SEAFARERS' HOURS OF WORK AND THE MANNING OF SHIPS CONVENTION, 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 the Merchant Shipping (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1976 and the Protocol of 1996 thereto; and the Labour Inspection (Seafarers) Convention, 1996, and

Recalling the relevant provisions of the following instruments of the International Maritime Organization: International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, as amended, the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978, as amended in 1995, Assembly resolution A 481 (XII) (1981) on Principles of Safe Manning, Assembly resolution A 741 (18) (1993) on the International Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention (International Safety Management (ISM) Code), and Assembly resolution A 772 (18) (1993) on Fatigue Factors in Manning and Safety, and

Recalling the entry into force of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982, on 16 November 1994, and

Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the revision of the Wages, Hours of Work and Manning (Sea) Convention (Revised), 1958, and the Wages, Hours of Work and Manning (Sea) Recommendation, 1958, which is the second item of the agenda of the session, and

Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention;

adopts, this twenty-second day of October of the year one thousand nine hundred and ninety-six, the following Convention, which may be cited as the Seafarers' Hours of Work and the Manning of Ships Convention, 1996:

Part I

SCOPE AND DEFINITIONS

Article 1

1. This Convention applies to every seagoing ship, whether publicly or privately owned, which is registered in the territory of any Member for which the Convention is in force and is ordinarily engaged in commercial maritime operations. For the purpose of this Convention, a ship that is on the register of two Members is deemed to be registered in the territory of the Member whose flag it flies.

2. To the extent it deems practicable, after consulting the representative organizations of fishing-vessel owners and fishermen, the competent authority shall apply the provisions of this Convention to commercial maritime fishing.

3. In the event of doubt as to whether or not any ships are to be regarded as seagoing ships or engaged in commercial maritime operations or commercial maritime fishing for the purpose of the Convention, the question shall be determined by the competent authority after consulting the organizations of shipowners, seafarers and fishermen concerned.

4. This Convention does not apply to wooden vessels of traditional build such as dhows and junks.

Article 2

For the purpose of this Convention:

(a) the term competent authority means the minister, government department or other authority having power to issue regulations, orders or other instructions having the force of law in respect of seafarers' hours of work or rest or the manning of ships;

(b) the term hours of work means time during which a seafarer is required to do work on account of the ship;

(c) the term hours of rest means time outside hours of work; this term does not include short breaks;

(d) the term seafarer means any person defined as such by national laws or regulations or collective agreements who is employed or engaged in any capacity on board a seagoing ship to which this Convention applies;

(e) the term shipowner means the owner of the ship or any other organization or person, such as the manager or bareboat charterer, who has assumed the responsibility for the operation of the ship from the shipowner and who on assuming such responsibility has agreed to take over all the attendant duties and responsibilities.

Part II

SEAFARERS' HOURS OF WORK AND HOURS OF REST

Article 3

Within the limits set out in Article 5, there shall be fixed either a maximum number of hours of work which shall not be exceeded in a given period of time, or a minimum number of hours of rest which shall be provided in a given period of time.

Article 4

A Member which ratifies this Convention acknowledges that the normal working hours' standard for seafarers, like that for other workers, shall be based on an eight-hour day with one day of rest per week and rest on public holidays. However, this shall not prevent the Member from having procedures to authorize or register a collective agreement which determines seafarers' normal working hours on a basis no less favourable than this standard.

Article 5

1. The limits on hours of work or rest shall be as follows:

(a) maximum hours of work shall not exceed:

(i) 14 hours in any 24-hour period; and

(ii) 72 hours in any seven-day period;

or

(b) minimum hours of rest shall not be less than:

(i) ten hours in any 24-hour period; and

(ii) 77 hours in any seven-day period.

2. Hours of rest may be divided into no more than two periods, one of which shall be at least six hours in length, and the interval between consecutive periods of rest shall not exceed 14 hours.

3. Musters, fire-fighting and lifeboat drills, and drills prescribed by national laws and regulations and by international instruments shall be conducted in a manner that minimizes the disturbance of rest periods and does not induce fatigue.

4. In respect of situations when a seafarer is on call, such as when a machinery space is unattended, the seafarer shall have an adequate compensatory rest period if the normal period of rest is disturbed by call-outs to work.

5. If no collective agreement or arbitration award exists or if the competent authority determines that the provisions in the agreement or award in respect of paragraph 3 or 4 are inadequate, the competent authority shall determine such provisions to ensure the seafarers concerned have sufficient rest.

6. Nothing in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall prevent the Member from having national laws or regulations or a procedure for the competent authority to authorize or register collective agreements permitting exceptions to the limits set out. Such exceptions shall, as far as possible, follow the standards set out but may take account of more frequent or longer leave periods or the granting of compensatory leave for watchkeeping seafarers or seafarers working on board ships on short voyages.

7. The Member shall require the posting, in an easily accessible place, of a table with the shipboard working arrangements, which shall contain for every position at least:

(a) the schedule of service at sea and service in port; and

(b) the maximum hours of work or the minimum hours of rest required by the laws, regulations or collective agreements in force in the flag State.

8. The table referred to in paragraph 7 shall be established in a standardized format in the working language or languages of the ship and in English.

Article 6

No seafearer under 18 years of age shall work at night. For the purpose of this Article, night means a period of at least nine consecutive hours, including the interval from midnight to five a.m. This provision need not be applied when the effective training of young seafarers between the ages of 16 and 18 in accordance with established programmes and schedules would be impaired.

