mgn211docs_eu_dir_1999_63.pdf

2. 7. 1999

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 167/33

COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 1999/63/EC

of 21 June 1999

concerning the Agreement on the organisation of working time of seafarers

concluded by the European Community Shipowners’ Association (ECSA) and the

Federation of Transport Workers’ Unions in the European Union (FST)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Commission of their desire to enter into nego-

tiations in accordance with Article 4 of the Agree-

ment on social policy;

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European

Community, and, in particular Article 139(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

(8) the said organisations concluded, on 30 September

1998, an Agreement on the working time of

seafarers; this Agreement contains a joint request to

the Commission to implement the Agreement by a

Council decision on a proposal from the Commis-

sion, in accordance with Article 4(2) of the Agree-

ment on social policy;

Whereas:

(1) following the entry into force of the Treaty of

Amsterdam, the provisions of the Agreement on

social policy annexed to the Protocol 14 on social

policy, annexed to the Treaty establishing the

European Community, as amended by the Treaty

of Maastricht, have been incorporated into Articles

136 to 139 of the Treaty establishing the European

Community;

(9) the Council, in its resolution of 6 December 1994

on certain aspects for a European Union social

policy: a contribution to economic and social

convergence in the Union ( 2 ) asked management

and labour to make use of the opportunities for

concluding agreements, since they are close to

social reality and to social problems;

(2) management and labour (‘the social partners'), may

in accordance with Article 139(2) of the Treaty,

request jointly that agreements at Community level

be implemented by a Council decision on a

proposal from the Commission;

(10) the Agreement applies to seafarers on board every

seagoing ship, whether publicly or privately owned,

which is registered in the territory of any Member

State and is ordinarily engaged in commercial

maritime operations;

(3) the Council adopted Directive 93/104/EC of 23

November 1993 concerning certain aspects of the

organisation of working time ( 1 ); whereas sea trans-

port was one of the sectors of activity excluded

from the scope of that Directive;

(11) the proper instrument for implementing the

Agreement is a Directive within the meaning of

Article 249 of the Treaty; it therefore binds the

Member States as to the result to be achieved,

whilst leaving national authorities the choice of

form and methods;

(4) account should be taken of the relevant Conven-

tions of the International Labour Organisation with

regard to the organisation of working time,

including in particular those relating to the hours

of work of seafarers;

(5) the Commission, in accordance with Article 3(2) of

the Agreement on social policy, has consulted

management and labour on the possible direction

of Community action with regard to the sectors

and activities excluded from Directive 93/104/EC;

(12) in accordance with the principles of subsidiarity

and proportionality as set out in Article 5 of the

Treaty, the objectives of this Directive cannot be

sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can

therefore be better achieved by the Community;

this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary

for the attainment of those objectives;

(6) after that consultation the Commission considered

that Community action was desirable in that area,

and once again consulted management and labour

at Community level on the substance of the envis-

aged proposal in accordance with Article 3(3) of the

said Agreement;

(13) with regard to terms used in the Agreement which

are not specifically defined therein, this Directive

leaves Member States free to define those terms in

accordance with national law and practice, as is the

case for other social policy Directives using similar

terms, providing that those definitions respect the

content of the Agreement;

(7) the European Community Shipowners’ Association

(ECSA) and the Federation of Transport Workers’

Unions in the European Union (FST) informed the

( 1 ) OJ L 307, 13.12.1993, p. 18.

( 2 ) OJ C 368, 23.12.1994, p. 6.

L 167/34

Official Journal of the European Communities

2. 7. 1999

(14) the Commission has drafted its proposal for a

Directive, in accordance with its communication of

20 May 1998 on adapting and promoting the social

dialogue at Community level, taking into account

the representative status of the signatory parties and

the legality of each clause of the Agreement;

(15) the Commission informed the European Parlia-

ment and the Economic and Social Committee, in

accordance with its communication of 14

December 1993 concerning the application of the

Agreement on social policy, by sending them the

text of its proposal for a Directive containing the

Agreement;

(16) the implementation of the Agreement contributes

to achieving the objectives under Article 136 of the

Treaty,

prejudice to the rights of Member States and/or manage-

ment and labour to lay down, in the light of changing

circumstances, different legislative, regulatory or contrac-

tual arrangements to those prevailing at the time of the

adoption of this Directive, provided always that the

minimum requirements laid down in this Directive are

adhered to.

Article 3

Transposition

1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regu-

lations and administrative provisions necessary to comply

with this Directive by 30 June 2002, or shall ensure that,

by that date at the latest, management and labour have

introduced the necessary measures by agreement, the

Member States being required to take any necessary

measure to enable them at any time to be in a position to

guarantee the results imposed by this Directive. They

shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.

