Pirates assault to your vessel? You have to pay salaries to kidnapped seafarers.
As is well known, the International Maritime Labor Convention (ILO - MLC, 2006) constitutes one of the fundamental pivots of the national and international maritime labor law. Since its entry into force on 20 August 2012, the Convention has effectively pursued the objective of providing – through its system of universally applicable rules and minimum standards – a valid protection to protect the seafarers.
The extraordinary vitality of the system introduced by the Convention is proven not only by its almost universal application in maritime traffic, but also by the fact that, since its entry into force in 2012, the text of the Convention has been amended and integrated several times, in order to enrich the shared protection standards and, at the same time, guarantee a gradual increase in the level of protection offered. With the latest amendments, which will come into force shortly, another tile is added, aimed at filling a potential regulatory gap in the system of the Convention.
The process for the final approval of the changes resolved in 2018 has now come to an end. On June 26th, the deadline by which the States, which ratified the Convention, could express their dissent at the entry into force of the amendments, expired. The share of dissent, envisaged by the Convention, equal to at least 40% of the ratifying States (representing not less than 40% of world gross tonnage) has not been reached and the changes will therefore definitely inure on December 26th, 2020.
In brief, the system of rules provided by the Convention will therefore be further enriched, providing concrete answers to a problem that is much less romantic and novelesque than they might appear at first glance: piracy and armed robberies carried out against ships.
In particular, the changes introduce a series of actual responses, addressing the problems related to the employment relationships of seafarers, who fall victim and are held captive (on or off a ship) as a result of piracy or armed robbery.
Where seafarers become victims of kidnappings or kidnappings made in connection with piracy or armed robbery against ships:
· their employment agreements shall continue to have effect for the entire period of their captivity, regardless of (a) whether the date fixed for its expiry has passed or (b) either party has given notice to suspend or terminate it (paragraph 7 added to standard A2.1);
· wages and other entitlements – due to the seafarers under the employment agreement, under the relevant collective bargaining agreement or under the applicable national laws – shall continue to be paid during the entire period of captivity and until the seafarer is released and duly repatriated or, where the seafarer dies while in captivity, until the date of death (paragraph 7 added to standard A2.2);
· the term for repatriation shall not lapse while the seafarer is held captive and the seafarers shall be entitled to repatriation, although they did not claim for this entitlement within a “reasonable period of time”, as defined by the applicable national law (the wording replaces paragraph 8 of guideline B2.5.1).
Hence, the amendments are finalized to fill the gap in the existing legislation and to introduce a standard for a minimum economic protection for the families of seafarers, in order to guarantee them the means of survival and thus to partially alleviate at least the economic problems, to which they could be exposed during the periods of captivity of their loved ones, that is to say in a period in which seafarers and their families are already exposed to unbelievable psychological distress.