Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1988, published 75th ILC session (1988)

Shipowners' Liability (Sick and Injured Seamen) Convention, 1936 (No. 55) - United States of America (Ratification: 1938)

Article 1, paragraph 1, together with Article 11 of the Convention. In its previous direct request the Committee noted that the amendment of 29 December 1982 to the Jones Act (46 USC section 688) appeared (subject to an exception the burden of proof of which is on the seaman) to exclude from the protection provided by these provisions of the Convention foreign seafarers employed by enterprises engaged in the exploration, development or production of offshore mineral or energy resources, in the case of injury occurring in the territorial waters or waters overlaying the continental shelf of a nation other than the United States.

The Committee notes the Government's statement that, in so far as the activities concerned involve transportation on water, this need not involve "maritime navigation" as it understands this term, namely navigation on the high seas only. The Committee would point out that, under the 1958 Convention on the High Seas (in particular article 1) and the 1958 Convention on the Continental Shelf (in particular articles 1 and 3) waters overlaying the continental shelf form part of the high seas. The Committee therefore requests the Government, in the light of these considerations, to review the effect of the 1982 amendment to the Jones Act on the application of the Convention to foreign seafarers - other than permanent residents in the United States - employed by enterprises engaged in the activities covered by this amendment on vessels operating in the waters overlaying the continental shelf of a nation other than the United States.