RPSL & SEAFARERS EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENTS

1. RPSL & SEA
BY CAPT. PANKAJ KAPOOR

2. WHAT IS A RPSL
• RPSL stands for Recruitment and placement services license
• These companies are involved in recruiting seafarers and placing them on various ships.
• As most of the seafarers from India carry Indian CDC (Continuous Discharge Certificate)
they mandatorily come under the Director General of Shipping and hence are governed by
Merchant Shipping Act.
• Every RPS company must be certified to carry out such activities subject to certain terms
and conditions.
• These RPSL companies act as middle men for shipowners in providing required seafarers

3. WHAT IS A RPSL CONTINUED
• These companies have a pre signed contract with shipowners for the number and
frequency of seafarers required.
• On basis of that agreement they approach the licensing authority for grant of
necessary license.
• RPSL is granted under The Merchant Shipping (Recruitment and Placement of
Seafarers) Rules 2016 and sec’s 98-211 of MSA 1958 (Merchant Shipping Act 1958)
• Under Merchant Shipping rules the license is granted and subsequently monitored
by the Director SEO (Seaman Employment Office) or commonly known as Shipping
Master. On grant of the license , the company is issued a RPSL number.

4. MLC 2006 (AS AMENDED 2016)
MARITIME LABOUR CONVENTION
• In order to understand RPSL, one must have a fair knowledge of WHAT IS MLC ??
• MLC was a convention held in Philippines in 2006 providing guidelines for betterment & protection of
all seafarers.
• As of June 2020 ,97 countries including India have ratified MLC and incorporated the same into its
statutes.
• Title 1.4 of MLC mentions rules of how the RPSL’s are to be governed by the member countries. One
of the sub-clause under Art 1.4 it states as follows
“1. All seafarers shall have access to an efficient, adequate and accountable system for finding
employment on board ship without charge to the seafarer.
2. Seafarer recruitment and placement services operating in a Member’s territory shall conform to
the standards set out in the Code.

5. MLC 2006 (AS AMENDED 2016)
MARITIME LABOUR CONVENTION
• Title 1.4 also sets standards which are to be maintained by each member state by
mentioning
“Each Member that operates a public seafarer recruitment and placement service shall ensure that
the service is operated in an orderly manner that protects and promotes seafarers’ employment
rights as provided in this Convention.”
“Maintain an up-to-date register of all seafarers recruited or placed through them, to be available
for inspection by the competent authority;”
“ Make sure that seafarers are informed of their rights and duties under their employment
agreements prior to or in the process of engagement”

6. QUICK RECAP
Lets make a quick recap of what we have studied till now
• What is a RPSL
• What is :
(a) Merchant Shipping Recruitment & Placement rules 2016
(b) MLC
(c) Merchant Shipping Act
(d) CDC Continuous Discharge certificate
(e) Seaman Employment Office headed by Director SEO or commonly known as Shipping Master
(f) RPSL must have a pre-signed contract with shipowners for number & frequency of seafarers

7. HOW TO APPLY FOR RPSL ??
• A Recruitment & Placement service company has to meet the following conditions
prior applying for license
a)Self attested copy of agreement with a shipowner for number & frequency of required
seafarers
b)Total agreements signed with different shipowners
c)Declaration that no criminal proceedings have been initiated or pending against the
promoters
d)That their license has not been cancelled previously under a different name
e)Assurance that the ship owner has all insurances under MLC and the same are valid. A
copy of same to be given and also loaded on their website.

8. HOW TO APPLY FOR RPSL ??
• f)A bank guarantee for an amount as required for the number of seafarers the
company wishes to employ**
• g)copy of the seaman employment contract
(We shall talk in more detail later in the presentation under CBA)
• h)copy of incorporation certificate
• i) Copy of profit and loss account and the Balance Sheet and acknowledgement copy of
last I. T. returns filed

9. HOW TO APPLY FOR RPSL ??
• j)list of ships, with IMO nos., on which seafarers are recruited / proposed to be
recruited
• k) List of authorized signatories, with specimen signatures and contact details,
with
e - mail address
• l)An undertaking that they will ensure that shipowner will comply with all the
provisions of MLC 2016**
• m)Fill all details and apply in FORM 1

