"In
accordance with the Joint Declaration of the Government of the People's
Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of Portugal on the
Question of Macao (hereinafter referred to as the Joint Declaration), the
Government of the People's Republic of China will resume the exercise of
sovereignty over Macao with effect from 20 December 1999. Macao will, from that
date, become a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China
and will enjoy a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defence affairs
which are the responsibilities of the Central People's Government of the
People's Republic of China.
It is
provided both in section VIII of Elaboration by the Government of the People's
Republic of China of its Basic Policies Regarding Macao, which is Annex I to
the Joint Declaration, and Article 138 of the Basic Law of the Macao Special
Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, which was adopted on
31 March 1993 by the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of
China, that international agreements to which the People's Republic of China is
not yet a party but which are implemented in Macao may continue to be
implemented in the Macao Special Administrative Region.
In accordance
with the above provisions, I am instructed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the People's Republic of China to inform Your Excellency of the following:
Convention
concerning Seafarers' National Identity Documents (No. 108), adopted at Geneva
on 13 May 1958 (hereinafter referred to as the "Convention"), which
applies to Macao at present, will continue to apply to the Macao Special
Administrative Region with effect from 20 December 1999.
Within the
above ambit, the Government of the People's Republic of China will assume the
responsibility for the international rights and obligations that place on a
Party to the Convention."
Convention concerning Seafarers' National Identity Documents
(ILO No. 108)
(Adopted at Geneva on 13 May 1958)
The General
Conference of the International Labour Organisation,
Having been
convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office,
and having met in its Forty-first Session on 29 April 1958, and
Having decided upon
the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the reciprocal or
international recognition of seafarers' national identity cards, which is the
seventh item on the agenda of the session, and
Having decided that
these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention,
adopts this thirteenth
day of May of the year one thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight the following
Convention, which may be cited as the Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention,
1958:
Article 1
1. This Convention
applies to every seafarer who is engaged in any capacity on board a vessel,
other than a ship of war, registered in a territory for which the Convention is
in force and ordinarily engaged in maritime navigation.
2. In the event of
any doubt whether any categories of persons are to be regarded as seafarers for
the purpose of this Convention, the question shall be determined by the
competent authority in each country after consultation with the shipowners' and
seafarers' organisations concerned.
Article 2
1. Each Member for
which this Convention is in force shall issue to each of its nationals who is a
seafarer on application by him a seafarer's identity document conforming with
the provisions of Article 4 of this Convention: Provided that, if it is
impracticable to issue such a document to special classes of its seafarers, the
Member may issue instead a passport indicating that the holder is a seafarer
and such passport shall have the same effect as a seafarer's identity document
for the purpose of this Convention.
2. Each Member for
which this Convention is in force may issue a seafarer's identity document to
any other seafarer either serving on board a vessel registered in its territory
or registered at an employment office within its territory who applies for such
a document.
Article 3
The seafarer's
identity document shall remain in the seafarer's possession at all times.
Article 4
1. The seafarer's
identity document shall be designed in a simple manner, be made of durable
material, and be so fashioned that any alterations are easily detectable.
2. The seafarer's
identity document shall contain the name and title of the issuing authority,
the date and place of issue, and a statement that the document is a seafarer's
identity document for the purpose of this Convention.
3. The seafarer's
identity document shall include the following particulars concerning the
bearer:
(a) full name
(first and last names where applicable);
(b) date and place
of birth;
(c) nationality;
(d) physical
characteristics;
(e) photograph; and
(f) signature or,
if bearer is unable to sign, a thumbprint.
4. If a Member
issues a seafarer's identity document to a foreign seafarer it shall not be
necessary to include any statement as to his nationality, nor shall any such
statement be conclusive proof of his nationality.
5. Any limit to the
period of validity of a seafarer's identity document shall be clearly indicated
therein.
6. Subject to the
provisions of the preceding paragraphs the precise form and content of the
seafarer's identity document shall be decided by the Member issuing it, after
consultation with the shipowners' and seafarers' organisations concerned.
7. National laws or
regulations may prescribe further particulars to be included in the seafarer's
identity document.
Article 5
1. Any seafarer who
holds a valid seafarer's identity document issued by the competent authority of
a territory for which this Convention is in force shall be readmitted to that
territory.
2. The seafarer
shall be so readmitted during a period of at least one year after any date of
expiry indicated in the said document.
Article 6
1. Each Member
shall permit the entry into a territory for which this Convention is in force
of a seafarer holding a valid seafarer's identity document, when entry is
requested for temporary shore leave while the ship is in port.
2. If the
seafarer's identity document contains space for appropriate entries, each
Member shall also permit the entry into a territory for which this Convention
is in force of a seafarer holding a valid seafarer's identity document when
entry is requested for the purpose of--
(a) joining his
ship or transferring to another ship;
(b) passing in
transit to join his ship in another country or for repatriation; or
(c) any other
purpose approved by the authorities of the Member concerned.
3. Any Member may,
before permitting entry into its territory for one of the purposes specified in
the preceding paragraph, require satisfactory evidence, including documentary
evidence, from the seafarer, the owner or agent concerned, or from the appropriate
consul, of a seafarer's intention and of his ability to carry out that
intention. The Member may also limit the seafarer's stay to a period considered
reasonable for the purpose in question.
4. Nothing in this
Article shall be construed as restricting the right of a Member to prevent any
particular individual from entering or remaining in its territory.
Article 7
The formal
ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to the Director-General
of the International Labour Office for registration.
Article 8
1. This Convention
shall be binding only upon those Members of the International Labour
Organisation whose ratifications have been registered with the
Director-General.
2. It shall come
into force twelve months after the date on which the ratifications of two
Members have been registered with the Director-General.
3. Thereafter, this
Convention shall come into force for any Member twelve months after the date on
which its ratification has been registered.
Article 9
1. A Member which
has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years
from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an act
communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for
registration. Such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the
date on which it is registered.
2. Each Member
which has ratified this Convention and which does not, within the year
following the expiration of the period of ten years mentioned in the preceding
paragraph, exercise the right of denunciation provided for in this Article,
will be bound for another period of ten years and, thereafter, may denounce
this Convention at the expiration of each period of ten years under the terms
provided for in this Article.
Article 10
1. The
Director-General of the International Labour Office shall notify all Members of
the International Labour Organisation of the registration of all ratifications
and denunciations communicated to him by the Members of the Organisation.
2. When notifying
the Members of the Organisation of the registration of the second ratification
communicated to him, the Director-General shall draw the attention of the
Members of the Organisation to the date upon which the Convention will come
into force.
Article 11
The
Director-General of the International Labour Office shall communicate to the
Secretary-General of the United Nations for registration in accordance with
Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations full particulars of all
ratifications and acts of denunciation registered by him in accordance with the
provisions of the preceding Articles.
Article 12
At such times as it
may consider necessary the Governing Body of the International Labour Office
shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this
Convention and shall examine the desirability of placing on the agenda of the
Conference the question of its revision in whole or in part.
Article 13
1. Should the
Conference adopt a new Convention revising this Convention in whole or in part,
then, unless the new Convention otherwise provides:
a) the ratification
by a Member of the new revising Convention shall ipso jure involve the
immediate denunciation of this Convention, notwithstanding the provisions of
Article 9 above, if and when the new revising Convention shall have come into
force;
b) as from the date
when the new revising Convention comes into force, this Convention shall cease
to be open to ratification by the Members.
2. This Convention
shall in any case remain in force in its actual form and content for those
Members which have ratified it but have not ratified the revising Convention.
Article 14
The English and
French versions of the text of this Convention are equally authoritative.