Key Benefits:
The President of the Republic,
On the Prime Minister's Report Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Having regard to Articles 52 to 55 of the Constitution;
In view of Act No. 2004-146 of 16 February 2004 authorizing the ratification of the International Labour Organization Conventions No. 163 concerning the welfare of Seafarers, at sea and in ports, No. 164 concerning the protection of the health and medical care of seafarers, No. 166 concerning the repatriation of seafarers, No. 178 concerning the inspection of working conditions and life of seafarers, No. 179 concerning the recruitment and placement of seafarers, No. 180 concerning the working hours of seafarers and the number of ships, No. 185 concerning seafarers' identity documents (revised) and the protocol to Convention No. 147 concerning the minimum standards to be observed on merchant ships;
In view of the amended Decree No. 53-192 of 14 March 1953 on the ratification and publication of international commitments entered into by France,
International Labour Organization Convention No. 179 concerning the recruitment and placement of seafarers, Adopted in Geneva on 22 October 1996, will be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
The Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs shall be responsible for the execution of this Decree, each of which shall be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
C O N V E N T I O N N ° 179
DE L' ORGANISATION INTERNATIONALE DU RECRUTEMENT ET LE PLACEMENT DES GENS DE MER, ADOPTED IN GENEVA OCTOBER 22 1996
The General Conference of the International Labour Organization,
Convened in Geneva by the Governing Council of the International Labour Office, meeting on 8 October 1996, at its eighty-fourth session;
Noting the provisions of the Convention on the Commitment of Seafarers, 1926; the Convention on Freedom of Association and the Protection of the Right to Organus, 1948; the Convention and the Recommendation on the Service of Employment, 1948; Convention on the Right to Organising and Collective Bargaining, 1949; Recommendation on the commitment of seafarers (foreign vessels), 1958; the Convention on Discrimination (Employment and Occupation), 1958; of the Recommendation On the employment of seafarers (technical development), 1970; the Minimum Age Convention, 1973; the Convention and the recommendation on the continuity of employment (seafarers), 1976; the Merchant Shipping Convention (minimum standards); 1976; Convention on the repatriation of seafarers (revised), 1987, and the Convention on Labour Inspection (seafarers), 1996;
Recalling the entry into force on 16 November 1994 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Mer, 1982;
After deciding to adopt various proposals for the revision of the Marine Placement Convention, 1920, which is the third item on the agenda of the session;
After deciding that these Take the form of an international convention,
adopts, on this twenty-second day of October, nine hundred and ninety-six, the following convention, which will be called the Convention on the Recruitment and Placement of Seafarers, 1996.
Article 1
1. For the purposes of this Convention:
a) the expression " Competent authority " Designates the Minister, designated official, government department or other authority authorized to issue regulations, orders or other binding instructions for the recruitment and placement of seafarers;
(b) The expression " Recruitment and placement service " Means any person, company, institution, agency or other organization of the public or private sector engaged in activities relating to the recruitment of seafarers on behalf of employers or the placement of seafarers with employers;
(c) The term " Shipowner " Means the owner of the ship or any other entity or person, such as the shipowner, the agent or the bareboat charterer, to which the shipowner has entrusted the responsibility for the operation of the ship and who, by assuming this responsibility, has Agreed to carry out all related duties and obligations;
d) the expression " Seafarers " Means any person fulfilling the conditions to be employed or engaged, in any capacity, on board any ship of sea other than a State ship for military or non-commercial purposes.
2. Where it deems it feasible, after consulting the representative organisations, as the case may be, of shipowners and fishermen or owners of mobile maritime units off the coast and seafarers employed on such units, The competent authority may apply the provisions of the Convention to fishermen or seafarers employed on mobile maritime units offshore.
Article 2
1. Nothing in the provisions of this Agreement is intended to:
(a) affect the ability of any Member to provide a free public service for the recruitment and placement of seafarers as part of a policy to respond The needs of seafarers and shipowners, whether that service is part of the public employment service open to all workers and employers or that it acts in coordination with the latter;
b) impose on any Member the obligation Establish a system of private recruitment and placement services.
2. When private recruitment and placement services have been established or are to be established, they will only be able to operate in the territory of a Member only under A licensing, licensing or other regulatory system. Such a system will have to be established, maintained, modified or changed only after consultation with the representative organisations of shipowners and seafarers. The excessive proliferation of these recruitment and private placement services should not be encouraged.
3. Nothing in the provisions of this Convention shall affect, as regards the recruitment and placement of seafarers, the right of a Member to apply its legislation to vessels flying its flag.
Article 3
Nothing in the provisions of this Convention could affect in any way the ability of seafarers to exercise fundamental human rights, including union rights.
Article 4
1. Every Member shall, by means of national legislation or applicable regulations:
(a) ensure that no fees or other charges for the recruitment or employment of seafarers are, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part To this end, the costs relating to compulsory national medical examinations, certificates, a personal travel document and the national occupational passbook shall not be considered as ' Fees or other costs for recruitment " ;
b) decide if and under what conditions recruitment and placement services can place or recruit seafarers abroad;
c) specify, taking due account of the respect due to privacy and the need to protect Confidentiality, the conditions under which personal information about seafarers may be handled by recruitment and placement services, including for purposes of collection, retention, duplication or communication To third parties;
(d) prescribing the conditions under which the licence, approval or other authorization may be suspended or withdrawn in the event of a violation of the relevant legislation; or
e) in the case of a regulatory system other than A licensing or licensing system, specify the conditions under which recruitment and placement services can operate, and the penalties applicable in the event of violation of these conditions.
