Lineamientos funcionales

All areas of the shipping sector are subject to a wide variety of laws and regulations, mainly aiming at maritime safety and human resources. This section provides a brief overview over the most important Organizations that determine the structure of maritime regulatory environment (see Figure 3). Moreover, the major maritime conventions which formulate the framework, within which the shipping industry operates, are described.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is a United Nations’ Organization, dealing with safety and pollution prevention at sea. It was the first ever international organization concerned solely with maritime matters. Some of its most widely known (see Appendix 1) and recognized conventions are SOLAS (Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea), MARPOL (Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships), COLREG (Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea), STCW (International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watch keeping for Seafarers) and lately, the ISM Code (Management Code for the Safe

Operation of Ships and Pollution Prevention), which came into force on December 1st,

Figure 3: The Maritime Regulatory Structure

Source: Martin Stopford 2007

The International Labor Organization (ILO), another United Nations organization, is concerned with the welfare of the seafarers. It deals with working and living conditions at sea, such as working and resting hours, minimum wages, pensions, vacation, and sick payment. It also sets minimum requirements for seafarers, like minimum age and necessary training and qualifications, and it gives rules concerning accommodation, food, and catering on board. Additionally, it regulates medical care on board and ashore, as well as health and safety protection and accident prevention.

The Flag State is the country in which the ship is registered and whose flag it flies. It is the primary legal authority and regulates all commercial and operational aspects of a vessel. For the registration and flying of the flag, the flag state collects a registration fee from the ship operators and an annual tax that depends on the vessel size (tonnage tax). In general, the shipping industry recognizes national flags and open registers (flags of

convenience). The term ‘flag of convenience’ is widely used in the industry to characterize administrations whose main interest is mainly on registration fee rather than on the operating quality and safety standard of the vessel. The flag state issues maritime regulations concerning safety and environmental protection and others, mainly ratifying IMO resolutions that the vessel under its flag has to follow. Monitoring is delegated to the classification society of the ship operator’s choice. Regarding seafarers, regulations concerning safety installations on board the ship and regulations concerning the safe manning and the seaman’s documentation are of most importance.

Figure 4: Top 10 Merchant Fleets of the World by Country of Registration

(Source: Statistics from Lloyd’s Register of Shipping)

Port States are the countries whose ports a vessel may call at during its voyage. As per

UNCLOS 1982 (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), they have the right to legislate for the “good conduct” of ships in their territorial waters, but are otherwise not allowed to interfere with them. Their main areas of legislation are the safety of navigation, protection of navigational aids, preservation of the environment, control of

pollution, and enforcement of customs and sanitary laws (Stopford, 2009). In an effort to standardize the rules for port state inspections and to achieve better co-operation, various countries signed memoranda of understanding (MOUs). The first one was the Paris MOU, created in 1982, which by now is signed by 27 countries. Later, the following MOUs were established:

• The Mediterranean MOU (10 countries) • The Tokyo MOU (18 signatories) • The Caribbean MOU (11 participants)

• The Latin American Agreement (12 countries) • The Indian Ocean MOU (11 signatories)

Inspection results are shared between the co-operating countries, and usually are published on web pages, which are open to all signatories of a certain MOU.

The Classification Societies play an important role when it comes to the safety of vessels. They set technical standards for building and maintaining ships. In order to register and insure any vessel, it has to be classed. The various tasks of the classification societies comprise inspection of technical plans during the design phase of a new ship, surveys during the construction, and issuing of a certificate upon completion. Furthermore, periodic surveys are carried out at regular intervals to ensure the continued safety of all vessels in trade. Some of the big classification societies founded the IACS (the International Association of Classification Societies), an organization that aims at unifying technical standards and interpretation of international regulations. The IACS closely collaborates with the various classification societies, ship owners, and the ship building industry, as well as with government organizations. It is the only non- governmental organization that is accepted as an observer at the IMO, which even granted them consultative status thanks to the extraordinarily high technical expertise of its members.

The International Transport Federation (ITF) was founded in 1896, and since then represents transport workers worldwide and promotes their interests. Historically, the ITF leads the fight against flags of convenience mainly through boycott, a measure that kept

the ship blocked at its berth (Boisson, 1999: 438). The main policy-making body of the ITF is congress, which meets once every four years, and to which all affiliated trade unions can send voting delegates. The ITF has a consultative status at the IMO and forms an important group in the ILO.

The International Shipping Federation (ISF) was set up in London in 1909. It is an international employer’s organization that is concerned mainly with industrial relations relating to working conditions and training of seafarers. ISF has a consultative status with the ILO and IMO, and coordinates and provides the viewpoint of employers.

The International Maritime Employer’s Committee (IMEC) is the only international employers’ organization dedicated to maritime industrial relations. As of 2006 IMEC became a Limited Company registered at Companies House in the United Kingdom. With offices in London and Manila, the organization, among others, also runs a cadet program in the Philippines which is dedicated to the long term supply of seafarers. In November 1999 IMEC and ITF signed the Constitution of the ITF/IMEC Joint Negotiation Forum. This inaugurated the first industry-wide collective bargaining system

covering more than 100,000 seafarers of all nationalities serving on ships registered in

countries designated by ITF as flags of convenience. It is globally unique. There are currently no other examples of international collective bargaining machinery.

Apart from the major Conventions, the ship management activity is also regulated from the taxation point (tonnage tax) of view under the European Union State aid policy. This is done by the “Community Guidelines on State Aid to Maritime Transport”, originally adopted by the EU Commission in 1989, and revised in 1997 and 2004. In June 2009, the EU Commission adopted a Communication providing guidance on State aid to ship

management companies (2009/C 132/06). Cyprus has been very instrumental in the