CONVENTION No.56 Convention concerning Sickness Insurance for Sea-men

　　[Date of coming into force： 9 December 1949.]

　　The General Conference of the International Labour Organization，

　　Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of theInternational Labour Office， and having met in its twenty-first Sessionon 6 October 1936， and

　　Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard tosickness insurance for seamen， which is included in the second item on theagenda of the Session， and

　　Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of aninternational Convention， adopts this twenty-fourth day of October of theyear one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six the following Convention，which may be cited as the Sickness Insurance （Sea） Convention， 1936：

　　Article 1

　　1. Every person employed as master or Member of the crew or otherwisein the service of the ship， on board any vessel， other than a ship of war，registered in a territory for which this Convention is in force andengaged in maritime navigation or sea-fishing， shall be insured under acompulsory sickness insurance scheme.

　　2. Provided that any Member of the International Labour Organizationmay in its national laws or regulations make such exceptions as it deemsnecessary in respect of

　　（a） persons employed on board vessels of public authorities whensuch vessels are not engaged in trade；

　　（b） persons whose wages or income exceed a prescribed amount；

　　（c） persons who are not paid a money wage；

　　（d） persons not resident in the territory of the Member；

　　（e） persons below or above prescribed age-limits；

　　（f） members of the employer's family；

　　（g） pilots.

　　Article 2

　　1. An insured person who is rendered incapable of work and deprived ofhis wages by reason of sickness shall be entitled to a cash benefit for atleast the first twenty-six weeks or one hundred and eighty days ofincapacity from and including the first day for which benefit is payable.

　　2. The right to benefit may be made conditional upon the completion ofa qualifying period and of a waiting period of a days to be counted fromthe beginning of the incapacity.

　　3. The cash benefit granted to the insured person shall never be fixedat a rate lower than that fixed by the general scheme of compulsorysickness insurance， where such a scheme exists but does not apply toseamen.

　　4. Cash benefit may be withheld

　　（a） while the insured person is on board or abroad；

　　（b） while the insured person is maintained by the insuranceinstitution or from public funds. Provided that in such case it shall onlypartially be withheld when the insured person has family responsibilities；

　　（c） while in respect of the same illness the insured personreceives compensation from another source to which he is entitled by law，so however that in such case benefit shall only be wholly or partiallywithheld if and so far as such compensation is equal to or less than theamount of the benefit payable under the sickness insurance scheme.

　　5. Cash benefit may be reduced or refused in the case of sicknesscaused by the insured person's wilful misconduct.

　　Article 3

　　1. The insured person shall be entitled free of charge， as from thecommencement of his illness and at least until the period prescribed forthe grant of sickness benefit expires， to medical treatment by a fullyqualified medical practitioner and to the supply of proper and sufficientmedicines and appliances.

　　2. Provided that the insured person may be required to pay such partof the cost of medical benefit as may be prescribed by national laws orregulations.

　　3. Medical benefit may be withheld while the insured person is onboard or abroad.

　　4. Whenever the circumstances so require， the insurance institutionmay provide for the treatment of the sick person in hospital and in suchcase shall grant him full maintenance together with the necessary medicalattention and care.

　　Article 4

　　1. When the insured person is abroad and by reason of sickness haslost his right to wages， whether previously payable in whole or in part，the cash benefit to which he would have been entitled had he not beenabroad shall be paid in whole or in part to his family until his return tothe territory of the Member.

　　2. National laws or regulations may prescribe or authorise theprovision of the following benefits：

　　（a） when the insured person has family responsibilities， a cashbenefit additional to that provided for in Article 2；

　　（b） in case of the sickness of members of the insured person'sfamily living in his home and dependent on him， aid in kind or in cash.

　　Article 5

　　1. National laws or regulations shall prescribe the conditions underwhich an insured woman， while in the territory of the Member， shall beentitled to maternity benefit.

　　2. National laws or regulations may prescribe the conditions underwhich the wife of an insured man， while in the territory of the Member，shall be entitled to maternity benefit

　　Article 6

　　1. On the death of the insured person， a cash benefit of an amountprescribed by national laws or regulations shall be paid to the members ofthe family of the deceased or be applied for defraying the funeralexpenses.

　　2. Where there is in force a pension scheme for the survivors ofdeceased seamen， the grant of the cash benefit provided for in thepreceding paragraph shall not be compulsory.

　　Article 7

　　The right to insurance benefit shall continue even in respect ofsickness occurring during a definite period after the termination of thelast engagement， which period shall be fixed by national laws orregulations in such a way as to cover the normal interval betweensuccessive engagements.