2. When Member States adopt the provisions referred

to in the first paragraph, these shall contain a reference to

this Directive or shall be accompanied by such reference

at the time of their official publication. The methods of

making such reference shall be laid down by the Member

States.

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

The purpose of this Directive is to put into effect the

Agreement on the organisation of working time of

seafarers concluded on 30 September 1998 between the

organisations representing management and labour in the

maritime sector (ECSA and FST) as set out in the Annex

hereto.

Article 4

Addressees

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

Article 2

Minimum requirements

1. Member States may maintain or introduce more

favourable provisions than those laid down in this

Directive.

2. The implementation of this Directive shall under no

circumstances constitute sufficient grounds for justifying a

reduction in the general level of protection of workers in

the fields covered by this Directive. This shall be without

Done at Luxembourg, 21 June 1999.

For the Council

The President

L. SCHOMERUS

2. 7. 1999

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 167/35

ANNEX

EUROPEAN AGREEMENT

on the organisation of working time of seafarers

Having regard to the Agreement on social policy annexed to the Protocol on social policy attached to the

Treaty establishing the European Community and in particular Articles 3(4) and 4(2) thereof;

Whereas Article 4(2) of the Agreement on social policy provides that agreements concluded at European level

may be implemented at the joint request of the signatory parties by a Council Decision on a proposal from

the Commission;

Whereas the signatory parties hereby make such a request,

THE SIGNATORY PARTIES HAVE AGREED THE FOLLOWING:

Clause 1

number or hours of rest which shall be provided in a

given period of time.

1. The Agreement applies to seafarers on board every

seagoing ship, whether publicly or privately owned,

which is registered in the territory of any Member State

and is ordinarily engaged in commercial maritime

operations. For the purpose of this Agreement a ship

that is on the register of two States is deemed to be

registered in the territory of the State whose flag it flies.

Clause 4

Without prejudice to Clause 5, the normal working hours’

standard of seafarer is, in principle, based on an eight-

hour day with one day of rest per week and rest on public

holidays. Member States may have procedures to authorise

or register a collective agreement which determines

seafarers’ normal working hours on a basis on less favour-

able than this standard.

2. In the event of doubt as to whether or not any ships

are to be regarded as seagoing ships or engaged in

commercial maritime operations for the purpose of the

Agreement, the question shall be determined by the

competent authority of the Member State. The organ-

isations of shipowners and seafarers concerned should

be consulted.

Clause 5

1. The limits on hours of work or rest shall be either:

Clause 2

(a) maximum hours of work which shall not exceed

(i) fourteen hours in any 24 hour period; and

(ii) 72 hours in any seven-day period;

For the purpose of the Agreement:

(a) the term ‘hours of work' means time during which a

seafarer is required to do work on account of the ship;

(b) the term ‘hours of rest' means time outside hours of

work; this term does not include short breaks;

(b) minimum hours of rest which shall not be less

than:

or engaged in any capacity on board a seagoing ship to

which the Agreement applies;

(d) the term ‘shipowner' means the owner of the ship or

any other organisation or person, such as the manager

or bareboat charterer, who has assumed the responsi-

bility for the operation of the ship from the shipowner

and who on assuming such responsibility has agreed

to take over all the attendant duties and responsibil-

ities.

(i) ten hours in any 24 hour period; and

(ii) 72 hours in any seven-day period.

2. Hours of rest may be divided into no more than two

periods, one of which shall be at least six hours in

length and the interval between consecutive periods of

rest shall not exceed 14 hours.

3. Musters, fire-fighting and lifeboat drills, and prescribed

by national laws and regulations and by international

instruments shall be conducted in a manner that mini-

mises the disturbance of rest periods and does not

induce fatigue.

Clause 3

4. In respect of situations when a seafarer is on call, such

as when a machinery space is unattended, the seafarer

shall have an adequate compensatory rest period if the

normal period of rest is disturbed by call-outs to work.

Within the limits set out in Clause 5, there shall be fixed

either a maximum number of hours of work which shall

not be exceeded in a given period of time, or a minimum

L 167/36

Official Journal of the European Communities

2. 7. 1999

5. With regard to paragraphs 3 and 4, where no collective

agreement or arbitration award exists or if the

competent authority determines that the provisions in

the agreement or award are inadequate, it would be for

the competent authority to determine such provisions

to ensure that the seafarers concerned have sufficient

rest.

and require a seafarer to perform any hours of work

necessary until the normal situation has been restored.

3. As soon as practicable after the normal situation has

been restored, the master shall ensure that any seafarer

who have performed work in a scheduled rest period

are provided with an adequate period of rest.

