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The Committee notes the Government’s first report on the application of the Convention. It further notes that, according to section 59 of the Merchant Shipping Code of 2001:

(1)    The shipowner shall ensure:

safe working conditions on board the vessel;

measures to protect the health of crew members;

a supply of fresh food and drinking water;

the presence on board the vessel of rescue equipment;

suitable operational areas, living accommodation, and other areas. 

(2)    The minimum standards set out in paragraph (1) shall not be inferior to those specified by international agreements to which the Republic of Moldova is a party.

The Government states, therefore, that general living conditions on board ships flying the Moldovan flag must not be inferior to those established by ILO Conventions Nos 92 and 133.

While the Committee of Experts accepts this as a principle, there are numerous provisions in ILO Conventions which are not self-executing and require concrete national action to transform them into national law and practice. Part II of the report form on these Conventions provides guidance on how to deal with the issue and the Committee usually appreciates receiving information on the measures taken to bring the provisions of the Convention, transformed into national law, to the knowledge of the persons and authorities concerned, e.g. social partners, labour inspection, classification societies, etc. Therefore, while certain sufficiently concrete and precise provisions of the Convention are directly applicable at national level, others require an act of the legislator or the competent authority, as is expressed in Article 4 of both Convention No. 92 and Convention No. 133. As an example, Article 6, paragraph 8, of the Convention requires that “The competent authority shall decide to what extent fire-prevention or fire-retarding measures shall be required to be taken in the construction of the accommodation.”

The Committee, therefore, requests the Government to enact the necessary laws and regulations to give effect to the Convention. While the Government states that to date there have been no registrations of seagoing ships in the Republic of Moldova, and that for this reason the provisions of Conventions Nos 92 and 133 are not yet applied in the Republic of Moldova, other sources appear to indicate a number of seagoing ships on the register of the Republic of Moldova.

The Government further informs that the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transport have been instructed to take the necessary steps to give effect to the provisions of the Convention, and that during the period 2007–08 it is envisaged that appropriate national regulations and standards will be drawn up for seagoing ships flying the Moldovan flag.

The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed on all developments concerning ships registering under the flag of the Republic of Moldova as well as on any progress in implementing the Convention in national law.