FURTHER EXTENSION OF THE VALIDITY OF STCW CERTIFICATES AS A TEMPORARY CONTINGENCY MEASURES AMIDST THE COVID19 PANDEMIC
The actions are taken worldwide and within the Philippines, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, has severely affected the conduct of trainings, revalidation of certificates, and ship to shore interactions including effecting crew changes.
1. All STCW certificates previously extended by virtue of earlier issued MARINA Advisories bearing reference numbers “MA-2020-83”, “MA-2020-73”, “MA2020-66”, and “MA-2020-64” (all series of 2020) but were not re-validated up to now due to lack of refresher training as applicable to their certificate to be revalidated shall be extended up to 31 December 2021 without the need to file for an application of extension at the MARINA. This applies to all seafarer’s who are both ONBOARD or ASHORE on the date of issue of this Advisory.
2. All STCW certificates issued by MARINA that is expiring between the period 01 July 2021 to 31 December 2021 (dates inclusive) shall be extended for a period of one (1) year from the date of expiry of the certificates without the need to file for an application of extension at the MARINA. This applies only to all seafarers who are ONBOARD on the date of issue of this Advisory.
3. The concerned licensed manning agencies and shipping companies are required to ensure that the crew are compliant with the above-mentioned STCW requirements, and are hereby directed to submit to MARINA the list of their crewmember/s whose validity of STCW certificate/s has been extended pursuant to this Advisory. An electronic copy of the said information shall be submitted via email at certificate_extension@mail_marina.gov.ph following the attached template in Annex A.
In spite of this extension, all seafarers are hereby encouraged to apply for revalidation of their Certificates of Competency (COC) and Certificates of Proficiency (COP) after completing their online/offline courses, as applicable to their certificate to be revalidated at the earliest opportunity in accordance with the standard requirements for revalidation. In which case, the 5-year validity date shall be reckoned from the original expiration date of the previous certificates.
This Advisory shall take effect immediately and shall be valid until 31 December 2021 unless sooner revoked or a separate advisory was issued extending the validity of this Advisory.
