NIM33055 | Special Cases: International going to or coming from abroad EEA Regulations 883/04 (After 1 May 2010): Mariners

Note: This page is under review and the content may only be appropriate to periods beginning before 1 January 2021 and for those covered by a Withdrawal Agreement. A new International NICs manual is under development and will be published in due course.

Article 11(4) of Regulation 883/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the coordination of social security systems

Mariners are subject to the legislation of the Member State where the vessel they are working on is flagged. The work they do on the vessel is treated as being performed in that Member State.

There is an exception for mariners who are paid their remuneration by someone in the same Member State the mariner is habitually resident in. In that situation the mariner will be subject to the legislation of that state rather than to the Member State in which the vessel is flagged. The person or undertaking paying them is treated as their employer, whether they are the employer or not.

“4. For the purpose of this Title, an activity as an employed or self-employed person, normally pursued on board a vessel at sea flying the flag of the Member State shall be deemed to be an activity pursued in the Member State. However, a person employed on board a vessel flying the flag of a Member State and remunerated for such activity by an undertaking or a person whose registered office or place of business is in another Member State shall be subject to the legislation of the latter Member state if he resides in that State. The undertaking or person paying the remuneration shall be considered as the employer for the purposes of the said legislation”

A significant provision is that the person paying the wages who is not the contractual employer (for example an agent for an employer) is treated as the employer.