Flag principle

1.1. General

Basis: Convention on the High Seas, art. 5 UNO United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, art. 94

The flag state lays down the rules for the supervision of administrative, technical and social matters on board the ships flying its flag. This means that the social security of employees working on board sea-going ships is determined by the legislation of the flag state.

1.2. Ships under the flag of an EU Member State

Basis: EU Regulation 883/04, art. 11.4

Work that is usually carried out, whether on the basis of an employment contract or not, on board a sea-going ship which is sailing under the flag of a Member State, shall be regarded as work that is carried out within that Member State.

1.3. Ships under the Belgian flag

Basis: Legislative Order 07/02/1945, art. 2

Without prejudice to the provisions of international agreement and decrees, merchant shipowners and the seafarers that they employ on board a sea-going ship that sails under the Belgian flag, are subject to the Belgian social security system for merchant shipping companies.

The following definitions apply to the application of this legislation:

• seafarers: employees who are bound to a merchant shipowner, via an employment contract, to carry out work on board a sea-going vessel;
• merchant shipowner: any natural or legal person who, under the Belgian flag and for profit, equips a sea-going vessel for the transport of persons or goods, irrespective of the title he holds to the latter, as well as any company within the meaning of Article 2quater;
• sea-going ship: every ship used or intended to be used at sea.

Can be excluded from the field of application of legislative order of 7 February 1945:

Basis: Royal Decree 15/05/2003

• seafarers who do not reside or are not domiciled in a European Member State;
• seafarers who reside or are domiciled in a country with which Belgium has not concluded a social security treaty.

This exclusion, however, is dependent upon the fulfilment of the following conditions:

• seafarers are insured for social risks in their country of origin, or
• the shipowner has concluded an insurance contract for the relevant seafarers which fulfils the standards set out in the conventions number 55 and 56 of the International Labour Organisation.

1.4. Ships under Luxembourg flag

Basis: Belgium-Luxembourg agreement 25/03/1991

The Belgium-Luxembourg Agreement of 25 March 1991 stipulates that seafarers registered in the Belgian Pool of merchant seafarers retain their rights under the Belgian social security regime, contrary to the flag principle, if they are employed on board a ship sailing under the Luxembourg flag.

1.5. Ex-RMT ships

Basis: Legislative Order 07/02/1945, art. 2 quater

Seafaring employees working after 1 January 1997 on board a Luxembourg-flagged sea-going vessel equipped by a company operating in the maritime transport sector to and from a Member State of the European Union (ex-RST) are also subject to social security contributions in Belgium (Decree Law 07.02.1945, Article 2quater).