The impact of the maritime labour convention on the maritime regulatory environment

In light of the Maritime Labour Convention’s international coming into force in 2013, this paper examines the impact of the Convention on the maritime regulatory environment. This is part of a set of three papers that examine its impact on the maritime industry as a whole. The research framework for the paper has been mainly modelled after the “OECD’s Framework for Regulatory Policy Evaluation” and has examined the Convention’s design, implementation and outcomes in order to determine its overall impact and effectiveness as a whole. The design of the Convention was subject to legal analysis and various major aspects of its current form were compared to the original objectives that had been set for it. From this analysis, whilst most of its objectives had been met, there still were some gaps in its designed and some recommendations were offered. The implementation process of the Convention was then studied using MPA as a case study to highlight the potential issues that could arise in the lengthy process. From the analysis, it was determined that the implementation stage was the weakest link in the framework and that each ratifying country would need to place special emphasis on it. Lastly, the outcomes of the Convention were examined based on trends from the Port State Control regimes of the regional Memorandums of Understanding. The trends point to an encouraging stricter environment towards seafarer related deficiencies and an increased reach of the Convention over these few years. Thus overall, whilst the Convention has brought about many positive changes, the paper concludes that it’s potential has yet to be maximised, and that continued efforts and attention needs to be paid to it in order to prevent its potential from being wasted.Bachelor of Science (Maritime Studies