French endorsement on COC/GMDSS/COP (STCW) issued by foreign States
Any seafarer willing to work on board a shipping vessel, maritime services ship or commercial yacht flying the French flag shall hold a professional training certificate based on the position filled on board. This certificate, which is the evidence that the seafarer has acquired the appropriate skills, may be:
- a COC/GMDSS/COP issued by the French authorities;
- an equivalent certificate issued by a foreign authority. In this case, it is necessary to apply for a French endorsement to the RIF Office
You will find below the guidelines of the RIF Office aiming to help you in the French endorsement administrative process:
Framework for the endorsement of foreign maritime professional certificates
The recognition of maritime professional training certificates required for ranks on board commercial or pleasure ships is set by articles 10 to 15 of the decree no 2015-723 of June 24, 2015 on the issuance of maritime professional training certificates and conditions to perform duties on board ships registered in commercial, yachting, fishing and marine cultures sectors..
Only certificates compliant with the STCW Convention, issued by or under the authority of another member State of the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (EEA) or a recognized third country are endorsed by France.
List of 53 States whose COC/GMDSS/COP are endorsed by France pursuant to STCW international convention rule I/10
- Algeria
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Egypt
- Estonia
- Finland
- Georgia
- Germany
- Ghana
- Greece
- Hong-Kong
- Hungary
- Iceland
- India
- Indonesia
- Ireland
- Italy
- Ivory Coast
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Madagascar
- Malta
- Morocco
- Myanmar
- Netherlands
- New-Zealand
- Norway
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- Senegal
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Tunisia
- Ukrain
- United Kingdom
- Uruguay
- Vietnam
List of maritime professional certificates requiring an endorsement
The maritime certificates issued by or under the authority of a State other than France which must be recognized by the issue of a French endorsement indicating the recognized skills to enable the holder to carry out duties on board vessels flying the French flag are as follows:
- certificates enabling the holder to perform functions at operational or management level (COC STCW II/1, II/2, II/3, III/1, III/2, III/3, III/6, VII/2);
- certificates of basic or advanced training in cargo operations on oil tankers, chemical tankers or liquefied gas tankers (COP STCW V/1-1, V/1-2); and
- qualifications to work as a radiocommunications operator (GMDSS STCW IV/2).
It should be noted that the certificate of proficiency for duties of a ship security officer is not required to obtain an endorsement of recognition.
Validity of the endorsement of recognition
The validity of the endorsement of recognition for a maritime professional training certificate cannot exceed 5 years. The validity of the endorsement is conditioned on the validity of the certificate to which it is related. Consequently, if the basis foreign certificate ceased to be valid during the 5-year period of the endorsement of recognition, the latter would then become invalid.
Pending the issuance of the endorsement of recognition, a provisional attestation valid for only 3 months may be issued to the holder of a valid maritime professional training certificate for which a endorsement of recognition is requested.
Procedures
The application for endorsement of recognition is made by the seafarer or the shipowner/shipmanager of the ship where the certificate holder will work. The shipowner/shipmanager or the seaman shall fill the cerfa form 15333 and send it to the RIF Office (rif.equipage@mer.gouv.fr)
Since May 26, 2020, endorsement of recognition and temporary 3-month certificates are issued in a secured pdf format in the "Portail du marin" ("Seafarer Portal"). As a result:
- in the Cerfa endorsement application form, remember enter the email address to receive information on the endorsement issuance (notification of issuance);
- no original copy of the endorsement or temporary certificate is sent by post, even on request;
- to retrieve the endorsement or temporary certificate, the seafarer signs onto the "Portail du Marin" with the ID number (8 digits or number starting with TI);
- when the request is made by the shipowner, a copy of the endorsement or temporary certificate is sent by email.
Particular attention shall be paid to send all required information and to add a good quality photograph with the file. The photo shall comply with characteristics set in the annex to the decree of February 5, 2009 on the production of identity photographs as part of the issuance of the passport listed below.
Maintaining of a French endorsement
On shiping vessels, services ships and commercial yachts, the original of the French endrosement or the original of the temporary certificate is kept on board the ship on which its holder works. These documents may be shown in electronic format.
The authenticity and validity of these documents can be checked on State Minister for the Sea website.
When the recognition application is for a maritime vocational training certificate issued to a national of a State other than an EU Member State or party to the EEA Agreement, the French endorsement is issued only if there is a work promise made by the shipowner/shipmanager of the ship where the person will work.