1 Each Member shall adopt laws or regulations
requiring that ships that fly its flag comply with the following requirements:
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(a) seafarers working on ships that fly its flag
shall have a seafarers’ employment agreement signed by both
the seafarer and the shipowner or a representative of the shipowner
(or, where they are not employees, evidence of contractual or similar
arrangements) providing them with decent working and living conditions
on board the ship as required by this Convention;
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(b) seafarers signing a seafarers’ employment
agreement shall be given an opportunity to examine and seek advice
on the agreement before signing, as well as such other facilities
as are necessary to ensure that they have freely entered into an agreement
with a sufficient understanding of their rights and responsibilities;
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(c) the shipowner and seafarer concerned shall
each have a signed original of the seafarers’ employment agreement;
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(d) measures shall be taken to ensure that clear
information as to the conditions of their employment can be easily
obtained on board by seafarers, including the ship’s master,
and that such information, including a copy of the seafarers’
employment agreement, is also accessible for review by officers of
a competent authority, including those in ports to be visited; and
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(e) seafarers shall be given a document containing
a record of their employment on board the ship.
2 Where a collective bargaining agreement forms
all or part of a seafarers’ employment agreement, a copy of
that agreement shall be available on board. Where the language of
the seafarers’ employment agreement and any applicable collective
bargaining agreement is not in English, the following shall also be
available in English (except for ships engaged only in domestic voyages):
3 The document referred to in paragraph 1(e) of
this Standard shall not contain any statement as to the quality of
the seafarers’ work or as to their wages. The form of the document,
the particulars to be recorded and the manner in which such particulars
are to be entered, shall be determined by national law.
4 Each Member shall adopt laws and regulations
specifying the matters that are to be included in all seafarers’
employment agreements governed by its national law. Seafarers’
employment agreements shall in all cases contain the following particulars:
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(a) the seafarer’s full name, date of birth
or age, and birthplace;
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(b) the shipowner’s name and address;
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(c) the place where and date when the seafarers’
employment agreement is entered into;
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(d) the capacity in which the seafarer is to be
employed;
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(e) the amount of the seafarer’s wages or,
where applicable, the formula used for calculating them;
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(f) the amount of paid annual leave or, where
applicable, the formula used for calculating it;
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(g) the termination of the agreement and the conditions
thereof, including:
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(i) if the agreement has been made for an indefinite
period, the conditions entitling either party to terminate it, as
well as the required notice period, which shall not be less for the
shipowner than for the seafarer;
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(ii) if the agreement has been made for a definite
period, the date fixed for its expiry; and
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(iii) if the agreement has been made for a voyage,
the port of destination and the time which has to expire after arrival
before the seafarer should be discharged;
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(h) the health and social security protection
benefits to be provided to the seafarer by the shipowner;
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(i) the seafarer’s entitlement to repatriation;
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(j) reference to the collective bargaining agreement,
if applicable; and
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(k) any other particulars which national law may
require.
5 Each Member shall adopt laws or regulations
establishing minimum notice periods to be given by the seafarers and
shipowners for the early termination of a seafarers’ employment
agreement. The duration of these minimum periods shall be determined
after consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’
organizations concerned, but shall not be shorter than seven days.
6 A notice period shorter than the minimum may
be given in circumstances which are recognized under national law
or regulations or applicable collective bargaining agreements as justifying
termination of the employment agreement at shorter notice or without
notice. In determining those circumstances, each Member shall ensure
that the need of the seafarer to terminate, without penalty, the employment
agreement on shorter notice or without notice for compassionate or
other urgent reasons is taken into account.
7 Each Member shall require that a seafarer’s employment
agreement shall continue to have effect while a seafarer is held captive on or off
the ship as a result of acts of piracy or armed robbery against ships, regardless of
whether the date fixed for its expiry has passed or either party has given notice to
suspend or terminate it. For the purpose of this paragraph, the term:
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(a) piracy shall have the same meaning as
in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982;
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(b) armed robbery against ships means any
illegal act of violence or detention or any act of depredation, or threat
thereof, other than an act of piracy, committed for private ends and directed
against a ship or against persons or property on board such a ship, within a
State’s internal waters, archipelagic waters and territorial sea, or any act of
inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described above.