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Article 3 of the Convention. Conditions and safeguards for the signature of the agreement. The Committee recalls that the Convention requires reasonable facilities to be given to the seafarer to examine the articles of agreement before they are signed (Article 3(1)), the agreement to be signed under conditions prescribed by national law (Article 3 (2)), and also adequate provisions to be made to ensure that the seafarer has understood the agreement (Article 3(4)). The Committee understands that the national legislation does not contain any provisions giving effect to the above requirements. Recalling that the same requirements have been incorporated in Standard A2.1(1)(b) of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006), the Committee requests the Government to indicate any provisions, legislative or other, that implement this Article of the Convention.

Article 14(2). Certificate. The Committee recalls its previous comment in which it noted that section 12 of Decree No. 1015 of 16 June 1995 does not implement this Article of the Convention since it does not refer to a document, other than the employment record, that seafarers have the right to obtain at all times from the master. In the absence of the Government’s reply on this point, the Committee again requests the Government to indicate how effect is given to this requirement of the Convention.

Part V of the report form. Practical application. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government concerning the recent changes in the labour inspection services. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide up-to-date information on the practical application of the Convention, including for instance, inspection results, samples of seafarers’ employment agreements and copies of applicable collective agreements.

Finally, the Committee recalls that the MLC, 2006, contains in Regulation 2.1, Standard A2.1 and Guideline B2.1 up-to-date and more detailed requirements on seafarer’s employment agreements that revise existing standards set out in Convention No. 22. The Committee invites the Government to consider the possibility of ratifying the MLC, 2006, in the very near future and to keep the Office informed of any decision taken in this respect.