Press Release: The Commission calls on the Member States and the social partners to implement the ILO Maritime Labour Convention

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) adopted a Convention on labour standards for seafarers, an international legal instrument affecting the 1.2 million seafarers worldwide, as well as shipowners and maritime nations around the world, at the end of the tenth Maritime Session of the International Labour Conference on 23 February 2006. The Commission adopted a draft Council Decision proposing that the Member States ratify the Convention by December 2008. It also commits to consulting social partners to examine the possibility of integrating provisions of the Convention into European law.