Article 7

1. Nothing in this Convention shall be deemed to impair the right of the master of a ship to require a seafarer to perform any hours of work necessary for the immediate safety of the ship, persons on board or cargo, or for the purpose of giving assistance to other ships or persons in distress at sea.

2. In accordance with paragraph 1, the master may suspend the schedule of hours of work or hours of rest and require a seafarer to perform any hours of work necessary until the normal situation has been restored.

3. As soon as practicable after the normal situation has been restored, the master shall ensure that any seafarers who have performed work in a scheduled rest period are provided with an adequate period of rest.

Article 8

1. The Member shall require that records of seafarers' daily hours of work or of their daily hours of rest be maintained to allow monitoring of compliance with the provisions set out in Article 5. The seafarer shall receive a copy of the records pertaining to him or her which shall be endorsed by the master, or a person authorized by the master, and by the seafarer.

2. The competent authority shall determine the procedures for keeping such records on board, including the intervals at which the information shall be recorded. The competent authority shall establish the format of the records of the seafarers' hours of work or of their hours of rest taking into account any available International Labour Organization guidelines or shall use any standard format prepared by the Organization. The format shall be established in the language or languages provided by Article 5, paragraph 8.

3. A copy of the relevant provisions of the national legislation pertaining to this Convention and the relevant collective agreements shall be kept on board and be easily accessible to the crew.

Article 9

The competent authority shall examine and endorse the records referred to in Article 8, at appropriate intervals, to monitor compliance with the provisions governing hours of work or hours of rest that give effect to this Convention.

Article 10

If the records or other evidence indicate infringement of provisions governing hours of work or hours of rest, the competent authority shall require that measures, including if necessary the revision of the manning of the ship, are taken so as to avoid future infringements.

Part III

MANNING OF SHIPS

Article 11

1. Every ship to which this Convention applies shall be sufficiently, safely and efficiently manned, in accordance with the minimum safe manning document or an equivalent issued by the competent authority.

2. When determining, approving or revising manning levels, the competent authority shall take into account:

(a) the need to avoid or minimize, as far as practicable, excessive hours of work, to ensure sufficient rest and to limit fatigue; and

(b) the international instruments identified in the Preamble.

Article 12

No person under 16 years of age shall work on a ship.

Part IV

RESPONSIBILITIES OF SHIPOWNERS AND MASTERS

Article 13

The shipowner shall ensure that the master is provided with the necessary resources for the purpose of compliance with obligations under this Convention, including those relating to the appropriate manning of the ship. The master shall take all necessary steps to ensure that the requirements on seafarers' hours of work and rest arising from this Convention are complied with.

Part V

APPLICATION

Article 14

A Member which ratifies this Convention shall be responsible for the application of its provisions by means of laws or regulations, except where effect is given by collective agreements, arbitration awards or court decisions.

Article 15

The Member shall:

(a) take all necessary measures, including the provision of appropriate sanctions and corrective measures, to ensure the effective enforcement of the provisions of this Convention;

(b) have appropriate inspection services to supervise the application of the measures taken in pursuance of this Convention and provide them with the necessary resources for this purpose; and

(c) after consulting shipowners' and seafarers' organizations, have procedures to investigate complaints relating to any matter contained in this Convention.

Part VI

FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 16

This Convention revises the Wages, Hours of Work and Manning (Sea) Convention (Revised), 1958; the Wages, Hours of Work and Manning (Sea) Convention (Revised), 1949; the Wages, Hours of Work and Manning (Sea) Convention, 1946; and the Hours of Work and Manning (Sea) Convention, 1936. As from the date this Convention has come into force, the above-listed Conventions shall cease to be open to ratification.

Article 17

The formal ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration.

Article 18

1. This Convention 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 Convention shall come into force six 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 with the Director-General of the International Labour Office.

3. Thereafter, this Convention shall come into force for any Member six months after the date on which its ratification has been registered.

Article 19

1. A Member which has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an act communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration. Such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the date on which it is registered.

2. Each Member which has ratified this Convention and which does not, within the year following the expiration of the period of ten years mentioned in the preceding paragraph, exercise the right of denunciation provided for in this Article, will be bound for another period of ten years and, thereafter, may denounce this Convention at the expiration of each period of ten years under the terms provided for in this Article.

Article 20

1. The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall notify all Members of the International Labour Organization of the registration of all ratifications and denunciations communicated by the Members of the Organization.

2. When the conditions provided for in Article 18, 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 Convention shall come into force.

Article 21

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 the provisions of the preceding Articles.

Article 22

At such times as it may consider necessary, the Governing Body of the International Labour Office shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this Convention and shall examine the desirability of placing on the agenda of the Conference the question of its revision in whole or in part.

Article 23

1. Should the Conference adopt a new Convention revising this Convention in whole or in part, then, unless the new Convention otherwise provides -

(a) the ratification by a Member of the new revising Convention shall ipso jure involve the immediate denunciation of this Convention, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 19 above, if and when the new revising Convention shall have come into force;

(b) as from the date when the new revising Convention comes into force, this Convention shall cease to be open to ratification by the Members.

2. This Convention shall in any case remain in force in its actual form and content for those Members which have ratified it but have not ratified the revising Convention.

Article 24

The English and French versions of the text of this Convention are equally authoritative.