Presentation by Guillaume Loonis Quélen at the 7th Annual Conference of the NATO Maritime Interdiction Operational Training Centre (NMIOTC), Souda, Crete, 7-9 June 2016.
This presentation examined the legal framework applicable to personnel of private security companies embarked on board ships, focusing on maritime labour law. It addressed the ambiguous legal status of these armed guards, often considered “supernumeraries” and not as seafarers, except in certain states like France. It reviewed the minimum requirements for working at sea, including age, qualifications, identity documents, employment conditions, the master’s responsibility, repatriation procedures, and certification standards. The presentation emphasized the obligations arising from the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), the ISPS Code, the ISO 28007 standard, and the standard GUARDCON contract. Legal risks, particularly in cases of disputes or serious incidents (e.g., the Seaman Guard Ohio case in India), were highlighted as reasons to strengthen the regulatory framework to prevent the activities of these actors from being confused with those of the pirates they fought against.