A8. What measures must a country take to ensure that the MLC, 2006 is properly applied?

Article IV, paragraph 5 of the MLC, 2006 provides that implementation of the seafarers’ employment and social rights under the Convention may be achieved through national laws or regulations, through applicable collective bargaining agreements or through other measures or in practice, unless the Convention specifies otherwise by, for example, requiring countries to adopt national laws and regulations to implement certain provisions of the Convention.

Thus, each country is free to decide whether a particular MLC, 2006 provision should be contained in a law (such as a law adopted by a Parliament or a Congress) or in a regulation or other subsidiary legislation, such as administrative orders or official marine notices. Or a country may decide – in cases where the MLC, 2006 does not specifically require legislation – that certain matters could be dealt with better through other legal measures or through collective bargaining agreements. Or, perhaps, where an MLC, 2006 provision essentially relates to action to be taken by a government itself, through internal administrative instructions.

General questions about the MLC, 2006