Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2010, publiée 100ème session CIT (2011)

Articles 2(2), 3 and 5(2) of the Convention. Issuance of seafarers’ identity documents, continuous possession and admission to territory. For the last 13 years, the Committee has been raising a number of points concerning the conformity of certain provisions of Act No. 258 of 1991 on employment on seagoing merchant vessels with the requirements of the Convention. More concretely, the Committee has been requesting the amendment of certain provisions concerning the refusal to issue seafarers’ identity documents and the adoption of supplementary provisions ensuring that seafarers’ identity documents remain in seafarers’ possession at all times and guaranteeing the right of foreign seafarers to return to Poland on expired Polish seafarers’ identity documents.

To date, no concrete measures have been taken with a view to ensuring full compliance with the Convention on these points. The Government has been stating that Act. No. 258 of 1991 would be revised taking into consideration both the Seafarers’ Identity Documents Convention (Revised), 2003 (No. 185), and the comments of the Committee. In its latest report, the Government indicates that a draft law amending Act. No. 258 is currently at the stage of inter-ministerial consultations. Welcoming the Government’s intention to align national legislation with the provisions of Convention No. 185, which aims to enhance port and border security by developing a more secure and globally uniform seafarers’ identity document, the Committee asks the Government to keep the Office informed of any developments concerning the finalization of the new legislation on work on board seagoing merchant vessels and to transmit a copy as soon as it has been adopted. The Committee also invites the Government to consider the possibility of ratifying Convention No. 185 in the very near future and to keep the Office informed of any decisions taken in this respect.