Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Medical Examination (Fishermen) Convention, 1959 (No. 113) - Bulgaria (Ratification: 1961)

Article 4(1) of the Convention. Validity of medical certificates for young fishers. Further to its previous comment, in which it noted that section 9 of the Ordinance on Medical and Psycho-physiological Certification of Persons Applying for Employment and the Re-examination of Persons Working in Merchant Shipping and Deep Sea Fishing sets out a two-year compulsory medical examination for persons occupying certain positions and, in some cases, persons over 50 years of age, and a three-year examination for others, the Committee notes that the Government has not provided any new information regarding measures taken or envisaged to ensure that the validity of the medical certificates of young persons under 21 years of age does not exceed one year, as required under this Article of the Convention. However, the Committee notes the Government’s indication, included in its 2010 report on the Medical Examination (Seafarers) Convention, 1946 (No. 73), that it is planning a full revision of the Ordinance and also that it intends to ratify the Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 (No. 188), in 2013 at the latest. In this connection, the Committee recalls that Article 12(2) of Convention No. 188 requires the validity of medical certificates issued to fishers under the age of 18 not to exceed one year and all others not to exceed two years. A similar provision is also to be found in Standard A1.2(7)(a) of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006), regarding medical certificates of seafarers. The Committee therefore asks the Government to take appropriate action in order to align its legislation with the requirements of Convention No. 188. The Committee also requests the Government to refer to its comments made in 2010 under Convention No. 73.