Employment mediation on the vessel (crewing)

Crewing is mediation in employment of sailors on the vessels. This activity is licensed in Ukraine. Therefore, in order to be engaged in crewing, you should get a license for mediation in employment abroad. It should be noted that the License terms of performance of economic activity in mediation in employment abroad (hereinafter referred to as the “license terms”) do not contain the term “crewing”. And the license for such activity is obtained as any other license for mediation in employment abroad. However, there are some special aspects.

Special aspects in getting the necessary license

According to sub-clause 6 clause 4 of the license terms, in case of mediation in employment on the vessels, a license applicant, along with other documents, should provide information about the list of vessels which the foreign employer legally has at his disposal and uses, and/or the list of crews which he manages. This information should be certified by the foreign employer himself. The form of providing such information is not established by law, therefore it can be provided in arbitrary form.

Another document which is submitted for getting a license for mediation in employment is the draft of an employment agreement certified by the foreign employer. Namely the draft of an employment agreement is the document to which a licensing authority pays the most attention. The main requirement for an employment agreement is providing proper labor conditions for the employees. In spite of the fact that the draft of an employment agreement is certified by the foreign employer who would like to conclude it in accordance with the law of his country, that draft should comply with requirements of the law of Ukraine. In particular, it should comply with the Law of Ukraine “About people’s employment” and with the Law of Ukraine “About external labor migration”.

And in case with crewing, an employment agreement should be concluded also with consideration of requirements of the Convention of International employment organization of 2006 about employment in maritime shipping (signed in Geneva on February 23, 2006) which is one of the fundamental international legal acts regulating sailors’ employment. The purpose of this Convention, likewise the national law, is to provide proper labor conditions of sailors, including their safety and social protection.

What is to be taken into consideration when choosing a foreign partner

Yet before signing an agreement with a client about providing services on mediation in employment abroad, the mediator should tell the client beforehand about all labor and living conditions in the country of employment. The question of labor conditions is regulated by the said Convention, according to whose clause 3 Article 5 each member country should provide that the vessels wearing its flag colors should have on board a Certificate of conformity with labor norms in maritime shipping, and a Declaration of compliance with labor norms in maritime shipping in accordance with requirements of the Convention. Along with that, according to clause 4 Article 5 of this Convention, a vessel may be checked not only by the flag country, but also by some other member country which ratified this Convention, when a vessel is in one of its ports, in order to find out if the requirements of this Convention are complied with on that vessel.

Thus, when starting the cooperation with a foreign partner in the sphere of employment of sailors on the vessels, you should ask that partner if the following is available on his vessels:

• Certificate of conformity with labor norms in maritime shipping;
• Declaration of compliance with labor norms in maritime shipping.

It is advisable that you ask for copies of the said documents. That will allow guaranteeing for the clients (the sailors) that their labor conditions will comply with international norms.

If you want to be a mediator in employment on vessels – in order to register a license, please call.