Recognition of third country certificates in the EU and the steps to withdrawal (Directive (EU) 2022/993)

Say a chief officer joins a ship flying the flag of a Member State. The certificate of competency in hand was issued by a country outside the EU. It was issued properly under the STCW Convention, and still, where the flag is that of a Member State, the certificate alone does not open the berth.

Directive (EU) 2022/993 splits the opening and the closing of that door across Articles 20 to 22. The opening starts with a request filed by a single Member State. The closing starts with a notification of non-compliance and runs through 2 months of notice.

A third country certificate reaches a Member State flag only after an EU level decision

Seafarers who do not possess the certificates of competency issued by Member States or the certificates of proficiency issued by Member States to masters and officers in accordance with Regulations V/1-1 and V/1-2 of the STCW Convention may be allowed to serve on ships flying the flag of a Member State provided that a decision on the recognition of their certificates of competency or certificates of proficiency has been adopted through the procedures set out in paragraphs 2 to 6 of this Article.

A seafarer may serve on a Member State flagged ship on a certificate the Member States did not issue. But a recognition decision taken through the procedures in paragraphs 2 to 6 has to come first.

The unit of judgement splits here. Recognition is directed at a country, not at a seafarer, and it assesses that country’s training and certification system. So however complete one person’s paperwork is, without a decision on that country the berth does not open.

The door opens only on a Member State request, and the decision takes 24 months

A Member State which intends to recognise, by endorsement, the certificates of competency or the certificates of proficiency referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article issued by a third country to a master, officer or radio operator, for service on ships flying its flag, shall submit a request to the Commission for the recognition of that third country, accompanied by a preliminary analysis of the third country’s compliance with the requirements of the STCW Convention by collecting the information referred to in Annex II to this Directive.

The request comes from a Member State. The Commission does not start the procedure on its own. The request carries a preliminary analysis built from the information set out in Annex II, and the reasons why the country should be recognised are written in by the Member State as well. Once the assessment is initiated, the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) assists with it.

The assessment verifies three things.

• that the country meets all the requirements of the STCW Convention
• that appropriate measures are in place to prevent the issuance of fraudulent certificates
• whether it has ratified the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (this one is a consideration)

Where the Commission concludes that all the requirements are fulfilled, it adopts implementing acts laying down the recognition. The deadline runs 24 months from the day the request was submitted, and stretches to 36 months where major corrective actions are needed. For the waiting time the provision lays a bridge.

The Member State submitting that request may decide to recognise the third country unilaterally until an implementing act is adopted pursuant to this paragraph.

The requesting Member State may recognise that country unilaterally until the implementing act is adopted. In exchange it has to tell the Commission how many endorsements it issued in the meantime. So the same third country certificate opens a berth or does not, depending on which Member State flag the ship flies.

A seafarer whose endorsement has not arrived may serve for 3 months

Recognition is decided country by country, and the endorsement is attached to the individual certificate by the flag Member State. Paragraph 7 opens a door for a seafarer whose endorsement has not yet arrived. Radio duties aside, that seafarer may serve for a period not exceeding 3 months on a certificate issued and endorsed as required by a third country. One condition comes with it.

Documentary proof that an application for an endorsement has been submitted to the competent authorities shall be kept readily available.

Documentary proof that the endorsement was applied for has to stay within reach. Without that paper on board, the 3 month bridge does not stand.

Recognition is reassessed at least every 10 years

Recognition is not a state a country reaches once and keeps. The Commission, assisted by EMSA, reassesses on a regular basis, and the gap from the last assessment cannot exceed 10 years. What is looked at again is whether the criteria in Annex II are still met and whether measures against fraudulent certificates are in place.

The Commission, with the assistance of the European Maritime Safety Agency, shall carry out the reassessment of the third countries based on priority criteria.

The criteria that set the order include the following.

• performance data by the port State control pursuant to Article 24
• the number of endorsements issued against that country’s certificates, and the number of maritime education and training institutions it has accredited
• the date of the last assessment and the number of deficiencies in critical processes found then

Where non-compliance under Article 21 is established, the reassessment of that country is pulled ahead. That port State control sits at the head of the list reads one way in practice. Deficiencies raised on board become an input to a country level assessment.

The door closes through a notification and 2 months of notice

Where there are indications that a particular maritime training establishment no longer complies with the requirements of the STCW Convention, the Commission shall notify the third country concerned that recognition of that third country’s certificates will be withdrawn in two months’ time unless measures are taken to ensure compliance with all the requirements of the STCW Convention.

Article 21 sets the steps out.

• a Member State or the Commission that finds non-compliance notifies immediately, giving substantiated reasons
• the Commission refers the matter to the Committee in Article 31(1) without delay
• a Member State intending to withdraw all endorsements informs the Commission and the other Member States first
• the Commission, assisted by EMSA, reassesses that country
• where there are indications about a training establishment, the country is notified that recognition will be withdrawn in 2 months
• the withdrawal is taken by the Commission in implementing acts, and the Member States concerned implement it

The 2 months are not a grace period. They are conditional notice, and measures that ensure compliance stop the withdrawal from coming. What pulls the trigger is indications about a single maritime training establishment.

Endorsements already issued survive the withdrawal, but promotion does not

Endorsements attesting recognition of certificates, issued in accordance with Article 4(7) before the date on which the decision to withdraw recognition of the third country is taken, shall remain valid. However, seafarers holding such endorsements may not claim an endorsement recognising a higher qualification, unless that upgrading is based solely on additional seagoing service experience.

Endorsements issued before the date of the withdrawal decision remain valid. The provision does not put a serving seafarer ashore on that date. What it closes instead is the next step: that seafarer may not claim an endorsement recognising a higher qualification. The exception is where the upgrading rests only on additional sea service.

So withdrawal bites at the next promotion rather than at today’s service. Where several seafarers on board hold certificates from that country, what to look at is not today’s endorsement but the date each of them is due to move up.

Recognition is also re-examined where no endorsement has been issued against that country’s certificates for more than 8 years. That decision is adopted by implementing acts as well, after notifying the Member States and the country concerned at least 6 months in advance.

Worth confirming

The passages above come from Articles 20, 21 and 22 of Directive (EU) 2022/993. What the assessment and the reassessment look at is set out in Annex II, and this article does not go through that list.

Which countries are on the recognition list today is not in the text of the Directive. It is in the list published in the C series of the Official Journal. Even for a country on that list, whether the flag of your own ship actually endorses the certificate is answered by that flag State. The certificate requirements themselves come from the STCW Convention, and the Directive sets out how the EU verifies and maintains them.