Jurisdiction and Applicable law in individual Employment Contract at sea under European Law from Norwegian perspective

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study is to identify the jurisdiction and applicable law over individual employment contracts at sea in Europe Union and Norway and provide guidance for seafarers on obtaining better protections. Accordingly, chapter 2 of this study is divided into two parts. The first part sets out the rules of jurisdiction regarding individual employment contracts on regulations interpretation contained in United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and Brussels I Regulation (recast) as well as looking into the way these rules are interpreted by the ECJ. It should be noted that although Brussels Convention and Lugano Convention have been replaced by Brussels I Regulation (re-cast), the decisions of old cases based on these conventions consist of the decisive grounds for the courts to make the decisions in the future cases. Another part attempts to interpret the way to decide the jurisdiction concerning maritime employment contracts in Norwegian court and the alternative way for seafarers to claim in Norway. Then chapter 3 of this study examines case law in Europe Union and Norway respectively to illus-trate the way to decide the applicable law concerning maritime employment contracts. It is worth noting that the determination of applicable law in Europe Union is mainly based on Rome I which is not ratified by Norway. There is a divergence of opinion between Europe Union and Norway when determining the applicable law. It is argued that whether the rule of flag State is appropriate for deciding applicable law when the ship is registered under flag of convenience. The conclusion will be that, for the sake of foreseeability of employment contractual parties, it is advisable for Norwegian legislation to harmonise the conflict rules with European legislation.