omE 1^.90 Official]oumal of the European Communities ^oCoB^Bl^ 
Opinion on the mmimum health and safety requirements for improved medical treatment 
on hoard vessels 
^90BC^^B^ 
On^August 1990 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under 
Article ll^Aofthe Treaty establishmgtheEuroroeanEconomicCommunity,on the minimum 
health and safety requirements for improved medical treatment on board vessels. 
The Section for Social, Eamily,Educational and Cultural Affairs, which was responsible for 
preparing the Committeeswork on the subject, adopted its Opinion onl^ September 1990. 
The rapporteur was Air ^hitworth. 
At its ^9th plenary session ^meeting of 19 September 1990^ the Economic and Social 
Committee adopted the following Opinion unanimously. 
1. The Commissions proposal 
1.1. The Commission^sproposal formspartof its 
programmeconcerningsafety,hygieneand health at 
worlo and is based on Article 118A of theTreaty. 
1.^. It would require all ships registered in Aiember 
States to carry on board medical equipment and medi^ 
cines to deal witharange of specified disorders, include 
ing antidotes to the effects of dangerous substances. 
Such medical supplies should be accompanied by a 
guideto their use and the relevant crew members should 
begiven an appropriate level of medical training. A^edP 
cal supplies on board should be regularly checked. 
There is provision for the updatingof thetechnical 
requirements of the draft foirective^ 
^. General comments 
^.1. The Committee welcomes the Commissions 
proposals, subject to the general and specific comments 
which follow. 
^L health protection and medical care for seafarers 
isthesubjectofarecentlnternationalLabourOrganiza 
tion ^ILO^ Convention ^ol^ adopted inOctober 
198^.The Committee is disturbed tolearn from the 
explanatory memorandum thatthis Convention has not 
yet been ratified by any member State. It urges that all 
possible steps betaken to encourage Aiember States 
and other countries toratify it withthe minimum of 
delay. 
^. Cenerally, the provisions of the draft fo^rective 
are parallel and complementary to those ofthe Convene 
tion. The draft loirective assumes greater importance 
in the absence of ratification of the Convention. 
^. There is clearlyconsiderable merit in the laws 
and regulations of member States in regard to medical care aboard ship being in conformity not only with the 
terms of the Convention, but also with those of each 
other, in the light of contemplated developments in the 
Commission^sprogramme for maritime transport such 
as the transfer of ships from one register to another in 
the Community,themutualrecognitionof seafarers^ 
licences and certificates and the possible setting up of 
aCommunity ship register. 
^. Accordingly the Committee believes that the 
Commission^sproposals are particularly timely. 
^. Specific comments 
^.1. Pr^^^ 
^.1.1. Second ^whereas.The second proviso should 
be reworded in order to refer to the ^particular range 
of risl^s to the safety and health of seafarers on board 
shipu 
^.1.^. Third^whereas.The reference to disembar 
kation and diversions infers that these should be avoids 
ed because of their cost. It would be better therefore if 
that part of the sentence after treatment of the crew^ 
were deleted. 
^.1.^. A fifth proviso should be added as follows^ 
^hereasinternationalstandardsinthisfieldare 
contained in 1LO Convention 1^0 1^^198^ con 
cerning health protection and medical care for sea^ 
farers which has not yet been ratified byA^ember 
States^. 
^.^.1. Paragraphl should specify that the ship^s 
medical guide shall be approved by the competent 
authority and should be consistent with the inter 
nationalrecommendationsmthisfieldmcludingthe 
most recent editions of the international medical guide 
for ships and the medical first-aid guide for use in 
accidents involving dangerous goods. 
No C 332/166 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 90 
3.3. Article 6 
3.3.1. It would clearly be helpful if data were pro­
duced analysing the nature and extent of emergency 
treatment for crew members on board ships at sea, with 
due regard to established medical ethics. One approach 
might be to undertake a collation and analysis of all 
requests for medical advice received from sea-going 
ships by coastal radio stations. The Commission should 
be assisted in this respect by the Committee specified 
in Article 8. 
3.4. Article 7 
3.4.1. It is recognized that annual checks may present 
difficulties where ships are trading permanently away 
from their State of registration but it is nevertheless 
essential that they should be carried out. Member States 
may need to delegate this function to suitable third 
parties. 
3.5. Article 8 
3.5.1. It is essential that the Annexes should be 
updated in the light of technical progress but the advis­
ory committee should only meet when changes of sub­
stance are proposed. The joint committee on maritime 
transport should also be consulted as appropriate. 
Done at Brussels, 19 September 1990. 3.6. Article 2 
3.6.1. It is recognised that the medicines can only be 
listed by reference to the condition for which they 
provide treatment pending an overall harmonization of 
the laws, regulations and practices in Member States 
concerning the supply and designation of medicines and 
pharmacopoeial standards. 
3.6.2. The quantities of each item of medical supplies 
to be carried by vessels in each of the four categories 
and for how many seafarers these quantities would 
suffice should also be specified. 
3.7. Annex 3 
3.7.1. This Annex would be incomplete without a 
reference to the medical first aid guide for use in acci­
dents involving dangerous goods which contains detail­
ed specifications of the substances in question. 
3.8. Annex 4 
3.8.1. This Annex should contain a reference to the 
ILO International Maritime Organization (IMO) 
'Document for guidance—an international maritime 
training guide'. This contains syllabuses for medical 
training courses for seafarers as agreed by the joint 
ILO/IMO Committee on training in 1985 which now 
form part of the requirements of the ILO Convention. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Alberto MASPRONE