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CIRCULARSIERRA LEONE MARITIME LABOUR CONVENTION REQUIREMENTS, VOLUNTARY COMPLIANCE

Sierra Leone International Ship Registry has issued a Marine Notification regarding the voluntary compliance with the ILO MLC, 2006 requirements. NOTICE TO SHIP OWNERS / MANAGERS / OPERATORS DBS STATIONS / SURVEYORS CONTACT US

Although the Republic of Sierra Leone has not ratified the MLC, 2006 a voluntary inspection and certification scheme has been set-up for the ships flying the Sierra Leone flag in order to avoid complexities with the Port State Control Authorities. Through the Marine Notification 13-002 the Sierra Leone International Ship Registry has laid out the requirements for the inspection and certification of ships flying the Sierra Leone flag. More specifically, the ship Owners should request the issuance of a DMLC Part I from the Administration through the Registration Officers. The flag Administration will issue a ship specific DMLC Part I for the ship. Following the issuance of DMLC Part I, ship Owners shall submit for approval DMLC Part II complying with the DMLC Part I. The Administration will endorse the DMLC Part II if found in compliance with DMLC Part I. Copy of DMLC Part I and II endorsed by the Administration shall be kept on board and should be provided to the inspector at the time of inspection/verification. Flag inspectors will be carrying out inspections as outlined below:

Initial inspection for the issuance of Interim “Statement of Compliance to Maritime Labour Convention” valid for 6 months.

Following verification of the reports, the Administration will be issuing a “Statement of Compliance to Maritime Labour Convention” valid for 5 years.

An intermediate inspection is to be carried out between the second and third anniversary dates in order to endorse the Statement of Compliance.

The full Sierra Leone International Ship Registry Marine Notification may be found herewith attached. Also, attached is the draft DMLC Part I of the Sierra Leone International Ship Registry. Background information As per DBS Circular C12027, the MLC, 2006 is coming in force on August 20, 2013. At the moment 39 Members have ratified the Convention and the full list may be found here. The MLC, 2006 is aiming along with SOLAS, STCW, and MARPOL to be established as the four cornerstones of maritime regulations. The Convention is comprised of three different but related parts: the Articles, the Regulations, and the Code. The Articles and Regulations set out the core rights and principles and the basic obligations of Members ratifying the Convention. The Code contains the details for the implementation of the Regulations. The Code comprises Part A (mandatory Standards) and Part B (non-mandatory Guidelines). Amendment procedures for the Articles, Regulations, and the Code are established in Articles XIV and XV. The Regulations and the Code are organized into general areas under five Titles: Title 1: Minimum requirements for seafarers to work on a ship Title 2: Conditions of employment Title 3: Accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering Title 4: Health protection, medical care, welfare, and social security protection Title 5: Compliance and enforcement

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DBS Certification Process DBS has been authorized by various flag Administrations to carry out inspections and issue certificates under the requirements of MLC, 2006. The certification process to be followed under DBS may be found on the flowchart below.

Onshore activity, prior to shipboard attendance Review of DMLC Part II

against Part I

Shipboard activity

Inspect compliance with the Convention

Inspect working and living conditions

Endorse DMLC Part II

Issue Maritime Labour Certificate

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101 Cecil Street #08-01 Tong Eng Building, Singapore 069533

SL SIERRA LEONE

International Ship Registry

Tel: +65 6223 8733 Fax: +65 6226 2621

technical@sierraleoneship.com

http://sierraleoneship.com

MARINE NOTIFICATION 13-002

TO : SHIP OWNERS, SHIP MANAGERS, SHIP OPERATORS, SHIP AGENTS, MASTERS, REGIONAL REGISTRARS AND REGISTRATION OFFICERS

DATE : April 15, 2013 SUBJECT : Maritime Labour Convention, Voluntary Compliance

REFERENCE : Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 Resolution VII adopted by the 94th (Maritime) session of the International Labour Conference Guidelines for Flag State Inspections under the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