6. With due regard for the general principles of the

protection of the health and safety of workers, Member

States may have national laws, regulations or a proce-

dure for the competent authority to authorise or

the limits set out in paragraphs 1 and 2. Such excep-

tions shall, as far as possible, follow the standards set

out but may take account of more frequent or longer

leave periods, or the granting of compensatory leave for

watchkeeping seafarers or seafarers working on board

ship on short voyages.

Clause 8

1. Records of seafarers’ daily hours of work or of their

daily hours of rest shall be maintained to allow

monitoring of compliance with the provisions set out

in Clause 5. The seafarer shall receive a copy of the

records pertaining to him or her which shall be

endorsed by the master, or a person authorised by the

master, and by the seafarer.

7. A table shall be posted, in an easily accessible place,

with the shipboard working arrangements, which shall

contain for every position at least:

2. Procedures shall be determined for keeping such

records on board, including the intervals at which the

information shall be recorded. The format of the

records of the seafarers’ hours of work or of their hours

of rest shall be established taking into account any

available international guidelines. The format shall be

established in the language provided by Clause 5, para-

graph 8.

(a) the schedule of service at sea and service in port;

and

(b) the maximum hours of work or the minimum

hours of rest required by the laws, regulations or

collective agreements in force in the Member

States.

3. A copy of the relevant provisions of the national legis-

lation pertaining to this Agreement and the relevant

collective agreements shall be kept on board and be

easily accessible to the crew.

8. The table referred to in paragraph 7 shall be estab-

lished in a standardised format in the working

language or languages of the ship and in English.

Clause 9

Clause 6

The records referred to in Clause 8 shall be examined and

endorsed at appropriate intervals, to monitor compliance

with the provisions governing hours of work or hours of

rest that give effect to this Agreement.

No seafarer under 18 years of age shall work at night. For

the purpose of this Clause, ‘night' means a period of at

least nine consecutive hours, including the interval from

midnight to five a.m. This provision need not be applied

when the effective training of young seafarers between the

ages of 16 and 18 in accordance with established

programmes and schedules would be impaired.

Clause 10

1. When determining, approving or revising manning

levels, it is necessary to take into account the need to

avoid or minimise, as fas as practicable, excessive hours

of work, to ensure sufficient rest and to limit fatigue.

Clause 7

2. If the records or other evidence indicate infringement

of provisions governing hours of work or hours of rest,

measures, including if necessary the revision of the

manning of the ship, shall be taken so as to avoid

future infringements.

1. The master of a ship shall have the right to require a

seafarer to perform any hours of work necessary for the

immediate dafety of the ship, persons on board or

cargo, or for the purpose of giving assistance to other

ships or persons in distress at sea.

3. All ships to which this Agreement applies shall be

sufficiently, safely and efficiently manned, in accord-

ance with the minimum safe manning document or an

equivalent issued by the competent authority.

2. In accordance with paragraph 1, the master may

suspend the schedule of hours of work or hours of rest

2. 7. 1999

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 167/37

Clause 11

No person under 16 years of age shall work on a ship.

2. The health assessment referred to in paragraph 1 shall

be free and comply with medical confidentiality. Such

health assessments may be conducted within the

national health system.

Clause 12

The shipowner shall provide the master with the neces-

sary resources for the purpose of compliance with obliga-

tions under this Agreement, including those relating to

the appropriate manning of the ship. The master shall

take all necessary steps to ensure that the requirements on

seafarers’ hours of work and rest arising from this Agree-

ment are complied with.

Clause 14

Shipowners shall provide information on watchkeepers

and other night workers to the national competent

authority if they so request.

Clause 15

Seafarers shall have safety and health protection appro-

priate to the nature of their work. Equivalent protection

and prevention services or facilities with regard to the

safety and health of seafarers working by day or by night

shall be available.

Clause 13

1. All seafarers shall possess a certificate attesting to their

fitness for the work or which they are to be employed

at sea.

The nature of the health assessment to be made and

the particulars to be included in the medical certifcate

shall be established after consultation with the ship-

owners and seafarers organisations concerned.

All seafarers shall have regular health assessments.

Watchkeepers suffering from health problems certified

by a medical practitioner as being due to the fact that

they perform night work shall be transferred, wherever

possible, to day work to which they are suited.

Clause 16

Every seafarer shall be entitled to paid annual leave of at

least four weeks, or a proportion thereof for periods of

employment of less than one year, in accordance with the

conditions for entitlement to, and granting of, such leave

laid down by national legislation and or/practice.

The minimum period of paid annual leave may not be

replaced by an allowance in lieu, except where the

employment relationship is terminated.

Brussels, 30 Septembre 1998.

Federation of Transport Workers’ Unions

in the European Union (FST)

European Community Shipowners’

Association (ECSA)

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