CONVENTION No. 53 Convention concerning the Minimum Requirement of Professional Capacity for Masters and Officers on Board Merchant ships

　　[Date of coming into force： 29 March 1939.]

　　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 tothe establishment by each maritime country of a minimum requirement ofprofessional capacity in the case of captain， navigating and engineerofficers in charge of watches on board merchant ships， which is the fourthitem on the agenda 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 Officers' Competency Certificates Convention，1936：

　　Article 1

　　1. This Convention applies to all vessels registered in a territoryfor which this Convention is in force and engaged in maritime navigationwith the exception of——

　　（a） ships of war；

　　（b） Government vessels， or vessels in the service of a publicauthority， which are not engaged in trade；

　　（c） wooden ships of primitive build such as dhows and junks.

　　2. National laws or regulations may grant exceptions or exemptions inrespect of vessels of less than 200 tons gross registered tonnage.

　　Article 2

　　For the purpose of this Convention the following expressions have themeanings hereby assigned to them：

　　（a） “master or skipper” means any person having command or chargeof a vessel；

　　（b） “navigating officer in charge of a watch” means any person，other than a pilot， who is for the time being actually in charge of thenavigation or manoeuvring of a vessel；

　　（c） “chief engineer” means any person permanently responsible forthe mechanical propulsion of a vessel；

　　（d） “engineer officer in charge of a watch” means any person whois for the time being actually in charge of the running of a vessel'sengines.

　　Article 3

　　1. No person shall be engaged to perform or shall perform on board anyvessel to which this Convention applies the duties of master or skipper，navigating officer in charge of a watch， chief engineer， or engineerofficer in charge of a watch， unless he holds a certificate of competencyto perform such duties， issued or approved by the public authority of theterritory where the vessel is registered.

　　2. Exceptions to the provisions of this Article may be made only incases of force majeure.

　　Article 4

　　1. No person shall be granted a certificate of competency unless——

　　（a） he has reached the minimum age prescribed for the issue of thecertificate in question；

　　（b） his professional experience has been of the minimum durationprescribed for the issue of the certificate in question； and

　　（c） he has passed the examinations organized and supervised by thecompetent authority for the purpose of testing whether he possesses thequalifications necessary for performing the duties corresponding to thecertificate for which he is a candidate.

　　2. National laws or regulations shall——

　　（a） prescribe a minimum age to have been attained by and a minimumperiod of professional experience to have been completed by candidates foreach grade of competency certificate；

　　（b） provide for the organization and supervision by the competentauthority of one or more examinations for the purpose of testing whethercandidates for competency certificates possess the qualificationsnecessary for performing the duties corresponding to the certificates forwhich they are candidates.

　　3. Any Member of the Organization may， during a period of three yearsform the date of its ratification， issue competency certificates topersons who have not passed the examinations organized in virtue ofparagraph 2 （b） of this Article who——

　　（a） have in fact had sufficient practical experience of the dutiescorresponding to the certificate in question； and

　　（b） have no record of any serious technical error against them.

　　Article 5

　　1. Each Member which ratifies this Convention shall ensure its dueenforcement by an efficient system of inspection.

　　2. National laws or regulations shall provide for the cases in whichthe authorities of a Member may detain vessels registered in its territoryon account of a breach of the provisions of this Convention.

　　3. Where the authorities of a Member which has ratified thisConvention find a breach of its provisions on a vessel registered in theterritory of another Member which has also ratified the Convention， thesaid authorities shall communicate with the consul of the Member in theterritory of which the vessel is registered.

　　Article 6

　　1. National laws or regulations shall prescribe penalties ordisciplinary measures for cases in which the provisions of this Conventionare not respected.

　　2. In particular， such penalties or disciplinary measures shall beprescribed for cases in which——

　　（a） a shipowner， shipowner's agent， master or skipper has engageda person not certificated as required by this Convention；

　　（b） a master or skipper has allowed any of the duties defined inArticle 2 of this Convention to be performed by a person not holding thecorresponding or a superior certificate；

　　（c） a person has obtained by fraud or forged documents anengagement to perform any of the duties defined in the said Article 2without holding the requisite certificate.

　　Article 7

　　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 be 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 8

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

　　Article 9

　　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 10

　　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 11

　　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 12

　　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 13

　　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 11 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 be 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 14

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