Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1995, published 82nd ILC session (1995)

Article 3 of the Convention. The Committee notes the text of Ministerial Decree No. 27/94. It notes with interest that, under section 5 of the above Decree, where the seafarers' pass book also serves as an identity document for the purposes of the Convention, it must be in the possession of the holder. However, section 4 of the above-mentioned Decree provides that the pass book may only be used as an identity document while the seafarer is on board a ship which is usually engaged in maritime navigation. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate the scope of this provision, since the seafarers' identity document must enable them, among other things, to take temporary shore leave and to disembark and pass in transit in the territory of any member State for which the Convention is in force in order to join their ship in another country or for repatriation purposes (Article 6, paragraphs 1 and 2).

Article 4, paragraph 2. The Committee notes that under sections 2 and 3 of the above-mentioned Ministerial Decree, the seafarers' pass book may be used as an identity document only if, at the request of the seafarer, it bears the statement in English and Portuguese, which may be in the form of a stamp, that the pass book is a seafarer's identity document for the purposes of Convention No. 108. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide a specimen of the above-mentioned pass book containing the said statement. Furthermore, it asks the Government to indicate whether identity documents have been or may be issued to foreign seafarers, in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 2, and, if so, to indicate the nature of such documents.