The Maritime Labour Convention (MLC 2006) is a modern legal document, which amends and integrates 36 International Labour Organization conventions and 1 protocol to a convention. This makes the MLC a global standard equivalent to an international maritime labour code.

Nowadays there is no doubt that the fundamental social rights established by the International Labour Organisation are protected by Community law. This responsibility is a result of the universal character of human rights and the profoundly humanist aspect ofwork. The author is of the opinion that social rights function in the legal order of the Community as general principles borrowed from international public law and from national legal dispensations.

The guidelines in the White Book regarding the development of transport confirmed the conclusions reached by the European Council in Gothenburg regarding, on the one hand, the necessity of optimization, and, on the other, compliance with principles of sustainable development. The second issue, in particular, lays out the conditions for the creation of a contemporary transportation system that will equalize economic results with social costs and the environmental pollution. The expectations are that cabotage transport will become an alternative to ground transport. Cabotage transport between the European ports has not developed to the extent anticipated. The White Book reveals that the development of short distance marine transport, which is currently a priority in EU maritime policy, will stimulate undertakings in the Baltic and North seas regions. The expansion of the European Union should lead to significant possibilities for the further development of cabotage transport. The European Commission anticipates that the Baltic region will be the fastest developing European region in 2002-2010. This provides opportunities but also sets out challenges for Polish vessel owners and seaports, which, as instruments of growing economic exchange, will contribute to the economic development of the country.

The freedom of employment of seafarers is connected with the conditions relating to their taking work on foreign-registered ships. This issue has been for some time the object of numerous normalizations of the system of international law connected with the activities of ILO and IMO, and also of the internal systems of individual states. The freedom of employment of seafarers is regulated by European Community law within the framework of the basic community freedoms, that is the free movement of labour. It grants to seafarers who are the citizens of a particular member state the same chances of joining the crews of vessels belonging to any of the fifteen member states. The question remains open, however, of the employment of citizens of countries from outside the EU. In this matter, competence belongs to member states, which independently define the principles under which foreigners can have access to work. In the face of growing competition from states where registration is inexpensive, the EU has undertaken the task of creating a common register of European shipping registers, the so-called EUROS. However, till now this project has not been realized.

The statute regarding labor on marine merchant vessels, popularly known as the sailing statute, was fundamentally amended by the statute of 20 December 2002. The primary aim of the changes approved by the Polish Parliament was to bring Polish law into line with that of the European Union. This condition is particularly important in the context of the fundamental tenets of the European Union, namely that of legal certitude. It established that organizations have a clearly defined legal position in efficient vindication. The assurance of the effectiveness of EU law does not depend on the formal implementation of regulations, but is assured by the proper execution of the law.

The Consolidated Convention of the ILO on work at sea was accepted on 23 February 2006, during the Ninety-Fourth session o f the International Labor Conference of the ILO in Geneva. The whole session was dominated by the problems of the maritime sector and conditions of work at sea. Work had been begun in 2001 on the consolidation of the Convention and recommendations connected with this sector. The author discusses the Thirty-fifth Convention of the ILO, but the Maritime Labor Convention “absorbs up to 87 ILO acts. ” It is intended that the MLC be a modern legal instrument that will attain the status of a General Maritime Legal Labor Codex, bringing together all conventions and recommendations accepted since 1919. The incorporation o f the MLC o f2006 into the EU legal system and those of its member states will take place in stages. The EU wishes to identify itself with the MLC’s provisions. Swift ratification - in the opinion of the European Commission - would indicate the EU’s leading position in the international arena, and this would encourage other members o f the ILO to ratify the Convention. The principal aim o f the MLC o f2006 is to achieve and maintain homogeneous labor conditions in the maritime sector, and also to ensure the fairest possible conditions for competition.

The article reviews European Union case law on ship registration and sea-faring in EU member states. The EU, aside from encouraging ship registration in member states, enacts choice of law rules in order to mandate the EU lawor domestic law of member states as proper law for seafaring. Today, the larger number of major Polish shipowners fly a flag of convenience (such as Greece or Cyprus), which means Polish merchant ships do not carry Poland’s civil ensigns.