1. Background: ILO’s Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) is aimed at providing decent conditions of work for seafarers. Maritime Labour Convention covers on a wide range of subjects, and aims to be globally applicable, easily understandable, readily updatable and uniformly enforced. It consolidates and updates many of the international labour standards related to the Maritime sector adopted over the last 80 years and is set to become the fourth pillar of the international regulatory regime of maritime industry along with SOLAS, MARPOL and STCW conventions. MLC reached the milestone of ratification by 30 member States with a total share in the world gross tonnage of ships of 33 per cent on 20 August 2012. The date of entry into force of the convention will be 20 August 2013. Implementation of the convention will be phased out owing to huge number of vessels to be certified. As per ILO Resolution XVII, governments have been requested to place their concentration initially upon bulk carriers and passenger ships to have them all certified by 20 August 2013

2. Application:

The application of the convention shall be on a voluntary basis, until such a time when the convention is ratified by the Government of Sierra Leone. Owners/ Managers of vessels calling

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ports of any of the signatory states are advised to opt for voluntary compliance considering the “no more favourable treatment” clause on MLC 2006. Due consideration shall be given to the applicability of MLC while going for voluntary compliance. Once the convention is ratified by Sierra Leone, MLC will be applicable to all sea going vessels more than 200 Gross Tonnage engaged on international voyages. All vessels more than 500 GT engaged on international voyages should hold a valid “Maritime Labour Certificate”. Fishing vessels and mobile offshore drilling units are excluded from certification.

2.1 Application to Seafarers:

MLC 2006 will be applicable to any person engaged or working in any capacity on board a ship for which MLC 2006 is applicable, for the business of that ship. To resolve issues regarding the ambiguity of the term seafarer, Resolution VII adopted by 94th (Maritime) session of the International Labour Conference shall be considered. Exclusions can be granted for certain type of crew on a case by case basis considering the following factors,

the duration of the stay on board of the persons concerned;

the frequency of periods of work spent on board;

the location of the person's principal place of work;

the purpose of the person's work on board;

the protection that would normally be available to the persons concerned with regard to their labour and social conditions to ensure they are comparable to that provided for under the Convention.

Request for such exclusions shall be made at the time submission of DMLC Part 2 3. Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance, Part I (DMLC Part I) (Ref Annex I)

Standard format of DMLC part I drafted based on the minimum requirements of MLC 2006, Sierra Leone Merchant Shipping Act 2003 and national regulations is available in Annex I of this notice. It outlines the minimum requirements with regard to 14 areas of MLC 2006, which are subject to inspection and certification. Ship Owners who wish to voluntarily comply with MLC 2006 should request for a DMLC Part I from the administration through their registration officer. Administration will issue a ship specific DMLC Part I for each vessel. 4. Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance, Part II (DMLC Part II) (Ref Annex II)

After Issuance of DMLC Part I, Ship owners/ Managers are required to submit to this administration for approval, DMLC Part II complying with the DMLC Part I in the format provided in Annex II of this notice,. The administration will endorse the DMLC Part II if found in compliance with DMLC Part I. Copy of DMLC Part I and DMLC Part II endorsed by the

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administration shall be kept on board and should be produced to the MLC inspector at the time of Inspection/Verification. 5. Inspections & Certification

Vessels participating in voluntary compliance program shall be inspected in accordance with MLC 2006 and will be issued with a “Statement of Compliance to Maritime Labour Convention”. Inspections shall be carried out in accordance with ILO’s “Guidelines for Flag State Inspections under the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006”. 5.1 Initial Inspection:

An Interim “Statement of compliance to Maritime Labour Convention” valid for 6 months shall be issued after successful completion of MLC inspection carried out as per ILO guidelines. Format of “Statement of Compliance to Maritime Labour Convention” is given in Annex III of this notice. Flag inspectors issuing the statement of compliance shall submit to this administration the copy of the statement of compliance along with inspection reports and supporting documents to Sierra Leone International Ship registry within 30 days of issuance. “Statement of Compliance to Maritime Labour Convention” valid for 5 years from the date of completion of Initial Inspection will be issued by the administration after verification of inspection reports and supporting documents. 5.2 Intermediate Inspections:

