Guinea-Bissau is one of the youngest members of the MLC club. The Convention came into force for the flag on June 10, 2025, twelve months after the ratification was registered, and the register's first MLC circulars date from the summer of 2025 and the winter of 2026. The register itself is not in Bissau. The International Ships Registry of Guinea-Bissau operates from Piraeus through the Office of the General Ships Registrar, with a second office in Lebanon. It stands on the Paris MoU black list and on the ITF list of flags of convenience, and it publishes no seafarer complaint address of its own. A contract under this flag is covered by the Convention on paper; the paper is a year old.
Before you sign a contract under the Guinea-Bissau flag, know which laws apply. You can check your seafarer contract free in the Seafarer Contract Checker. Pick Guinea-Bissau, and the report reads your SEA against MLC 2006 and the verified flag facts.
A Convention twelve months old
Guinea-Bissau registered its MLC 2006 ratification on June 10, 2024. Under the Convention's own rules it entered into force for the flag a year later, on June 10, 2025. Nine days after that, the registry issued Marine Circular No. 04/2025 on inspection and certification, the document that tells shipowners how to get a Maritime Labour Certificate under the new flag. On January 15, 2026 Marine Circular No. 01/2026 followed with the revised Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance Part I, the flag's statement of how it implements each rule. That declaration lists, among others, Regulation 5.1.5 on on-board complaint procedures and Regulation 2.2 on payment of wages.
For a seafarer this timeline means two things. First, any Guinea-Bissau ship of 500 gross tons or more on international voyages should now carry a Maritime Labour Certificate issued under the 2025 circular; ask to see it, and ask for the date. Second, the flag has no track record yet of enforcing what it certified. The circulars are the whole body of practice. Read the DMLC Part I on board, because it is the flag's only word on what your SEA has to contain.
Same desk as the owner
The registry publishes an operations address and two Piraeus phone numbers. There is no complaint-only inbox and no seafarer circular naming one. A complaint that the master and the shipowner do not resolve therefore goes to the same office that registered the ship for the owner and issues the owner's certificates. That is not a reason to skip the step; it is a reason to copy the ITF every time, and to keep your own dated copy. The verified addresses stand on the Guinea-Bissau flag page of the checker.
What the MLC floor gives you on this flag
The DMLC Part I under Circular 01/2026 restates the Convention minimums, and the SEA has 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, per Regulation 2.2.
- 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 on-board complaint procedure under Regulation 5.1.5, in writing, handed over with the SEA.
On a young open register with no national collective agreement, the floor is the offer unless an ITF approved agreement is named and attached. The clauses that usually go wrong are in our guide to seafarer contract red flags. How the basic wage relates to the ILO floor is in the seafarer minimum wage guide.
Black list in Europe, medium in Asia
On the Paris MoU performance list valid July 1, 2026 to July 6, 2027, Guinea-Bissau stands on the black list at rank 63 of 69. The Tokyo MoU rates the flag medium performance for 2022 to 2024. The ITF lists it as a flag of convenience on its 2025 list.
A black list flag with a Convention twelve months old is a ship port state control will read closely. Officers in Europe board it as a priority, and the crew documents are part of the inspection: the SEA, the rest hour sheets, the payslips, the certificate and the DMLC. That is the owner's exposure, and your protection, because your paper will be read by someone who can hold the ship. Keep it in order. And know the repatriation clause before a detention turns into unpaid weeks alongside. How abandonment plays out on flag of convenience ships, and who must act, 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.
Guinea-Bissau flag in the contract: what I check before sign-on
- The Maritime Labour Certificate is on board, issued under Circular 04/2025, and the DMLC Part I under Circular 01/2026 is with it.
- The SEA names Guinea-Bissau as the flag and refers to the certificate and the DMLC, not to a national law that has no seafarer provisions.
- 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.
- The on-board complaint procedure came with the SEA, and you have the ITF contact for your next port written down.
The step by step use of the checker is in How to Use the MLC Contract Check. For two other black list registers run from Piraeus, read our guides to Togo flag labor law and Palau flag labor law.
How the Guinea-Bissau 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 Guinea-Bissau stands on the current lists:
- Paris MoU (Europe and Canada): black list, rank 63 of 69, performance list valid July 1, 2026 to July 6, 2027.
- Tokyo MoU (Asia Pacific): medium performance, inspections and detentions 2022 to 2024.
- ITF: listed as a flag of convenience, 2025 list.
- MLC 2006: ratified 10 Jun 2024.
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 Guinea-Bissau 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 (Guinea-Bissau, June 10, 2024, in force June 10, 2025); G-B I.S.R. Marine Circular No. 04/2025 of June 19, 2025; Marine Circular No. 01/2026 of January 15, 2026 (revised DMLC Part I); the registry contact page (gbisr.com); 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 Guinea-Bissau ratified MLC 2006?
Yes, recently. The ratification was registered on June 10, 2024 and the Convention entered into force for the flag on June 10, 2025. Marine Circular 04/2025 covers inspection and certification and Marine Circular 01/2026 issues the revised DMLC Part I.
Who runs the Guinea-Bissau ship register?
The International Ships Registry of Guinea-Bissau, G-B I.S.R., through the Office of the General Ships Registrar, operating from Piraeus, Greece, with an office in Lebanon.
Is there a seafarer complaint address for the Guinea-Bissau flag?
No dedicated one. The registry publishes an operations address that also serves shipowners. After the on-board procedure, write to that address, copy the ITF, and use port state control in your next port.
Is Guinea-Bissau a flag of convenience?
Yes. The ITF lists it as a flag of convenience on its 2025 list. The flag stands on the Paris MoU black list, rank 63 of 69, on the performance list valid July 2026 to July 2027, and at medium performance in the Tokyo MoU region for 2022 to 2024.
Does the MLC apply to a Guinea-Bissau ship that was flagged before June 2025?
Yes. From June 10, 2025 the Convention binds every ship under the flag, and in a foreign port it applied to the ship through port state control even before that date. Ask to see the Maritime Labour Certificate issued under the 2025 circular.
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