　　Article 8

　　1. The insured persons and their employers shall share in providingthe financial resources of the sickness insurance scheme.

　　2. National laws or regulations may provide for a financialcontribution by the public authorities.

　　Article 9

　　1. Sickness insurance shall be administered by self-governinginstitutions， which shall be under the administrative and financialsupervision of the public authorities and shall not be carried on with aview to profit.

　　2. Insured persons， and in the case of insurance institutions set upspecially for seamen under laws or regulations the employers also， shallparticipate in the management of the institutions under such conditions asmay be prescribed by national laws or regulations， which may also providefor the participation of other persons concerned.

　　3. Provided that the administration of sickness insurance may beundertaken directly by the State where and so long as its administrationby self-governing institutions is rendered difficult or impossible byreason of national conditions.

　　Article 10

　　1. The insured person shall have a right of appeal in case of disputeconcerning his right to benefit.

　　2. The procedure for dealing with disputes shall be rendered rapid andinexpensive for the insured person by means of special courts or any othermethod deemed appropriate under national laws or regulations.

　　Article 11

　　Nothing in this Convention shall affect any law， award， custom oragreement between shipowners and seamen which ensures more favourableconditions than those provided by this Convention.

　　Article 12

　　1. In respect of the territories referred to in article 35 of theConstitution of the International Labour Organization， each Member of theOrganization which ratifies this Convention shall append to itsratification a declaration stating

　　（a） the territories in respect of which it undertakes to apply theprovisions of the Convention without modification；

　　（b） the territories in respect of which it undertakes to apply theprovisions of the Convention subject to modifications， together withdetails of the said modifications；

　　（c） the territories in respect of which the Convention isinapplicable and in such cases the grounds on which it is inapplicable；

　　（d） the territories in respect of which it reserves its decision.

　　2. The undertakings referred to in subparagraphs （a） and （b） ofparagraph 1 of this Article shall be deemed to be an integral part of theratification and shall have the force of ratification.

　　3. Any member may by a subsequent declaration cancel in whole or inpart any reservations made in its original declaration in virtue ofsubparagraphs （b）， （c） or （d） of paragraph 1 of this Article.

　　Article 13

　　The formal ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated tothe Director-General of the International Labour Office for registrations.

　　Article 14

　　1. This Convention shall be binding only upon those Members of theInternational Labour Organization whose ratifications have been registeredwith the Director-General.

　　2. It shall come into force twelve months after the date on which theratifications of two Members have been registered with theDirector-General.

　　3. Thereafter， this Convention shall come into force for any Membertwelve months after the date on which its ratification has beenregistered.

　　Article 15

　　As soon as the ratifications of two members of the InternationalLabour Organization have been registered， the Director-General of theInternational Labour Office shall so notify all the Members of theInternational Labour Organization. He shall likewise notify them of theregistration of ratifications which may be communicated subsequently byother Members of the Organization.

　　Article 16

　　1. A Member which has ratified this Convention may denounce it afterthe expiration of ten years from the date on which the Convention firstcomes into force， by an act communicated to the Director-General of theInternational Labour Office for registration. Such denunciation shall nottake effect until one year after the date on which it is registered.

　　2. Each Member which has ratified this Convention and which does not，within the year following the expiration of the period of ten yearsmentioned in the preceding paragraph， exercise the right of denunciationprovided for in this Article， will be bound for another period of tenyears and， thereafter， may denounce this Convention at the expiration ofeach period of ten years under the terms provided for in this Article.

　　Article 17

　　At such times as it may consider necessary the Governing Body of theInternational Labour Office shall present to the General Conference areport on the working of this Convention and shall examine thedesirability of placing on the agenda of the Conference the question ofits revision in whole or in part.

　　Article 18

　　1. Should the Conference adopt a new Convention revising thisConvention in whole or in part， then， unless the new Convention otherwiseprovides，

　　（a） the ratification by a Member of the new revising Conventionshall ipso jure involve the immediate denunciation of this Convention，notwithstanding the provisions of Article 16 above， if and when the newrevising Convention shall have come into force；

　　（b） as from the date when the new revising Convention comes intoforce， this Convention shall cease to the open to ratification by theMembers.

　　2. This Convention shall in any case remain in force in its actualform and content for those Members which have ratified it but have notratified the revising Convention.

　　Article 19

　　The French and English texts of this Convention shall both beauthentic.