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The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

The Committee notes that under section 552, subsection 1, of the Code of Commerce, in the event of loss or foundering of the vessel, the owner shall pay all members of the crew, for the period of unemployment resulting from such loss or foundering, an indemnity corresponding to the rate of wages payable under the contract, which may be limited to two months’ wages. However, the Committee notes that under subsection 4 of the same section, the shipowner who considers that one or more members of the crew have been guilty of serious misconduct in relation to the shipwreck may apply to the court of the first instance to request suspension of the obligation imposed on him by subsection 1 of section 552, in respect of those members of crew, during a period to be determined by the judge and which may be extended until the cause of the damage has been established. In addition, as a result of that verdict, the court may release the owner from his obligation definitively. In this connection, the Committee requests the Government to indicate whether shipowners have had in any cases recourse to the notion of “serious misconduct” and, if so, to specify the interpretation given by the courts to this notion of “serious misconduct” and to supply particulars of instances where this notion has been used for suspending the obligation of the shipowner under section 552, subsection 1.