By AMO Lawyers

Contributor:
a. Noverizky Tri Putra Pasaribu S.H LL.M (Adv);
b. Gilang Mursito Aji S.H LL.M (Adv);

PERCEIVING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MARITIME LABOUR CONVENTION 2006

Maritime Labour Convention (MLC 2006) was established in Geneva, Swiss as a part of the
International Labor Organization (ILO). This convention was adopted with the purpose as to make
sure that the rights and needs of seafarers can be secured. The MLC 2006 provides a set of
comprehensive rights and protection at work for seafarers and aims to achieve a proper on board
conditions covering various aspects, including working hours, health and safety, crew accommodation,
seafarers welfare, and seafarers contractual arrangements.
Another globally well-known convention regarding the maritime law is the United Nation Convention
on The Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which was concluded in 1982 and came into force in 1994. The
UNCLOS defined the limits of the territorial seas of nations and the areas in which they could exploit
the marine resources. Therefore, it did not provide any provisions regarding employment or working
standards of seafarers as stipulated in MLC 2006.
Although Indonesia had ratified the UNCLOS back in 1986, but this is not the case with the MLC
2006. Up until now, Indonesia has not yet become one of the Member States in MLC 2006.
Nevertheless, an understanding of this Convention is of utmost importance for Indonesian seafarers,
particularly for seafarers that are employed in a foreign ship. Therefore, in this article we will talk
about the most important provisions of MLC 2006 that Indonesian seafarers or ship-owners have to
take into consideration.

The Subject Matter of MLC 2006

1. The Requirements for Seafarers According to MLC 2006
The general mandatory requirements for seafarers to work in a ship according to MLC 2006:
a. The minimum age for a person to be employed or engaged in a ship is 16 years old. However, a
higher age requirement is needed in particular conditions such as where the work is likely to
jeopardize their health or safety. In such conditions, the minimum age of the seafarers shall be
18 years old.
b. Hold a valid medical certification issued by a duly qualified medical practitioner. This medical
certification shall attest that they are medically fit to perform the duties they will carry out at
the sea. The medical certificate shall be in accordance with the requirements provided in the
International Convention on Standards of Training, Certificate, and Watch keeping for
Seafarers 1978 as amended by the 2010 Manila Amendments (STCW). In addition, the
 persons concerned with the conduct of medical fitness examinations of seafarer candidates and
serving seafarers (i.e. the competent authority, medical practitioners, examiners, and ship-
owners) should follow the ILO/WHO Guidelines for Conducting Pre-sea and Periodic
Medical Fitness Examinations for Seafarers, including any subsequent versions, and any other
applicable guidelines published by the ILO, International Maritime Organization (IMO), or
World Health Organization (WHO). Currently, the aforementioned standards are also being
followed in Indonesia.
c. Has successfully completed training and certification of competence required, particularly with
regard to personal safety on board ship. This training and certification shall be in accordance
with the mandatory instruments adopted by the IMO (i.e. STCW).
d. The recruitment and placement system shall be efficient, adequate, and accountable. Moreover,
it shall conform to the standards set out in MLC 2006.

