News 22 Jul, 2013 MLC 2006 – ICS Guidance for Ship Operators on Port State Control As Members will be aware, the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006 enters into force on 20 August 2013. In 2006, the Diplomatic Conference which adopted MLC also agreed a Resolution recommending that 12 months should elapse between the introduction of MLC and checks by Port State Control to verify compliance, ie in August 2014. However, port states which have already ratified the MLC may still decide to carry out such checks as from 20 August 2013. To clarify this issue, “Guidance for Ship Operators on Port State Control as from 20 August 2013” has been published by the International Chamber of Shipping. Members are also reminded that they may obtain a complimentary copy of the ISF “Guidelines on the Application of the ILO Maritime Labour Convention” from the Loss Prevention department on request.