The State Register of Seafarers in Ukraine will start working in at least two months

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) returned the State Register of Seafarers under the control of the MIU, but has not yet been able to resume its work. The restart may take at least two months.

This became known on Tuesday, August 3rd, at a joint briefing by representatives of the SSU, the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ministry of Digital Transformation.

The State Register of Seafarers of Ukraine is an electronic system for issuing documents for the employment of seafarers, where the entire database of seafarers is located. With its help, the seafarers confirmed their qualifications and received diplomas.

The scheme involved officials of the State Service of Maritime and River Transport of Ukraine and the Inspectorate for Training and Certification of Seafarers. Two criminal proceedings have already been opened. The investigation continues. “Two agents who have been recruiting seafarers have been notified of a suspicion of obtaining an undue benefit for onward transfer to officials of the Inspectorate for Training and Certification of Seafarers. Now the issue of bringing other involved persons to justice is being resolved,” Ilya Vitiuk said.

During the briefing, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Yuri Vaskov said that at the moment the MIU cannot ensure the operation of marine services at state facilities in full and this may take time: “We all understand that the current situation is very difficult. The activity of shadowy services that worked before has been stopped. It should be clarified that we are not ready to start operating exclusively services at state facilities in the volume that seafarers need now ”.

The Head of the Executive Committee of the National Council of Reforms of Ukraine Mikhail Saakashvili believes that it may take at least two months to restore the work of the state register: “In the best case-scenario, the register will be able to resume its work in two months.”

According to the Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov, the new register will be fully owned by the state. It will be logged in with the use of a digital signature, which will make any manipulations in this area impossible in the future: “The process of returning the registry from private hands takes time to resume their work. The new register will be owned by the state. The logging in to the new state register will be digital using an electronic signature. We hope that those services related to seafarers will be launched on the Diya portal according to the canons of state public services”. While the state register is not working, the MIU is preparing to accept seafarers` documents in paper format. Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Yury Vaskov stated this: “We hope that from next week we will accept and issue maritime documents, including protocols, in paper form”.

The MIU also plans to extend the validity of documents for all seafarers in the future, and not only till the end of 2021.

“We have decided to extend the validity of all seafarers’ documents, regardless of whether the seafarer is on a voyage or at home til the end of this year. And we plan to continue them further,” said the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure.   As for the testing of seafarers, Yuri Vaskov notes that from September 1st, an experimental project of CES testing of seafarers will start. It will take place on an international boundaryless platform.