2. Conditions of Employment
a. The seafarers employment agreement shall be in writing and legally enforceable. Therefore, it
shall be in compliance with the standards set out in the MLC 2006(i.e. it shall contain full
identity of the seafarers and ship owner, the place and date of the agreement, wages, annual
leave, termination conditions, health and security benefits, etc.). These standards have been
duly complied by the Indonesian law (Governmental Decree of Republic Indonesia No. 7 Year
2000 concerning Seafarer/PP no. 7 tahun 2000). Accordingly, both parties may choose the
applicable law for the seafarers employment agreement. However, an Indonesian Court will
not recognize an agreement written in foreign language, thus it is highly advisable for
Indonesian Seafarer to use Indonesian language for their employment agreement or at least it
has to be made bilingually (e.g. English and Bahasa Indonesia).
b. Seafarers shall have the freedom to enter the employment agreement. Furthermore, they shall
have the opportunity to review and seek advice regarding the terms and conditions provided
there.
c. The payment of the wages shall be paid on monthly intervals basis and in accordance with
minimum wage fixed by the international labour standards, which is US$614 for the basic
monthly minimum wage as of 1 January 2016 (according to the Resolution of Joint Maritime
Commission on 28 February 2014: http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-
ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_236644/lang--en/index.htm). However, Indonesian Minimum
Wage (based on Provincial/Regional Minimum Wage) is still far below this standard since
many of the Indonesian seafarers are still being paid lower than US$400 per month.
d. The normal working hours standard shall be no more than an eight-hour per day with one day
of rest per week and rest on public holiday. In addition, the maximum hours of work shall be
14 hours in any 24-hour period and 72 hours in any seven-day period.
e. Seafarers are entitled for an annual leave which subject to any collective agreement or national
laws / regulations. In this respect, the annual leave with pay entitlement shall be calculated on
the basis of minimum of 2.5 calendar days per month of employment.
f. Seafarers have a right to be repatriated at no cost to themselves if the seafarers agreement
expires while they are abroad; or when the agreement is terminated by the ship-owner or by the
 seafarer for justified reasons. Moreover, they are entitled to be repatriated when they are no
longer able to carry on their duties in specific circumstances.
g. Seafarers are entitled for adequate compensation in the case of injury, loss, or unemployment
arising from the ships loss or foundering. The indemnity against unemployment for such cases
may be limited to two months wages.
h. Ships are required to have sufficient number of seafarers on board, taking into account the
particular nature and conditions of the voyage.
i. Member States of MLC 2006 shall have national policies that encourage career, skill
development and greater employment opportunity for its seafarer.
j. Ships are required to provide and maintain decent accommodations and recreational facilities
for seafarers in accordance with the standards which extensively provided in the MLC 2006
(Standard A3.1, Guideline B3.1 B3.11). These standards are actually much higher than the
one provided in PP No. 7 tahun 2000. For instance, according to MLC 2006 the single berth
seafarers sleeping rooms shall be no less than 4.5 square meters in ships of LESS than 3,000
tonnages, whereas PP no. 7 tahun 2000 only requires 2.78 square meters rooms in ships
ABOVE than 3,000 tonnages.
k. Ships are required to serve food and drinking water with proper quality, quantity, and
nutritions by taking into account the differences in cultural and religious backgrounds. This
food and catering shall be free of charge and prepared by trained and qualified cooks.
l. Seafarers are required to be covered by adequate measures to protect their health and they shall
have access to prompt and adequate medical care whilst working on board. Principally, this
protection and medical care shall be free of charge and as comparable as possible to that which
is generally available for workers ashore.
m. Seafarers shall have access to social security protection. Moreover, they shall have a right to
material assistance and support from ship-owner regarding the financial consequences of
sicknesses, injuries or death occurring under their course of employment which shall be in
accordance with the national laws or regulations. The ship-owner may cease to be liable to bear
the cost of aforementioned accidents if the national laws or regulations provide a scheme of
compulsory insurance to cover such conditions (for instance BPJS in Indonesia). Therefore, the
amount of the insurance claims that can be earned by the seafarers is depending upon the
national laws or regulations.

3. The Compliance and Enforcement of MLC 2006

MLC 2006 is applicable to any commercial ships that have 500 gross tonnages or over that
engaged in international voyages; and commercial ships of 500 gross tonnages or over, flying
the flag of a Member State and operating from a port between ports outside such a country.
Each Member State is responsible to ensure the implementation of its obligations under this
Convention on ships that fly its flag, and therefore shall establish an effective system for the
inspection and certification of MLC 2006 in order to ensure that the standards of this
Convention is duly complied.
The Member State may authorize public institutions or organizations which competent and
independent to carry out inspections and then to issue the certificate. The certificate may be issued
 after the ship has fully inspected and verified. Thus, all the provisions provided in MLC 2006 have
been followed. The inspection and verification of the ship may take several weeks or months. It
should be noted that the period of this certificate shall not exceed five years, and it shall be
renewed and re-inspected within three months before its expiration date. However, all Member
States have the right to deny issuing the certificate or may withdraw it if the ship has failed the
inspection. This failure means a commercially big loss for the ship-owner. Therefore, the ship-
owner should cautiously make sure that all of the MLC 2006 provisions and guidelines are met.

4. The Documents Required by the MLC 2006:

1. Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance Part I, and Part II;
2. Maritime Labour Certificate;
3. The latest inspection report;
4. Documents or proof to show that all of the seafarers are 16 years old or above;
5. Documents or proof to show that the crewing institution has complied all of the MLC
requirements;
6. Medical Certificates with an applicability of one year for seafarers that under 18 years old;
7. Medical Certificates with an applicability of 2 years for seafarers that above 18 years old;
8. Documents or proofs to show that there are no dangerous activities or night shift taken by
seafarers under 18 years old;
9. Seafarer employment agreements signed by seafarers and ship-owner or its formal
representative;
10. A copy of collective bargaining agreement in English;
11. The seafarers Certificate of Competency and all the other training certificates required;
12. Security and safety onboard training reports;
13. All of the reports of accidents, incidents, investigations, and consequences analyses on the
ship;
14. Seafarers report of their socializations and rest time activities;

CONCLUSION
MLC 2006 is a milestone for the global maritime industry, and therefore many countries have
ratified and applied the MLC 2006 standards. The application of MLC 2006 certification and standards
by these countries may cause a problem for Indonesian ships that are voyaging on international sea.
They have to face the risk of being arrested by the Port State Control of such countries owing to the
fact that many of the standards provided by the Indonesian law are still far below the standards of
MLC 2006. For instance, several Indonesian ships were arrested a couple years ago in Australia owing
to the fact that they could not meet the MLC 2006 standards. Thus, we believe that ratification should
be one of the highest priorities for Indonesian government. Moreover, it is hoped that by the
ratification of MLC 2006, the living conditions of Indonesian seafarers off shore can be improved, and
the safety of Indonesian ship can be protected at the same time.
For the following detail, below is the link to download the text of MLC 2006:
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---
normes/documents/normativeinstrument/wcms_090250.pdf