Regulation on inspection of foreign-flagged ships operating in ports of Vietnam

According to Decree No. 121/2014/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, foreign-flagged ship means a ship flying the flag of a foreign country. Any foreign-flagged ships that operate in ports of Vietnam shall bear the inspection of port authorities, specifically as follows:

- Any foreign-flagged ships that operate in ports of Vietnam shall bear the inspection of port authorities of their compliance with the Law of Vietnam and the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 with respect to working and living conditions of seafarers on board.

- The inspection tasks prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article shall be performed in accordance with guidelines provided by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Co-operative Organization on Port State Control in the Asia-Pacific Region (Tokyo MOU).

- Owners and masters of foreign-flagged ships are liable to facilitate the port authorities in the performance of inspections of ships, and take any actions for correcting unsafe working and living conditions of seafarers on board as required by the port authorities.

Besides, Decree No. 121/2014/NĐ-CP also stipulates handling of complaints filed by seafarers working on board foreign-flagged ships operating in ports of Vietnam as follows:

- Seafarers working on board foreign-flagged ships operating in ports of Vietnam are entitled to file complaints to the maritime administration of the region in which the ship operates.

- Upon the receipt of a seafarer complaint, the regional maritime administration shall undertake an initial investigation and handle the complaint according to guidelines provided by ILO and Tokyo MOU.

Note: Upon the receipt of information concerning a foreign seafarer left in Vietnam, the regional maritime administration shall submit a report thereof to Vietnam Maritime Administration for immediately informing the diplomatic mission or representative mission of the ship’s State of nationality or the seafarer’s State of nationality or State of residence.

View more details at Decree No. 121/2014/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, effective from March 01, 2015.

Le Hai

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