10. FORM 1
• 1. Name
• 2. Status (person/company/institution/agency or other organisation)
• 3. Date of incorporation
• 4. Name, designation and address of the authorised signatories
• 5. Telephone Number
• 6. Fax Number
• 7. Website and e-mail id.
• 8. (a) Registered Office Address (b) Address of all branches
• 9. Whether the office is owned/leased/hired
• 10. Residential address of the authorized signatories

11. FORM 1
• 11. Name and address of all the Bankers
• 12. Permanent income-tax number
• 13. Details of Business during the last five years—enclose Profit and Loss Account and Balance sheet
• 14. Experience, if any, in recruitment of seafarer, number of years
• 15. Whether any authorised signatory has been associated with any recruiting agency in the past if so, give details ***
• 16. If previously in the business of recruitment of seafarers total number of seafarers deployed year-wise, country-wise and
category-wise during the last five years
• 17. Whether there are any complaints pending in respect of seafarers recruited, if so, details thereof ***
• 18. Whether there is any criminal or civil case pending in any court. If so, details thereof
• 19. Whether any authorised signatory has been convicted. If so, details thereof

12. FORM 1
• 20. Total number of agreements/contracts with employer with details thereof
• 21. Number of seafarers proposed to be recruited
• 22. Other Shipping related activities carried out, if any
On submission of FORM 1 , DG shipping or an authorised authority** shall carry out
an INITIAL INSPECTION ON BEHALF of DG Shipping.
On successful completion of the initial inspection a RPSL license is granted having a
validity of 5 years subject to an annual inspection.

13. ANNUAL INSPECTION
AS PER DG CIRC. 9 (2019)
• A RPSL license is valid for 5 years subject to annual inspection
• Items which are checked during an annual inspection are
(a) no fees or other charges for recruitment or for providing employment to seafarers are borne
directly or indirectly
(b) the seafarers’ personal data is collected, stored, processed, combined
(c) the management and staff are adequately trained persons
(d) no means, mechanism or list is used with the intention to prevent or deter seafarers from
gaining employment;
(e) the employment contract or agreement contains a provision to repatriate the seafarer in the
event of his being stranded at any place or transportation of the mortal remains of an expired
seafarer:

14. ANNUAL INSPECTION
(f) The provisions relating to prohibition against discrimination contained in section 97A
of the Act are not violated
97 A:discrimination owing to union or institution
(g) records of all seafarers recruited are maintained;
(h) a seafarer recruited or placed is qualified and holds the requisite documents for the
job concerned;
(i) a proper grievance redressal mechanism is adopted
(j) the seamen’s employment office concerned and next of kin of the seafarer is
informed of each death or disability of the seafarer within forty-eight hours of such
death or disability

15. ANNUAL INSPECTION
(k) the details of the employer and the ship owner are maintained in respect of each
ship;
(l) an acknowledgement containing the name, address, licence number and its validity is
issued to the seafarer on filing an application for placement;
(m) the responsibility, authority and inter-relation of all the personnel in the recruitment
and placement service who manage E-governance
During the annual inspection special attention is given to :
Sea service details of seafarers for past one year / seafarer grievance list / death or
missing cases / abandonment cases / show cause notices / non-payment of wages
cases

16. SUSPENSION/CANCELLATION OF LICENSE
• If at any time during the validity of license SEO receives any complaint against the
RPSL company ,it is obligatory on the SEO to send a “Show Cause “ notice
• On completion of enquiry SEO can , if it finds the RPSL guilty, suspend the
license.
• RPSL has a right to appeal against such a suspension but if the RPSL is found
guilty of a serious breach then SEO has the right to even cancel the license all
together
• On suspension/cancellation of the license the details of RPSL company on the DG
Shipping website is withdrawn thus preventing it from sending any further
seafarers

17. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
MLC
Prior understanding “Collective Bargaining Agreement", lets understand a bit
more on what is MLC (Maritime Labour Convention)
• MLC is a convention held in 2006 to ensure and safeguard rights of all seafarers.
• MLC was held under the aegis of IMO, ILO & ITF
• Its primary aim was to provide guidelines for protection of seafarers
• As of June 2020 , 97 countries have already ratified MLC and India is part of those
97 countries.

18. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
MLC
• MLC covers Conditions for employment under Title 2 and provides as follows
• The terms and conditions for employment of a seafarer shall be set out or referred to in a clear
written legally enforceable agreement and shall be consistent with the standards set out in the
Code.
• Seafarers’ employment agreements shall be agreed to by the seafarer under conditions which
ensure that the seafarer has an opportunity to review and seek advice on the terms and
conditions in the agreement and freely accepts them before signing
• Seafarers working on ships that fly its flag shall have a seafarers’ employment agreement signed
by both the seafarer and the shipowner or a representative of the shipowner

19. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
MLC
• Under MLC there are various guidelines for protection of seafarers. Some of those
are
a. Minimum age of seafarer**
b. Duration of contracts
c. Compensations on event of death or disability
d. Type and size of accommodation to be provided to seafarers
e. various social securities during the period of contract
f. Rights of seafarers under a contract

20. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
MLC
MLC also provides that all SEA must have the following minimum information mentioned on each
agreement
(a) the seafarer’s full name, date of birth or age, and birthplace;
(b) the shipowner’s name and address;
(c) the place where and date when the seafarers’ employment agreement is entered
into;
(d) the capacity in which the seafarer is to be employed;
(e) the amount of the seafarer’s wages or, where applicable, the formula used for
calculating them;

21. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
MLC
(f) the amount of paid annual leave or, where applicable, the formula used for
calculating it;
(g) the termination of the agreement and the conditions thereof
(h) the health and social security protection benefits to be provided to the seafarer by
the shipowner;
(i) the seafarer’s entitlement to repatriation;
(j) reference to the collective bargaining agreement, if applicable; and
(k) any other particulars which national law may require.

22. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
• Collective Bargaining Agreement or CBA as it is commonly known is an agreement between the
seafarers unions and RPSL companies/ship owners
• It is defined under section 2 (c) of Merchant Shipping (Recruitment & Placement )rules 2016 as
an agreement signed, from time to time, between the seafarers' trade unions and the Indian ship
owners for employment of seafarers on board Indian flag ships; or
an agreement signed between the concerned trade unions and employers for an employment on
board foreign flag ships, which is in conformity with the laws of the flag State concerned
• CBA incorporates the guidelines provided under MLC / MSA
• CBA ensures that a seafarer is provided adequate protection and upkeep as mentioned in MLC and
incorporated in the Merchant shipping act
• CBA gives the terms and conditions under which a Indian seafarer is employed on Indian and Foreign
ships

23. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
• Note 1(from instructions given by DG shipping to RPSL companies) : The collective bargaining agreement shall cover the
following minimum clauses and shall be compatible with MLC requirement.
1)Details of wages
ii) Maximum duration of service period.
iii) Details of Medical attention / Sick pay etc.
iv) Details of Death and Disability Compensation
v) Repatriation of seafarers’
vi) Repatriation of Mortal remains of seafarers’.
vii) Health, safety and Environmental protection policy
viii) Early Termination of contract
ix) Service in war zone or war risk like areas (As declared by JWC)***

24. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
• As a copy of CBA has already been shared with you , we will touch only on some
of the salient features of a typical CBA. It a pretty straightforward contract and
hence without going into each and every section we will just touch on some of
them.
• Section 4 mentions the “Duration” of a contract and states as follows
A seafarer shall be engaged for 9 (nine) months and such period may be
extended or reduced by 1 month for operational convenience.
NOTE: Owing to present COVID conditions some of the nations have allowed
shipowners to retain the seafarers for 12 months BUT NOT BEYOND THAT

25. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
• Section 5 covers the Hours of Duty and states “The normal hours of duty shall be eight hours
per day from Monday to Friday inclusive.”
• Section 8 covers “Rest Period” and provides that a seafarer shall have a minimum of 10 hours
rest in any 24-hour period and 77 hours in any seven-day period. “
• Section 10 mentions about Allotments. Allotment means , how much money a seafarer is
permitted to send each month to his family. The same is adjusted against his monthly wages.
• Section 15 talks about compensation to be paid for “Shorthand Manning”. This means if any
person is less than all others who perform his duties should be compensated for extra work.
• Section 16 provides for extra allowances if the ship enters a “war like operation area or a high
risk area”

26. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
• Section 18 highlights various reasons under which a seafarers contract can be
terminated
• One of the most important sections is 24,which mentions compensation in the
event of a disability, specifying the amount payable according to the percentage
of disability.***
• Another important section is 25 providing for compensation for death while
travelling to and from ship.

27. SUMMARY
SHIP OWNER
RPSL
SEAFARER
SEA (as agent to
shipowner)
MLC MSA RPSL Rules