2. Any Member must Ensure that the competent authority:
(a) closely supervises all recruitment and placement services;
(b) grants or renews the licence, approval or other authorization only after verifying that the services of Recruitment and placement complies with the requirements of the national legislation;
c) ensures that the management and staff of the recruitment and placement services for seafarers are suitably Trained and knowledgeable in the marine sector; and
(d) prohibit recruitment and placement services from using means, procedures or lists designed to prevent or deter seafarers. Employment;
e) requires recruitment and placement services to make arrangements to ensure, to the extent practicable, that the employer has the means to ensure that seafarers are not abandoned in a foreign port ;
(f) shall ensure that a system of protection, in the form of an appropriate insurance or equivalent measure, is established to compensate seafarers who have suffered pecuniary losses as a result of the recruitment and placement service Not fulfilled its obligations to them.
Article 5
1. All recruitment and placement services shall, for the purpose of inspection by the competent authority, maintain a register of all seafarers recruited or placed through them.
2. All recruitment and placement services Must ensure that:
a) all seafarers recruited or placed by their intermediary possess the required qualifications and hold the necessary documentation for the purpose of the jobs in question;
(b) the employment contracts and Contracts of engagement are in accordance with applicable legislation and collective agreements; and
(c) that, prior to undertaking or during the engagement process, seafarers are informed of their rights and obligations under Their contract of employment and contract of engagement; and
(d) that the necessary arrangements are made for seafarers to be able to examine their contract of employment and their contract of engagement before and after their signature and for a Copy of the contract of employment is given to them.
3. Nothing in the provisions of paragraph 2 above is intended to affect the liabilities and liability of the shipowner or the master.
Article 6
1. The competent authority shall ensure that appropriate mechanisms and procedures exist to investigate complaints concerning the activities of recruitment and placement services, if necessary, with the assistance, where appropriate, Representatives of shipowners and seafarers.
2. Any complaint relating to the activities of a recruitment and placement service shall be subject to review and response by the recruitment and placement service and, where it is not resolved, shall be referred to Knowledge of the competent authority.
3. If complaints concerning the conditions of work or life on board ships are brought to the attention of the recruitment and placement services, these complaints will be referred to the appropriate authority.
4. Nothing in the provisions of this Agreement affects the ability of seafarers to direct any complaint to the knowledge of the authority it reports to.
Article 7
This Convention revises the placement of seamen, 1920.
Article 8
The formal ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to the Director General of the International Bureau of the Job and saved.
Article 9
1. This Convention shall only bind the Members of the International Labour Organization whose ratification has been registered by the Director General of the International Labour Office.
2. It shall enter into force twelve months after the Ratifications by two Members will have been registered by the Director
. Thereafter, this Convention shall enter into force for each Member twelve months after the date on which its ratification is registered.
4. Ratification by a Member of this Agreement shall, from the date of its entry into force, be an act of immediate termination of the Seafarers' Placement Convention, 1920.
Article 10
1. Any Member having ratified this Convention may denounce it at the expiration of a period of ten years after the date of the initial entry into force of the Convention by an act communicated to the Director General of the International Labour Office and By registered. The denunciation shall take effect only one year after being registered.
2. Any Member having ratified this Convention which, within one year of the expiration of the ten-year period referred to in the preceding paragraph, shall not No use of the right of denunciation provided for in this Article shall be bound for a further period of ten years and thereafter may denounce this Convention at the expiration of each ten-year period under the conditions laid down in the Article.
Article 11
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 all acts of denunciation communicated to it by Members of the International Labour Organization. The Organization.
2. By notifying the Members of the Organization of the second ratification which has been communicated to it, the Director General shall call the attention of the Members of the Organization on the date on which the present Convention will enter into force.
Article 12
The Director General of the International Labour Office will communicate to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, for registration, in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations, complete information about all ratifications and acts of denunciation recorded in accordance with the preceding Articles.
Article 13
Whenever it deems it necessary, the Governing Council of the International Labour Office will report to the General Conference on the application of this Convention and consider whether to include The agenda of the Conference the total or partial revision.
Article 14
1. In the event that the Conference adopts a new convention for the total or partial revision of this Convention, and unless the new Convention provides otherwise:
a) Ratification by a Member of the new Convention Revising, notwithstanding Article 10 above, the immediate termination of this Convention, provided that the new revision agreement has entered into force;
(b) from the date of entry into force of this Convention; This Convention would cease to be open for ratification by Members.
2. This Convention would in any case remain in force in its form and content for Members who would have Ratified and who would not ratify the revision agreement.
Article 15
The English and French versions of the text of this agreement are equally authentic.
The preceding text is The authentic text of the Convention duly adopted by the General Conference of the International Labour Organization in its eighty-fourth session, which was held in Geneva and which was declared closed on 22 October 1996
What their signatures posted on this twenty-second day of October 1996:
International Bureau of Labour's
Director General
Michel Hansenne
Conference President,
James Hubbard
Done at Paris, May 11, 2005.
Jacques Chirac
By the President of the Republic:
The Prime Minister,
Jean-Pierre Raffarin
Foreign Minister,
Michel Barnier
