ILO MARITIME LABOUR CONVENTION (10900/06)
Letter from Stephen Ladyman MP, Minister
of State for Transport, Department for Transport to the Chairman
Thank you for your letter of 25 July 2006[29]
which reported Sub-Committee B's consideration of this proposed
Decision at its meeting of 24 July.
The Committee supported the Government's intention
to ratify the new ILO Maritime Labour Convention. However, you
noted the Government's concerns over issues of competence and
asked for a detailed account of the reasons for these reservations.
You also asked whether the Government was content that the draft
Decision sufficiently identified and was restricted to those matters
where the Community has established competence.
As the proposal stood at the time of the Committee's
consideration, the Government could not support the draft Decision,
even though we fully intend to ratify the ILO Convention, because
of our concerns that the Decision in itself could have had an
unintended side-effect causing the conceding of competence by
Member States in areas where competence is currently mixed or
exclusive to Member States.
Of areas covered by the Convention, only the
co-ordination of certain social security matters at Community
level is subject to exclusive Community competence. All other
aspects of the very wide-ranging Convention are subject to mixed
or exclusive competence.
At the time of your earlier consideration, the
Government was not content that the draft Decision sufficiently
identified and was restricted to those matters where the Community
had established competence. In discussions since your Committee's
consideration, the Goverenment has pursued a revised text which
clarifies the competence issue. A revised draft has emerged from
discussions culminating in consideration at the Committee of Permanent
Representatives on 29 November 2006. It will be considered by
the Council of Ministers on 11-12 December, where the Presidency
hopes that it will be possible to reach a General Approach on
the proposal.
Article 1 of the draft Decision has been amended
so that is is now explicit that the Decision only authorises Member
States to ratify the Convention "for the parts falling under
Community competence". This means that the Decision does
not bestow upon the Community any additional competence in relation
to the fields covered by the provisions of the Convention.
Article 2 of the draft Decision has been amended
so that Member States are required "to make efforts to take
the necessary steps to deposit their instruments of ratification
of the Convention" with the ILO "as soon as possible,
preferably before 31 December 2010".
This amendment is greatly preferable to the
earlier text, which would have compelled Member States to ratify
by 31 December 2008.
The UK Government and a majority of other Member
States support this new text, which concedes no existing competence
to the Community.
Your Committee also asked which EU measures
might require the UK to implement parts of the new Convention
which are not mandatory, or to implement additional measures which
go beyond those contained in the Convention. No such measures
are proposed at the moment. However the Commission Communication
addressed to the social partners, on which an Explanatory Memorandum
(EM 10901/06) was provided on 14 July at the same time as the
EM on the proposed Decision, gives an indication of the nature
of measure that could arise. In the Communication to social partners,
the Commission specifically discusses ideas such as the adoption
of additional Community legislation in areas for which provisions
are made in the Convention but which are not covered, or only
partly covered, at Community level, such as the regulation of
recruitment agencies; going beyond the provisions of the Convention
by applying higher standards in the Community than those provided
for in the Convention, and making voluntary aspects of the Convention
mandatory under Community legislation.
At the time of your earlier consideration, we
would not have wished to see such measures emerging subsequent
to a Decision which surrendered existing competence. Any such
proposals to augment significantly the provisions of the Convention
could undermine the concept of the level playing field which the
Convention establishes at a global level and could have implications
for the competitiveness of the flags of EU Member States. These
concerns are now allayed.
The European Parliament has not yet considered
the proposed decision, but is currently scheduled to have its
Plenary First Reading in March 2007. I will, of course, keep you
informed of any further developments.
4 December 2006
Letter from the Chairman to Stephen Ladyman
MP
Thank you for your letrer of 4 December 2006.
Sub-Committee B considered your letter at its meeting on 11 December.
We are reassured that the concerns over the
respective competence of Member States and the Community "have
now been allayed", and view the Presidency's compromise text
as a significant improvement on the Commission's proposed Decision,
and recognise the value in Member States ratifying the new ILO
Maritime Convention.
We remain concerned at the prospect of Community
legislation making existing voluntary arrangements under the Convention
compulsory, particularly as the Commission already seems to have
declared its intent to do so in future.
We will maintain scrutiny at this stage, and
look foward to receiving updates from you following the Transport
Council and the Plenary First Reading in the European Parliament.
12 December 2006
29 Correspondence with Ministers, 40th Report of Session
2006-07, HL Paper 187, pp 111-112. Back
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