 23^rd of December 2023.

The amendments to various Regulations of the MLC Standard in detail:

1) REGULATION 1.4 – RECRUITMENT AND PLACEMENT
Paragraph 5(c)(vi) of Standard A1.4 amended and requires –
Private Recruitment and Placement Services (PRPS) to establish a system of protection, by way of insurance or an equivalent appropriate measure, to compensate seafarers for monetary loss that they may incur as a result of the failure of a recruitment and placement service or the relevant shipowner under the seafarers’ employment agreement to meet its obligations to them, and ensure that seafarers are informed, prior to or in the process of engagement, of their rights under that system.

Short explanation:
Shipowners must update their procedures to provide seafarers with information on making compensation claims before or during engagement. If a seafarer is on their way to an assigned vessel and the SEA does not materialize, they should not be left stranded with financial loss. Instead, they should hold information about activating their insurance to receive compensation.

2) REGULATION 2.5 – REPATRIATION
A new Paragraph 9 is included under Standard A2.5.1, requiring –
Member States to facilitate the prompt repatriation of seafarers, including when they are deemed abandoned within the meaning of Standard A2.5.2, paragraph 2. Port States, flag States and labour-supplying States shall cooperate to ensure that the seafarers engaged on a ship to replace seafarers who have been abandoned in their territory, or on a ship flying their flag, shall be accorded their rights and entitlement under the MLC 2006.

Short explanation:
There have been occasions where insurances have sought to repatriate stranded crew but have been prevented by local authorities who refuse to allow crew to leave the vessel as national laws require the presence of seafarers onboard.
Seafarers engaged to replace seafarers who had been abandoned shall also be accorded their rights and entitlements under the MLC.

3) REGULATION 3.1 – ACCOMMODATION AND RECREATIONAL FACILITIES
Paragraph 17 of Standard A3.1 is amended and requires-
Appropriate seafarers’ recreational facilities, amenities, and services, including social connectivity, as adapted to meet the special needs of seafarers who must live and work on ships, be provided on board for the benefit of all seafarers, taking into account Regulation 4.3 and the associated Code provisions on health and safety protection and accident prevention.

Short explanation:
To improve mental health by ensuring social connectivity, shipowners, so far as is reasonably practicable, must provide seafarers on board their ships with internet. Charges, if any, must be reasonable. Member states are to do the same for seafarers on board ships in their ports and anchorages.

4) REGULATION 3.2 – FOOD AND CATERING
Paragraph 2(a) of Standard A3.2 is amended and requires –
Food and drinking water supplies, are considered based on the number of seafarers on board, their religious requirements, and cultural practices as they pertain to food, and the duration and nature of the voyage, and shall be suitable in respect of quantity, nutritional value, quality, and variety, and shall be provided free of charge during the period of engagement.
Paragraph 2(b) of Standard A3.2 is amended and requires –
The organization and equipment of the catering department shall be such as to permit the provision to the seafarers of adequate, varied, balanced prepared and served in hygienic conditions.
Paragraph 7(a) of Standard A3.2 is amended and requires –
The Master carries out frequent documented inspections on supplies of food and drinking water in relation to their quantity, nutritional value, quality, and variety.

Short explanation:
Good quality drinking water must be available on board, free of charge to seafarers. Meals must also be balanced. Supplies of food and drinking water will be inspected in relation to their quantity, quality, nutritional value, quality and variety.

5) REGULATION 4.1 – MEDICAL CARE ON BOARD SHIP AND ASHORE
New Paragraph 5 is included under Standard A4.1, requiring –
Each Member States to ensure prompt disembarkation of seafarers in need of immediate medical care from ships in its territory and access to medical facilities ashore for the provision of appropriate treatment.
New Paragraph 6 is included under Standard A4.1 requiring –
Where a seafarer has died during a ship’s voyage. The Member State in whose territory the death has occurred or, where the death has occurred on the high seas, into whose territorial waters the ship next enters, shall facilitate the repatriation of the body or ashes by the shipowner, in accordance with the wishes of the seafarer or their next of kin, as appropriate.

Short explanation:
The amendments include a requirement for Member States to ensure that seafarers have access to prompt medical care on land in case of serious injury or illness and are not restricted from disembarking for public health reasons. Member States must also assist in repatriating the body or ashes of seafarers who pass away on board. (Learnings from Covid).

6) REGULATION 4.3 – HEALTH AND SAFETY PROTECTION AND ACCIDENT PREVENTION
Paragraph 1(b) of Standard A4.3 is amended and requires –
Reasonable precautions are undertaken to prevent occupational accidents, injuries, and diseases on board ship, including through the provision of all necessary appropriately-sized personal protective equipment and measures to reduce and prevent the risk of exposure to harmful levels of ambient factors and chemicals, as well as the risk of injury or disease that may arise from the use of equipment and machinery on board ships.
A new Paragraph 5(a) is included under Standard A4.3 requiring each Members to ensure that – All deaths of seafarers employed, engaged, or working on board ships are adequately investigated and recorded, and reported, on an annual basis, to the Director-General of the International Labour Office to be published in a global register.

Short explanation:
Paragraph 1(b): Shipowners must provide Seafarers with a range of suitably sized personal protective equipment (i.e. fifi suits, coveralls, immersion suits, gloves etc). This amendment was agreed in part due to the increasing number of female seafarers and aims to facilitate a wider spectrum of people working onboard.
Paragraph 5(a): Deaths of seafarers must be recorded and reported by Member States annually to the ILO, for publication in a global register.

7) AMENDMENTS TO APPENDICES
Appendix A2-I – Evidence of financial security under Regulation 2.5,
paragraph 2 -Replace item (g) by the following: (g) name of the shipowner, or of the registered owner if different from the shipowner;
Appendix A4-I – Evidence of financial security under Regulation 4.2 Replace item (g) by the following:
(g) name of the shipowner, or of the registered owner if different from the shipowner;

Short explanation:
Shipowners have reported issues with some Port State Control Officers issuing deficiency notices where the entity named on a vessel’s Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance (DMLC) was a shipowner and did not match that of the Registered Owner named on MLC financial security Certificates.

The rights and obligations of seafarers and shipowners, as affected by the 2022 amendments to MLC 2006, will be applicable from the date of entry into force. Therefore, we advise as follows:

a. Ensure that your MLC procedures are updated with the amended requirements and all involved personnel is informed by 23 December 2024. PSC and other authorities may ask for evidence of timely implementation. Changes to your procedures and/or DMLC Part II will be reviewed during the next intermediate or renewal MLC audits.
The Rood Boven Groen DMLC Part II Document Generator is being updated with all information from flagstates available at this moment. Clients using the Document Generator Portal will receive an email from us, once all updates are integrated.

b. Ensure timely renewal of existing Maritime Labour Certificates and DMLC Part I & Part II in consultation with the vessel’s Flag Administration or their RO. Some flagstates have not implemented the amendments yet. They have also not published a letter of exemption.

c. Recruitment and Placement Services (RPS) are also advised to be guided by above and accordingly revise their procedures and comply with the amended MLC requirements no later than 23 December 2024.

Download:
Download here the latest Maritime Labour Convention 2006 including 2022 Amendments.

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