Seafarer medical certificate validity periods and expiry at sea (MLC Standard A1.2)

Say you are checking the papers of a seafarer about to join a ship and find that the medical certificate expired last month. The relief date is close and no examination slot is available. Whether this seafarer can go, and on what conditions, is settled by MLC, 2006 Regulation 1.2 and Standard A1.2. This article walks through the five periods in the provision: 2 years, 1 year, 6 years, 3 months, and 3 months.

Without a valid medical certificate, work on board is barred outright

Seafarers shall not work on a ship unless they are certified as medically fit to perform their duties.

That is Regulation 1.2, paragraph 1. The medical certificate is not one recruitment paper among others. It is a precondition for working on board. Standard A1.2, paragraph 1 picks this up: the competent authority shall require that seafarers hold a valid certificate before beginning work on a ship. Exceptions open only where the Code prescribes them, as Regulation 1.2, paragraph 2 says. Those exceptions are paragraphs 8 and 9 below.

Who issues the certificate is also fixed. A duly qualified medical practitioner (paragraph 4). A certificate solely concerning eyesight may also be issued by a person the competent authority recognizes as qualified. A seafarer refused a certificate, or given a limitation on their ability to work, gets the opportunity of a further examination by another independent practitioner or an independent medical referee (paragraph 5).

The base validity is a maximum of 2 years, and 1 year under the age of 18

(a) a medical certificate shall be valid for a maximum period of two years unless the seafarer is under the age of 18, in which case the maximum period of validity shall be one year;

That is paragraph 7(a). What the provision sets is not a 2-year certificate but a maximum of 2 years. The chapeau of paragraph 7 attaches two provisos: a shorter period may be required by reason of the specific duties the seafarer is to perform, or required under STCW. Either way, the shorter period wins. For a seafarer under the age of 18, the maximum is 1 year.

Colour vision certification runs a maximum of 6 years, on its own clock

(b) a certification of colour vision shall be valid for a maximum period of six years.

The 6 years for colour vision and the 2 years for the medical certificate are separate periods. The scope differs too. The colour vision requirement attaches to seafarers to be employed in capacities where fitness for the work is liable to be affected by defective colour vision (paragraph 6(a)). The certificate must state that hearing and sight, and colour vision where applicable, are satisfactory, and that the seafarer is not suffering from any condition likely to be aggravated by service at sea, to render them unfit for such service, or to endanger the health of others on board (paragraph 6).

If it expires during a voyage, it holds until the next port of call, capped at 3 months

If the period of validity of a certificate expires in the course of a voyage, the certificate shall continue in force until the next port of call where the seafarer can obtain a medical certificate from a qualified medical practitioner, provided that the period shall not exceed three months.

That is paragraph 9. The endpoint is not any port of call but the next one where the seafarer can obtain a certificate from a qualified practitioner, and that period cannot exceed 3 months. The 3 months is a cap, not an extension granted automatically. If a port where a certificate can be obtained comes first, that is where it has to be obtained.

Working without a certificate in urgent cases takes two conditions together

Paragraph 8 is the route that permits work without a valid certificate at all. The competent authority may permit it in urgent cases, on two conditions: the permission runs no longer than 3 months, and this one.

(b) the seafarer concerned is in possession of an expired medical certificate of recent date.

The seafarer must be in possession of a recently expired certificate. Throw the old certificate away because it expired, and this route closes. Expiry ends the certificate’s force, but the work that piece of paper does as a record remains. A seafarer sailing on this permission must obtain a certificate from a qualified practitioner at the next port of call.

A medical certificate issued under STCW counts for MLC purposes too

That is paragraph 3. A medical certificate issued in accordance with the requirements of STCW shall be accepted by the competent authority for the purpose of Regulation 1.2. No one needs two examinations for the two conventions. For seafarers not covered by STCW, a certificate meeting the substance of those requirements is accepted the same way.

The nature of the examination and the certificate is prescribed by the competent authority after consulting the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations (paragraph 2). Guideline B1.2.1 recommends following the ILO/WHO guidelines for seafarer medical fitness examinations in doing so.

Ships on international voyages need the certificate in English

That is paragraph 10. Medical certificates for seafarers working on ships ordinarily engaged on international voyages must as a minimum be provided in English. The requirement targets ships on international voyages, so the provision itself fixes a language the inspecting officer in a port of call can read.

The validity figures in this article are the maximum values the Convention sets. Flag state law, specific duties, or STCW may require shorter ones (paragraph 7). The examination items and the certificate form are prescribed by the competent authority (paragraph 2), so check flag state law and company procedures before applying any of this.