A1. What is the MLC, 2006?
It is a comprehensive international labour Convention that was adopted by the International Labour Conference (ILC) of the ILO, under article 19 of its Constitution, at a maritime session in February 2006 in Geneva, Switzerland. It entered into force – that is, it became binding international law – on 20 August 2013. Its Code was amended in 2014, 2016 and 2018. The MLC, 2006 sets out seafarers’ rights to decent conditions of work and helps to create conditions of fair competition for shipowners. It is intended to be globally applicable, easily understandable, readily updatable and uniformly enforced. The MLC, 2006 has been designed to become a global legal instrument that will be the “fourth pillar” of the international regulatory regime for quality shipping, complementing the key Conventions of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), such as the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, as amended (SOLAS), the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping, 1978, as amended (STCW), and the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 73/78 (MARPOL). The MLC, 2006 contains a comprehensive set of global standards, based on those that are already found in the maritime labour instruments (Conventions and Recommendations) adopted by the ILO between 1920 and 1996. It brings all except four 13 of the existing maritime labour instruments (international labour standards) together in a single Convention that uses a new format, with some updating, where necessary, to reflect modern conditions and language. The Convention “consolidates” and revises the existing international law on all these matters.
Since there were many existing maritime Conventions, a question might be asked as to why a new Convention is needed. There were many different reasons for adopting the MLC, 2006.
On ships flying the flags of countries that do not exercise effective jurisdiction and control over them, as required by international law, seafarers often have to work under unacceptable conditions, to the detriment of their well-being, health and safety and the safety of the ships on which they work. Since seafarers’ working lives are mainly spent outside the home country and their employers (shipowners) are also often not based in their home country, effective international standards are necessary for this sector. Of course these standards must also be implemented at a national level, particularly by governments that have a ship registry and authorize ships to fly their countries’ flags (called “flag States”).
This is already well recognized in connection with international standards ensuring the safety and security of ships and protecting the marine environment. It is also important to understand that there are many flag States and shipowners that take pride in providing the seafarers on their ships with decent conditions of work. These countries and shipowners face unfair competition in that they pay the price of being undercut by shipowners that have substandard ships and operations.
The decision by the ILO to move forward to create the MLC, 2006 was the result of a joint resolution in 2001 by the representatives of the international seafarers’ and shipowners’ organizations, later supported by governments. They pointed out that the shipping industry is “the world’s first genuinely global industry”, which “requires an international regulatory response of an appropriate kind – global standards applicable to the entire industry”. The industry called on the ILO to develop “an instrument which brings together into a
consolidated text as much of the existing body of ILO instruments as it proves possible to achieve” as a matter of priority “in order to improve the relevance of those standards to the needs of all the stakeholders of the maritime sector”.
It was understood that the very large number of the existing maritime Conventions, many of which are very detailed, made it difficult for governments to ratify and to enforce all of the existing international labour standards. Many of the existing maritime labour Conventions were out of date and did not reflect contemporary working and living conditions on board ships. Many had low levels of ratification. In addition, there was a need to develop a more effective enforcement and compliance system that would help to eliminate substandard ships and that would work within the well-established international system for enforcement of the international standards for ship safety and security and environmental protection adopted in the framework of the IMO. The MLC, 2006 was designed to specifically address these concerns. More protection of seafarers will be achieved by the widespread ratification and effective national implementation of the MLC, 2006 by the vast majority of ILO Members active in the maritime sector.
General questions about the MLC, 2006