Belize is a small country on the Caribbean coast of Central America with a big register. The International Merchant Marine Registry of Belize, IMMARBE, is a statutory body of the government, housed in the Aura Building on the Philip Goldson Highway outside Belize City, and the ships it flags were inspected more than 2,700 times in three years in the Tokyo MoU region alone. That is a real fleet, and it is a fleet on the Paris MoU black list and the ITF list of flags of convenience. IMMARBE, unlike several of its black list neighbours, wrote the Convention into its own resolution and publishes a seafarer services address. The paperwork exists. Whether the office answers fast is the question your ITF inspector can help you test.
Before you sign a contract under the Belize flag, know which laws apply. You can check your seafarer contract free in the MLC Contract Check: pick Belize, and the report reads your SEA against MLC 2006 and the verified Belizean facts.
Resolution DG-004
Belize registered its MLC 2006 ratification on July 8, 2014. Rather than a new statute, the flag implemented the Convention through a registry instrument: IMMARBE Resolution DG-004, titled The Maritime Labor Convention, 2006. It does three things that matter at the desk.
It names IMMARBE as competent authority. There is no separate labour ministry in the loop. The registry that flags the ship is the authority that certifies its labour conditions and takes the complaint.
It requires a signed SEA for every seaman. No Belize-flagged ship may carry a crew member without a seafarers' employment agreement signed by both sides. A promise, a crew list entry or a manning agency letter is not a contract under DG-004.
Part F sets the on-board complaint procedure. The steps a complaint has to go through on the ship, and the point at which it leaves the ship for IMMARBE, are written in the resolution itself, and the Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance Part I on board is issued under it.
A seafarer services desk
IMMARBE publishes a seafarer services address next to its general one, and a Belize City telephone number. For a black list flag that is worth noting: Comoros publishes nothing, Cameroon is not party to the Convention, Guinea-Bissau routes crew through the owner's desk. Belize gives you a door with seafarer written on it. Use it early, in writing, with the SEA and the payslip attached, and copy the ITF. The verified addresses stand on the Belize flag page of the checker.
What the MLC floor gives you on a Belize ship
Because Belize ratified and issued DG-004, every Belize-flagged ship of 500 gross tons or more on international voyages must carry a Maritime Labour Certificate and a DMLC. Ask to see both at sign-on. The lines in the SEA that have to match them:
- A written SEA signed by you and the shipowner or the owner's representative, with an original you keep.
- Wages at least monthly, with a monthly statement of pay and deductions.
- At least 10 hours of rest in any 24 and 77 in any seven days, recorded and countersigned.
- Paid annual leave of at least 2.5 calendar days per month of service.
- Repatriation at the shipowner's cost after a stated maximum time on board.
- Medical care and sick pay after illness or injury, within the limit the flag allows.
- The Part F complaint procedure, in writing, handed over with the SEA.
On an open register with no national collective agreement, the Convention floor is usually the whole offer: the shortest sickness cover the Convention allows, the lowest overtime surcharge, seven days of notice. If your SEA names an ITF approved agreement, your paper is stronger. The clauses that usually go wrong are in our guide to seafarer contract red flags, and the basic wage line is covered in the seafarer minimum wage guide.
Black list in Europe, low performance in Asia
On the Paris MoU performance list valid July 1, 2026 to July 6, 2027, Belize stands on the black list at rank 64 of 69. The Tokyo MoU rates the flag low performance for 2022 to 2024, on a large number of inspections. The ITF lists Belize as a flag of convenience on its 2025 list.
A big fleet with a low rating means a lot of detentions in absolute numbers, and a port state control officer on either side of the world boards a Belize ship with the flag already counted against it. The crew documents are part of that inspection: the SEA, the rest hour sheets, the payslips, the certificate and the DMLC. Your paper will be read by someone who can hold the ship, so keep it in order. Know the repatriation clause before a detention becomes weeks alongside without pay. How abandonment plays out on flag of convenience ships is in our guide to flags of convenience and your contract.
Free crew appSeafarer Contract CheckCheck your contract clause by clause against MLC 2006 and flag state regulations. The check is free. On iPhone, Android or in the browser.
Belize flag in the contract: what I check before sign-on
- The SEA names Belize as the flag and Resolution DG-004 as the governing instrument.
- Basic wage, overtime and leave pay in separate lines.
- The sickness clause: weeks of wages after being landed sick, and when the owner's liability ends.
- The repatriation clause names the shipowner as the payer and sets a maximum time on board.
- A collective agreement is named and attached, or you know in writing that none applies.
- The Part F complaint procedure came with the SEA, and the seafarer services address is written down somewhere the master cannot take from you.
The step by step use of the checker is in How to Use the MLC Contract Check. For the two open registers in the same sea with a very different record, read our guides to Panama flag labor law and Saint Kitts and Nevis flag labor law.
How the Belize flag rates in port state control
Port state control keeps score on every flag. The regional inspection regimes publish each year which registers get detained most, and the ITF keeps its own list of flags of convenience. This is where Belize stands on the current lists:
- Paris MoU (Europe and Canada): black list, rank 64 of 69, performance list valid July 1, 2026 to July 6, 2027.
- Tokyo MoU (Asia Pacific): low performance, inspections and detentions 2022 to 2024.
- ITF: listed as a flag of convenience, 2025 list.
- MLC 2006: ratified 08 Jul 2014.
These lists count detentions, not contracts. A white list flag can still sit under a bad SEA, and a black list flag tells you how much backing to expect from the administration when something goes wrong on board. The current rating of every flag we cover stands on the Belize flag page, and the app report names MLC 2006 plus the flag at the top of every check, with the same rating next to it.
Source note
ILO NORMLEX ratification register for MLC 2006 (Belize, July 8, 2014); IMMARBE Resolution DG-004, The Maritime Labor Convention, 2006; the IMMARBE contact page; Paris MoU performance lists valid July 1, 2026 to July 6, 2027; Tokyo MoU Annual Report 2024, Table 8; ITF list of FOC registries 2025. Flag facts checked against these sources on September 1, 2026. This article is editorial context for working seafarers, not legal advice.
FAQ
Has Belize ratified MLC 2006?
Yes. Belize registered its ratification on July 8, 2014. The governing instrument is IMMARBE Resolution DG-004, The Maritime Labor Convention, 2006, which names IMMARBE as competent authority and under which the DMLC Part I is issued.
Who runs the Belize ship register?
The International Merchant Marine Registry of Belize, IMMARBE, a statutory body of the Government of Belize at the Aura Building on the Philip Goldson Highway in Belize City.
Does Belize require a written seafarer employment agreement?
Yes. Resolution DG-004 requires a signed seafarers' employment agreement for every seaman on a Belize-flagged ship and sets the on-board complaint procedure in its Part F.
Is Belize a flag of convenience?
Yes. The ITF lists Belize as a flag of convenience on its 2025 list. The flag stands on the Paris MoU black list, rank 64 of 69, on the performance list valid July 2026 to July 2027, and at low performance in the Tokyo MoU region for 2022 to 2024.
Where do I send an MLC complaint about a Belize-flagged ship?
After the on-board procedure under Part F of DG-004, to IMMARBE's seafarer services address, with a copy to the ITF. In a foreign port, port state control and the ITF inspector apply the Convention to the ship regardless of flag.
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