Recognition of foreign certificates and the service allowed before endorsement (STCW Regulation I/10)

Before assigning a seafarer with a foreign certificate, check both the certificate’s validity and the ship’s flag State recognition and endorsement. STCW Regulation I/10 sets the recognition procedure.

Recognition requires an evaluation between States before an individual certificate is endorsed. Temporary service while an endorsement is pending is permitted only under the stated conditions.

Electronic certificates: The STCW I/2 amendments applicable from 2025-01-01 permit electronic certificates. The original-document discussion below does not mean paper is the only accepted format. Verify the authenticity and validity of an electronic certificate issued by the issuing authority; do not equate a simple scan with an official electronic certificate. See the IMO MSC 107 amendment summary.

Recognition begins with an evaluation between States

1 Each Administration shall ensure that the provisions of this regulation are complied with, in order to recognize, by endorsement in accordance with regulation I/2, paragraph 7, a certificate issued by or under the authority of another Party to a master, officer or radio operator and that: .1 the Administration has confirmed, through an evaluation of that Party, which may include inspection of facilities and procedures, that the requirements of the Convention regarding standards of competence, training and certification and quality standards are fully complied with; and .2 an undertaking is agreed with the Party concerned that prompt notification will be given of any significant change in the arrangements for training and certification provided in compliance with the Convention.

.1 and .2 are tied together by and. Both have to exist before recognition (recognition) stands. .1 is the evaluation. The Administration evaluates the other Party and confirms that standards of competence, training and certification and quality standards are complied with, and that evaluation may extend to facilities and procedures (may include). .2 is an undertaking. The two States agree that any significant change will be notified promptly.

Neither condition has anything to do with an individual seafarer. However complete the papers are, recognition does not open at all if the issuing State has not passed our flag State’s evaluation. And the counterpart to the evaluation is a Party.

4 Certificates issued by or under the authority of a non-Party shall not be recognized.

Certificates issued by a non-Party are not recognized. No exception is attached here.

The endorsement follows the authenticity check and does not outlive the certificate behind it

7 An Administration which recognizes under regulation I/10: .1 a certificate of competency; or .2 a certificate of proficiency issued to masters and officers in accordance with the provisions of regulations V/1-1 and V/1-2 shall endorse such certificate to attest its recognition only after ensuring the authenticity and validity of the certificate.

The endorsement is the paper that attests recognition. When that paper may be issued is fixed too: only after ensuring the authenticity and validity of the certificate, that is, after confirming that the underlying certificate is genuine and valid. The order does not reverse.

Paragraph 8 of regulation I/2 sets the lifespan of the endorsement this way.

.4 shall expire as soon as the certificate endorsed expires or is withdrawn, suspended or cancelled by the Party which issued it and, in any case, not more than five years after their date of issue.

If the underlying certificate expires, or the issuing Party withdraws, suspends or cancels it, the endorsement ends at that moment. And in no case may it run more than five years from its date of issue. One seafarer’s file therefore carries at least two expiry dates.

Paragraph 9 of the same regulation requires the capacity written on the endorsement to be identical to the terms used in that Administration’s safe manning requirements. Paragraph 2 of Regulation I/10 adds one more check for management level certificates. Measures have to ensure the seafarer has appropriate knowledge of the Administration’s maritime legislation relevant to the functions to be performed.

Service pending endorsement is limited to three months

5 Notwithstanding the requirement of regulation I/2, paragraph 7, an Administration may, if circumstances require, subject to the provisions of paragraph 1, allow a seafarer to serve for a period not exceeding three months on board a ship entitled to fly its flag, while holding an appropriate and valid certificate issued and endorsed as required by another Party for use on board that Party’s ships but which has not yet been endorsed so as to render it appropriate for service on board ships entitled to fly the flag of the Administration. Documentary proof shall be readily available that application for an endorsement has been submitted to the Administration.

Five conditions sit inside that one sentence.

• It reads an Administration may. This is the Administration’s discretion, not a right of the company or the seafarer.
• It is subject to the provisions of paragraph 1. The evaluation and the undertaking must already exist before the window opens.
• The certificate the seafarer holds must be valid and already endorsed by the issuing Party for use on its own ships.
• The ceiling is three months. There is no wording for an extension.
• Documentary proof that the endorsement was applied for must be readily available.

Paragraph 11 of regulation I/2 requires certificates to be kept on board in original form, and makes that duty subject to paragraph 5 of Regulation I/10. The proof of application fills the place the missing endorsement of recognition would take.

An endorsement of recognition cannot be the basis for a third country

6 Certificates and endorsements issued by an Administration under the provisions of this regulation in recognition of, or attesting the recognition of, a certificate issued by another Party shall not be used as the basis for further recognition by another Administration.

The chain of recognition breaks after one link. State B recognizing and endorsing a certificate issued by State A does not let State C recognize it on the strength of B’s endorsement. C has to go back to the original certificate issued by A and run its own check. That is why an endorsement held by a serving seafarer does not carry over when the ship changes flag.

What is blocked is the other State’s paper, not the service the person has built up. Section A-I/10 of the STCW Code says a Party is not prevented from accepting seagoing service, education and training acquired under a non-Party when issuing its own certificate. Laying someone else’s paper on top and re-examining the underlying record to issue your own are different roads.

The papers to check before joining come in an order

15 Each Party undertakes to make available information on the status of such certificates of competency, endorsements and dispensations to other Parties and companies which request verification of the authenticity and validity of certificates produced to them by seafarers seeking recognition of their certificates under regulation I/10 or employment on board ship.

companies is written into the provision itself. A company holding a certificate may ask the issuing Party to verify its status. And as of 1 January 2017 that status information has to be made available in the English language, through electronic means.

Paper	What it proves	Who issues it
The certificate	That the holder meets the issuing State’s standard of competence	The issuing State’s Administration
The issuing State’s endorsement	That it may be used on that State’s ships	The issuing State’s Administration
The endorsement of recognition	That the ship’s flag State has recognized the certificate	That flag State’s Administration
Proof of application	That the endorsement of recognition has been applied for	Kept by the applicant

Put in order, the check runs like this. Look at whether the seafarer’s issuing State has passed our flag State’s evaluation. Verify against the issuing State’s register that the certificate and its home endorsement are genuine and valid. See whether our flag State’s endorsement of recognition has been issued. If not, see whether the proof of application is in hand and whether the endorsement can be issued within three months of the joining date. Last, match the capacity on the endorsement against the safe manning document of that ship.

Worth confirming

The passages above come from Regulation I/10 (printed pages 12 to 13) and Regulation I/2 (printed pages 5 to 7) in STCW/CONF.2/33, and section A-I/10 in STCW/CONF.2/34 (printed page 25). Which States our flag State has evaluated, what an application for an endorsement of recognition must carry and how long processing takes are left to the flag State. Whether the three-month window is opened at all is the Administration’s discretion too. Reading the guidance of both the ship’s flag State and the seafarer’s issuing State together is where this starts.

You can consult the cited source documents

These links lead to the official publishers of the documents discussed here. Match the edition and provisions cited in the article, and check subsequent amendments and flag-state implementation before applying them.

• IMO · STCW/CONF.2/33
• IMO · STCW/CONF.2/34

Continue with the related operational guidance

• Seafarer medical certificate validity periods and expiry at sea (MLC Standard A1.2)
• Recognition of third country certificates in the EU and the steps to withdrawal (Directive (EU) 2022/993)