Article 7

No fishermen shall work on board a fishing vessel without a valid medical certificate attesting to fitness to perform their duties.

The competent authority, after consultation, may grant exemptions from the application of paragraph 1 of this Article, taking into account the safety and health of fishermen, size of the vessel, availability of medical assistance and evacuation, duration of the voyage, area of operation, and type of fishing operation.

The exemptions in paragraph 2 of this Article shall not apply to a fisherman working on a fishing vessel of 24 metres in length and over or which normally remains at sea for more than three days. In urgent cases, the competent authority may permit a fisherman to work on such a vessel for a period of a limited and specified duration until a medical certificate can be obtained, provided that the fisherman is in possession of an expired medical certificate of a recent date.