Intermediate inspections shall be conducted between the second and third anniversary dates of the date of completion of Initial inspection, to ensure continuing compliance with MLC, 2006. The statement of compliance shall be endorsed by the Inspector after satisfactory completion of intermediate inspection. 5.3 Renewal Inspections:

When the renewal inspection is completed within three months before the expiry of the existing statement of compliance, new statement of compliance shall be valid for a period not exceeding five years from the date of expiry of the existing statement of compliance. When the renewal inspection is completed more than three months before the expiry date of the existing statement of compliance, the new statement of compliance shall be valid for a period not exceeding five years starting from the date of completion of the renewal inspection.

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6. MLC Inspectors

Sierra Leone International Ship Registry has established a network of MLC inspectors worldwide for carrying out inspections and issuance of “Statement of Compliance to Maritime Labour Convention”. Ship owners are requested to contact this administration through their Registration Officers to arrange MLC inspections. 7.0 Confidentiality All Inspectors shall treat as confidential the source of any grievance or complaint alleging a danger or deficiency in relation to seafarers’ working and living conditions or a violation of laws and regulations and give no intimation to the ship-owner, the ship owner’s representative or the operator of the ship that an inspection was made as a consequence of such a grievance or complaint.

Best Regards Suby Chnady Head of

Maritime Safety and Environment Protection Sierra Leone International Ship Registry

REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE

MARITIME LABOUR CONVENTION, 2006 (NOTE: This Declaration must be attached to the ship’s Maritime Labour Certificate)

ISSUED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE

GOVERNMENT OF REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEOENE

With respect to the provision of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, the following referenced ship:

NAME OF THE VESSEL

IMO NUMBER

GROSS TONNAGE

is maintained in accordance with Standard A5.1.3 of the Convention.

The undersigned declares, on behalf of the abovementioned competent authority, that:

a) the provision of the Maritime Labour Convention are fully embodied in the national requirements referred to below;

b) these national requirements are contained in the national provisions referenced below; explanations concerning the content of those provisions are provided where necessary;

c) the details of any substantial equivalencies under Article VI, paragraphs 3 and 4, are provided in the section provided for this section below

d) any exemption granted by the competent authority in accordance with Title 3 are clearly indicated in the section provided for this purpose below; and

e) any ship-type specific requirement under national legislation are also referenced under the requirements concerned.

1. MINIMUM AGE (REGULATION 1.1)

The minimum age for any seafarer to be employed, engaged or work on board a Sierra Leonean registered vessel is 16 Years old.

Seafarer under the age of 18 years is prohibited from engaging in employment or work during night time. “ Night “ is defined as the period starting at 20:00 hrs and ending at 06:00 hrs.

a) that the effective training of a seafarer, in accordance with established programmes and schedules, may be impaired;

b) the specific nature of duty or recognized training programmes requires that the seafarer covered by the exception perform duties cannot be carried out at any other time and it is confirmed by the administration that the work will be detrimental on the health and well-being of the seafarer.

The employment, engagement or work of seafarer under the age of 18 is prohibited where the work is considered hazardous and would likely to jeopardize the health and safety of the seafarer.

2. MEDICAL CERTIFICATION (REGULATION 1.2)

A seafarer who intends to be employed in Sierra Leonean Vessel shall have a medical certificate in accordance with the requirements of the STCW, as amended, attesting that they are medically fit to perform duties they are to carry out at sea.

The Medical Certificate shall only be issued by a duly qualified medical practitioner.

The Medical Certificate shall state that, the hearing and sight of the seafarer concerned and color vision, in the case that the duties of the seafarer is affected by defective color vision are all satisfactory and the seafarer concerned is no suffering from any medical condition likely to be aggravated by service at sea or to render the seafarer unfit for service or to endanger the health of other persons on board.

A medical practitioner who assesses a seafarer as fit for service at sea with limitations must state those limitations on the seafarer's Medical Fitness Certificate.

