Ratification of the International Labour Organisation’s C188 Work in Fishing Convention appears to be a step closer as the Netherlands government has indicated that the process is now underway.
Commenting at a recent seminar organised in The Hague by the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) and Europêche to discuss the promotion and implementation of C188, Aart Jan Bette of the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment made it plain that the process leading to ratification is underway in Hollandthe Netherlands.
and an announcement can be expected by May as the draft documents are prepared to be presented to the Dutch Parliament.He also announced that a European Commission proposal for a Council Directive transposing the agreement between the EU social partners in sea fishing implementing C188 into the Union’s acquis could be expected mid-May.
The news from the Dutch government was welcomed, and the European Social Partners for Fisheries, Europêche and the ETF together issued a call for EU Member States to ratify the ILO Convention as a matter of urgency. In a joint declaration at the meeting, the social partners also took the opportunity to remind the European Institutions about their responsibilities in this process.
C188, as the Work in Fishing Convention is known, has been in existence for some years already, but has not received the swift ratification that the partner Maritime Labour Convention received. So far there are seven ratifying nations and currently the only one of these in Europe is France, shortly to be followed by the Netherlands. Ten nations need to ratify the convention before it comes into force a year after the tenth ratification.
A full report on the ETF/Europêche meeting can be found in the latest issue of fishing industry news app Hook and Net.
