Seafarer Recruitment and Placement Service Licence - SSB No.: 08/2013

PDF Version

 

RDIMS No .: 8514707
Date ( Y-M-D ): 2013-12-04

We issue Ship Safety Bulletins for the marine community. Visit our Website at www.tc.gc.ca/ssb-bsn to view existing bulletins and to sign up to receive e-mail notices of new ones.

Purpose 

This bulletin provides guidance to Seafarer Recruitment and Placement Service (SRPS) providers who wish to apply to Transport Canada (TC) for a licence.

Scope

The Marine Personnel Regulations (MPR) require that any person providing seafarer recruitment and placement services in Canada must hold a Seafarer Recruitment and Placement Service licence issued by TC.

This applies to all SRPS responsible for recruiting or placing seafarers for work on Canadian vessels, including fishing vessels that are engaged on a near coastal voyage, Class 1 or an unlimited voyage, or foreign vessels.

An SRPS operated by a trade union certified by the Canada Industrial Relations Board under the Canada Labour Code is exempt.

Background

The 94th (Maritime) Session of the International Labour Conference (Geneva, February 2006) adopted the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006). This important new international agreement consolidates almost all of the 70 existing International Labour Office (ILO) maritime labour instruments in a single modern, globally applicable legal instrument. 

The MLC, 2006 establishes the labour working conditions and requirements on board vessels including, among other things, conditions of employment, hours of work and rest, accommodations, recreational facilities, food and catering, health protection, medical care, welfare, and social security protection.  It combines rights and principles with specific standards and detailed guidance as to how to implement these standards at the national level.

The MLC, 2006 also requires that seafarers have access to an efficient and well-regulated seafarer recruitment and placement system.  In Canada, these requirements are consistent with Part 3, Division 2, of the MPR.

The MLC, 2006 came into force on August 20, 2013.

TC Policy

An SRPS that meets the requirements of the MLC, 2006, the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 (CSA 2001), and the MPR may receive a Seafarer Recruitment and Placement Service licence.

An SRPS licence is valid for 5 years, subject to the SRPS complying with the requirements set out in TP 15238E: Certification Guide for Seafarer Recruitment and Placement Service Providers.

TC will renew the licence following a satisfactory renewal audit.

Application for Licence

TC will assess an application for an SRPS licence once it receives a completed application with all mandatory supporting documents.  The completed application will include:

  1. Application for an SRPS Licence, TC form # 82-0714E (English) available at
    http://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Corp-Serv-Gen/5/Forms-Formulaires/searchrs.aspx?formnumber=82-0714E
  2. Supporting Documents
    1. declaration of compliance with Part 1 of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act
    2. credentials of supervisory staff
    3. quality management system manual
    4. certificate of insurance

Certification Principles

TC reviews all applications and supporting documents to verify compliance with the CSA 2001 and the MPR.

This includes an initial assessment and site audits as follows:

  1. Implementation Audit – by TC to verify conformity between the documented and implemented quality management system;
  2. Internal Audit – by the SRPS, 3 years after certification, to verify the effectiveness of its quality management system;
  3. Renewal Audit – by TC, 5 years after certification as required, to validate ongoing conformity;
  4. Periodic surveillance audits – by TC as and when required, to verify ongoing compliance with, and continual improvement of, the SRPS quality management system.

Other

To learn more, or to submit an application, please contact us at MLC-CTM-2006@tc.gc.ca.

The following document is available for downloading or viewing:
Seafarer Recruitment and Placement Service Licence (74 KB )

To access the Portable Document Format ( PDF ) version you must have a PDF reader installed. If you do not already have such a reader, there are numerous PDF readers available for free download or for purchase on the Internet:

Keywords:
Questions concerning this bulletin should be addressed to:
1. Marine Personnel Regulations
2. Seafarer Recruitment and Placement Service
3. Maritime Labour Convention, 2006
AMSP
Joanne Laviolette
613-998-0635
Transport Canada
Marine Safety
Tower C, Place de Ville
330 Sparks Street, 8th Floor
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N8
 

Contact us at: marinesafety-securitemaritime@tc.gc.ca or 1-855-859-3123 (Toll Free)