The Medical Certificate shall be valid for a maximum period of two years and one year for seafarer under the age of 18. In the case of color vision, the certificate shall be valid for maximum of 6 years.

If the period of validity of a certificate expires in the course of a voyage, the certificate remains in force until the end of the voyage, or until the end of a further period of 3 months, whichever occurs first.

3. QUALIFICATION OF SEAFARER (REGULATION 1.3)

Seafarer working onboard a Sierra Leonean vessel must be trained or certified as competent or otherwise qualified to perform their duties.

Seafarer must have successfully completed training for personal safety on board vessel

Training and certification in accordance of STCW, as amended, shall be considered as meeting the requirements for training and certification of seafarers.

4. SEAFARERS EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT(REGULATION 2.1)

The owner of a Sierra Leonean Vessel or a person duly authorized by him shall enter into a crew agreement with every seaman whom he engages and carries to sea as one of his crew providing them with decent working and living conditions on board the vessel.

The seafarer shall be granted an opportunity to review the conditions as well the other facilities, stated on the crew agreement and if necessary request advise before signing and ensure that the are freely entered into an agreement with a sufficient understanding of their rights and responsibilities.

A copy crew agreement must always keep on board, and can be easily obtain by Seafarer, the Captain of the Vessel and any other corresponding authority for their review.

The notice periods to be given by the seafarers and shipowner for the early termination of crew agreement shall not be shorter than seven days.

5. USE OF ANY LICENSED OR CERTIFIED OR REGULATED PRIVATE RECRUITMENT AND PLACEMENT SERVICE (REGULATION 1.4)

Shipowner shall use Seafarer Recruitment and Placement Services that is licensed or certified or regulated as stated in Standard A1.4 paragraph 2 of the MLC 2006.

Shipowner uses Seafarer Recruitment and Placement Service based in countries or territories in which MLC 2006 does not apply, shall ensure and demonstrate as far as

practicable, that those services comply with the provision of MLC 2006.

No person shall engage or recruit a Sierra Leonean seaman for employment on board a Sierra Leonean or foreign ship without first obtaining a license in the prescribed form, from the Administration authorizing such person to engage or recruit a Sierra Leonean seaman for service

6. HOURS OF WORK OR REST (REGULATION 2.3)

The minimum hours of rest shall not be less than:

a) 10 hours for every 24-hour period, nor

b) 77 hours for every seven-day period

the “ hour of rest” defines as the time outside hours of work and does not include breaks. The resting hours can be grouped in two periods at the maximum, one of each shall have at least six non interrupted hours and the interval between two consecutive resting periods shall not exceed 14 hours.

Every vessel shall have a record of the seafarer’s daily rest hours be maintained to allow monitoring of compliance with MLC 2006. The record shall be in the written in the working language or languages of the ship and in English.

7. MANNING LEVELS FOR THE SHIP (REGULATION 2.7)

All vessel shall have sufficient number of seafarer on board to ensure that the vessels are operated safely, efficiently and with due regard to security. All vessels shall be manned by adequate crew in terms of size and competency, to ensure the safety and security of the vessel.

The vessel shall be manned in accordance to Minimum Safety Manning Certificate issued by SLISR at the least. This Certificate details the minimum manning requirement applicable to the vessel including minimum number of deck officers, minimum number of engineers, and minimum number of ratings.

8. ACCOMMODATION (REGULATION 3.1)

Shipowner shall provide and maintain decent accommodation and recreational facilities for seafarers working or living on board, or both, consistent with the promotion of the seafarer’ health and well-being.

Seafarer accommodation are to meet the minimum requirements of the MLC

Regulation which relate to ship construction and equipment apply only to vessel constructed on or after the date of MLC enter into force.

Vessel constructed before that date are subject to the requirements related to ship construction and equipment in accordance to the Accommodation of Crew Convention No. 92 and the Accommodation of Crew Convention (Supplementary Provisions), No. 133.

9. ON-BOARD RECREATIONAL FACILITIES (REGULATION 3.1)

Shipowner shall provide appropriate seafarers’ recreational facilities, amenities and services, as adapted to meet the special needs of seafarers who must live and work on ships taking into consideration the Regulation and Code provision on health and safety protection and accident prevention.

