Standing Orders of the Joint Maritime Commission

Adopted by the Governing Body on 11 December 1948 and amended on 4 March 1953, 20 November 1970, 3 March 1981 and 20 November 1981

Articles

1. Composition of the Commission
2. Sessions of the Commission
3. Officers
4. Duties of the Chairman
5. Deputy members
6. Substitutes
7. Notification of absence
8. Vacancies
9. Termination of membership
10. Admission to meetings
11. Agenda
12. Minutes and reports
13. Voting
14. Subcommittees
15. Place of meeting

ARTICLE 1
Composition of the Commission

1. The Joint Maritime Commission set up by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office shall consist of two members appointed by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, representing respectively the employers' group and the workers' group of the Governing Body, and of forty members nominated by the International Labour Conference at a session dealing with maritime questions, twenty of whom shall be selected by the shipowners' delegates and twenty by the seafarers' delegates at the Conference.

2. It shall also include four deputy shipowners' members and four deputy seafarers' members appointed respectively by the shipowners' delegates and the seafarers' delegates at the Conference.

ARTICLE 2
Sessions of the Commission

The Joint Maritime Commission shall meet when convened by the Director-General of the International Labour Office with the approval of the Governing Body as occasion demands.

ARTICLE 3
Officers

1. The Chairman of the Governing Body shall preside over meetings of the Commission. If he is unable to attend a session he shall nominate a substitute from among the members and deputy members of the Government group of the Governing Body. In the absence of the Chairman during the course of a session, the representatives of the employers' and workers' groups of the Governing Body shall preside at alternate sittings.

2. Should the chair be taken by one of the representatives of the Governing Body as above, the other representative of the Governing Body shall abstain from voting.

3. The Officers of the Joint Maritime Commission shall be the Chairman and two members elected respectively by the shipowners' and the seafarers' representatives on the Commission.

ARTICLE 4
Duties of the Chairman

1. The Chairman shall declare the opening and close of the sittings. Before proceeding with the agenda he shall bring before the Commission any communication which may concern it. He shall direct the debates, maintain order, ensure observance of the Standing Orders, accord or withdraw the right to address the Commission, put questions to the vote and announce the result of the vote.

2. The Chairman shall not vote.

ARTICLE 5
Deputy members

1. Deputy members shall have the right to be present at the sittings and to speak.

2. They have not the right to vote.

3. If a regular member or his substitute appointed as provided in article 6 is absent, he shall be replaced by a deputy member indicated by the members of the group who are present. In such cases the deputy member shall enjoy all the rights of the regular member.

ARTICLE 6
Substitutes

1. If a regular member of the Commission is unable to attend a session, the group to which he belongs shall have full freedom as to the manner of appointing a substitute.

2. A substitute appointed in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article shall enjoy all the rights of the regular member.

3. Every substitute is required to furnish the Chairman with his credentials of appointment in writing.

4. It shall be within the competence of any member of the Commission to bring at his own expense a technical adviser or advisers who, with the permission of the Chairman, shall be entitled to speak, but not to vote.

ARTICLE 7
Notification of absence

1. Regular members and deputy members who have been invited by their group to attend a session of the Commission shall, by notification addressed to the Director-General so as to reach him at least fourteen days before the opening of the session, inform him whether they intend to be present.

2. The Director-General shall immediately inform the group concerned.

3. If a regular member or a deputy member informs the Director-General within the time limit specified in paragraph 1 that he will be unable to attend a session, or if he fails to give the notification prescribed in that paragraph, the group may appoint a substitute in accordance with the provisions of article 6.

4. When a substitute has been appointed in accordance with paragraph 3 above, the regular member whom the substitute is replacing shall lose his right to repayment of travelling and subsistence expenses by the International Labour Organisation.

ARTICLE 8
Vacancies

1. In the event of a vacancy arising owing to the decease or resignation of one of the members of the Commission appointed by the Governing Body, his place shall be taken by whomsoever the Governing Body shall appoint in his place.

2. In the event of a vacancy arising owing to the decease or resignation of a regular or deputy member belonging to the shipowners' or seafarers' group, full freedom as to the manner of replacing him shall be left to the group concerned.

ARTICLE 9
Termination of membership

When a regular or deputy member of the Commission

(a) ceases in the opinion of his group to be actively connected with the shipping industry or with a bona fide trade union of seafarers, or

(b) fails to reply to letters of convocation to two successive sessions of the Commission,

his group shall have the right, if they so desire, to notify the Director-General in writing that they no longer consider the member in question as a member of the group. The Director-General shall so inform the member in question. The group shall then be free to fill the vacancy in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 2 of article 8.

ARTICLE 10
Admission to meetings

1. The sittings of the Commission are not public. The Commission may at any time decide as to the admission of any person to its sittings.

2. The Director-General or his representative and the members of the staff of the International Labour Office who form the secretariat of the Commission shall be present at the sittings.

3. Representatives of the United Nations and the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organisation shall be invited to participate in the proceedings of the Commission without the right of vote. Representatives of other international organisations established by intergovernmental agreement may be invited by the Governing Body, or, if it is not possible to consult the Governing Body, by its Officers, after consultation with the Commission, to participate, without the right to vote, in the proceedings of the Commission with respect to matters in which they have an interest.

4. Members of the Commission who speak neither of the official languages are authorised to bring into the room interpreters to assist them on their responsibility and at their own expense.

ARTICLE 11
Agenda

1. The agenda for each session shall be drawn up by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, after taking into consideration any suggestions which may have been submitted by the Commission.

2. All motions submitted to the Commission shall be in writing.

ARTICLE 12
Minutes and reports

1. The Secretariat shall draw up draft minutes which shall be submitted to the members of the Commission for approval. If the minutes are not approved during the session they shall be submitted subsequently to the members by correspondence. If no objections are raised the minutes shall be considered as approved. Changes requested by correspondence shall be submitted by correspondence to the other members who attended the session for approval before being incorporated in the final minutes. If there is any disagreement the point shall be finally decided at the next meeting of the Commission.

2. The proceedings as well as the minutes of the Commission shall be confidential. The minutes shall, except by the express authority of the Chairman, be circulated only to the members of the Commission, to their substitutes and to the members of the Governing Body.

3. The Official Bulletin of the International Labour Office shall publish an account of the proceedings containing the full texts of resolutions and brief indications of the conditions in which the resolutions were adopted.

ARTICLE 13
Voting

1. Voting shall be by a show of hands. All decisions shall be taken by a simple majority.

2. A record vote shall be taken at the request of four members of the Commission.

ARTICLE 14
Subcommittees

1. During any session the Commission may set up subcommittees to discuss any of the items on its agenda. The Chairman of the Commission or, in his absence, the representatives of the employers' and workers' groups of the Governing Body alternately, shall preside over such subcommittees.

2. The Commission may also recommend to the Governing Body that tripartite subcommittees be convened to discuss any matter appropriate for consideration by such a subcommittee.

3. The Standing Orders of the Joint Maritime Commission shall apply, with the necessary modifications, to the meetings of subcommittees.

ARTICLE 15
Place of meeting

The sessions of the Joint Maritime Commission shall be held at such place as may be decided by the Governing Body after consulting the shipowners' and seafarers' groups.