10. FOOD AND CATERING (REGULATION 3.2)

Shipowner shall provide food and drinking water of appropriate quality, nutritional value and quantity for seafarers, free of charge, adequately covering the needs of seafarers and taking into account the different culture and religious background.

Shipowner shall ensure that Seafarer who are engaged as ship’s cook are properly trained and qualified and all catering staff shall be competent in their position.

A ship’s cook must be employed for any vessel with 10 or more manning. A vessel with less than 10 manning, does not require to have a Ships’ cook, Anyone processing food in the galley shall be trained or instructed in areas including food and personal hygiene as well as handling and storage of food on board ship

No Seafarer under the age of 18 shall be employed or engaged or work as a ship’s cook

11. HEALTH AND SAFETY AND ACCIDENT PREVENTION (REGULATION 4.3

It is the duty of the shipowner to adopt effective policies measure and programs related to occupational safety and health policies, including risk evaluation, as well as the training and instruction of seafarer

The Shipowner shall ensure that adequate precautions are in place to prevent occupational accidents, injuries and diseases onboard vessel

The Safety and Health policies shall include;

a) All ships are to have a safety officer;

b) Seafarers shall be provided with protective equipment or other accident prevention devices

c) Vessel which has at least five seafarers shall create a Safety committee formed by members of the crew.

d) Machineries used on board are properly guarded and usage of it without appropriate safety guard is prevented.

e) Special Attention must be provided to the safety and health of seafarer under 18 years old.

12. ON-BOARD MEDICAL CARE (REGULATION 4.1)

Shipowner shall provide heath protection and medical care, including essential dental care for seafarer during their employment.

All Sierra Leonean vessels shall carry medicine chest, medical equipment and medical guide. The content of the medical chest shall comply with the minimum requirements set by ILO and WHO and shall be properly maintained and inspected at regular interval , not exceeding 12 months. The most recent Edition of International Medical Guide for Ship and Medical First Aid Guide for Use in Accidents Involving Dangerous Goods of the IMO shall be carried onboard

Sierra Leonean Vessel engaged in international voyage, with one Hundred or more person on board shall carry on board a duly qualified medical doctor.

Other vessel which do are not required to carry medical doctor shall carry at least one seafarer on board who is competent to provide medical first aid and has satisfactory completed training in medical care in accordance of the STCW, as amended.

13. ON-BOARD COMPLAINT PROCEDURES (REGULATION 5.1.5)

Shipowner shall have on board procedure for the fair, effective and expeditious handling of seafarer complaints alleging breaches of the provision of MLC, and a record of complaint must be kept onboard.

14. PAYMENT OF WAGES (REGULATION 2.2)

All Seafarers shall receive the payment for their work regularly and in full in accordance to their employment agreement

The payments due to seafarers are to be made no greater than monthly interval.

Shipowner shall provide adequate measure to ensure that the seafarers are able to transmit all or part of their salary to their families or dependents or legal beneficiaries. Any charge of for this service shall be reasonable in amount and the rate of currency exchange, unless otherwise stated, shall be at the prevailing market rate or the official published rate and not unfavourable to the seafarer.

Name:

Title:

Signature:

Place:

Date:

(Seal or Stamp of the authority, as appropriate)

SUBSTANTIAL EQUIVALENCIES

(Note: Strike out the statement which is not applicable)

The following substantial equivalencies, and provided under the Article VI, paragraphs 3 and 4, of the Convention, except where stated above are noted (insert description if applicable);

No equivalency has been granted.

Name:

Title:

Signature:

Place:

Date:

(Seal or Stamp of the authority, as appropriate)

EXEMPTIONS

(Note: Strike out the statement which is not applicable)

The following exemptions granted by the competent authority as provided in Title 3 of the Convention are noted:

No exemptions has been granted.

Name:

Title:

Signature:

Place:

Date:

(Seal or Stamp of the authority, as appropriate)