To apply for a Seafarer Service Book, the seafarer shall submit the following documents:
1.Application form.
2.Original copy and photocopy of the seafarer’s qualification certificate. The original copy will be returned after verification.
3.Original copy and photocopy of the national identification card or equivalent documentation. The original copy will be returned after verification.
4.Two two-inch frontal-view hat-less photographs taken within the past 2 years.
5.A seafarer’s medical certificate issued by a public or teaching hospital within the past two years.
6.If the seafarer is a minor, certificate of the legal representative’s consent.
The Seafarer Service Book is valid for ten years. An application for renewal shall be filed in accordance with the requirements under the previous paragraph before expiry. If the seafarer is serving onboard duty and has not returned to a domestic port, the application for renewal shall be filed within seven days after the return to a domestic port.

When contracted seafarers board a vessel to serve at domestic ports, when an employment contract has been completed, or a seafarer has changed duty and disembarks at a domestic port, the employer shall apply to the Maritime Administration for an appointment or dismissal approval visa and record it in the Seafarer Service Book.
When a domestically employed seafarer boards a vessel in order to serve at foreign ports, the employer shall submit the seafarer’s appointment status to the Maritime Administration within seven days after boarding. When seafarers disembark at foreign ports because of an employment contract ending, the employer shall apply to the Maritime Administration for an appointment or dismissal approval visa within fifteen days after the seafarer returns to the country and subsequently record it in the Seafarer Service Book.
When a seafarer is employed abroad and boards to serve at foreign ports, the employer shall report it to the Maritime Administration for future reference and shall submit the Seafarer Service Book, job appointment application, copy of employment contract, immigration certificate, and other documents when applying to the Maritime Administration for appointment or dismissal approval visa upon the seafarer returning and arriving at the first domestic port, and record said application in the Seafarer Service Book.

When hiring a seafarer to serve on board a vessel, the employer shall sign a written employment contract and send it to the Maritime Administration for review. The same shall apply for any amendments or the termination of an employment contract.
When a seafarer’s employment contract ends while in a foreign country, the employer shall return the dismissed seafarer to the original place of employment in Taiwan.
When a seafarer’s employment contract ends while in a foreign country and said seafarer cannot immediately return to Taiwan, the employer shall provide the reason in writing along with supporting documents and submit them to the Maritime Administration for future reference.
The employment contract of a seafarer as mentioned in paragraph 1 above shall consist of the following:
1. Seafarer’s name, age, date of birth, address, birthplace, and identity card or passport number. Seafarers who are minors shall be subject to a licensed contract of a legal representative with the legal representative’s name, age, identity card or passport number, and address.
2. The responsibilities of the employed seafarer.
3. Name, address, and uniform number of the employer and the name of the ship, or the name, address, uniform number of the representative when the contract is signed by a legal representative, or the name, age, identity card or passport number, and address of the individual.
4. Employment benefits, including wages, allowances, and meal expenses.
5. Length of employment.
6. Contract termination conditions.
7. Agreement regarding returning the seafarer to the original place of employment.
8. Working conditions and welfare matters.
9. Date and place of signing the contract.

A seafarer can apply to the Maritime Administration to issue a seagoing service experience certificate.

A seafarer whose employment has been approved by a foreign vessel shall submit the recognition document issued by the employers’ representative along with passport or outbound and inbound certificate pursuant to the following regulations:
1. A seafarer boarding or disembarking at domestic or foreign ports because of employment termination or duty change shall apply to the Maritime Administration for an appointment or dismissal recognition visa and record it in the Seafarer Service Book.
2. A seafarer not in possession of a seafarer competency certificate issued by a competent authority shall submit not only the documents stipulated in the paragraph above, but also the seafarer competency certificate issued by foreign countries for approval; the seafarer shall record the foreign experience in the Seafarer Service Book.

With regard to any omission, error, or change of an item recorded in the Seafarer Service Book, the seafarer shall submit relevant documents to the Maritime Administration to request correction. The seafarer shall not reject the Maritime Administration’s notification requiring the seafarer to submit the Seafarer Service Book for direct correction.

In order to voluntarily abandon this form of identity, the seafarer shall return the Seafarer Service Book to the Maritime Administration and eliminate his related identity documentation, as well as cancel his Seafarer Service Book. The seafarer shall apply to the Maritime Administration to restore said identity.

Should a Seafarer Service Book be damaged or misplaced, the seafarer shall submit an application to the Maritime Administration for a replacement. Regarding the validity period for a replacement, the expiration date of the original Service Book shall be maintained.

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Cadets attending schools accredited by the competent educational authority and meeting the requirements for marine education and marine training quality management system under the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, specializing in navigation, merchant shipping, shipping technology, transportation technology of navigation groups, marine engineering etc., with a formal academic status and an onboard practice requirement shall submit a detailed internship plan prepared by the school regarding internship items, as well as a medical examination form and the students’ onboard internship register, to the Maritime Administration for a Seafarer Service Book.
Students of foreign nationalities applying for onboard internship shall follow the same qualifications and procedures as domestic students and one of the following documents shall be submitted:
1. Alien Resident Certificate or Alien Permanent Resident Certificate.
2. Passport and residence document of at least one-year validity.
Domestic or foreign cadets or trainees other than the previous two paragraphs shall submit academic certificates, seafarer training completion certificates or seafarer’s examination or test qualification certificates, together with a medical examination form, to the local Maritime Administration for a Seafarer Service Book.
Medical examinations for cadets and trainees shall be governed by the standards and regulations provided for seafarer medical examinations.

The cadets under the first paragraph of the previous article are divided into deck cadets, engineer cadets and electric cadets. Cadets’ onboard internship shall be at least one year.
When an employer employs a cadet or trainee for onboard internship (training), the parties shall sign a fixed-term seafarer employment contract.
Under the fixed-term seafarer employment contract under the previous paragraph, the employer shall pay to the cadets (trainees) at least the wages according to the R.O.C. seafarer minimum monthly salary standards.
The employer shall provide adequate quality food, bedroom, bedding, tableware and personal safety equipment for all cadets and trainees.

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Regarding short-term teaching and training for onboard navigation that lasts less than one year for students from navigation, marine engine, electric engineering or marine tourism related departments or programs, the schools shall prepare a training plan with clearly defined training program and submit it together with medical examination forms and the students’ onboard training register to the Maritime Administration to apply for Seafarer Service Books. The students’ seagoing service experience during onboard teaching and training periods shall be recorded in their Seafarer Service Books.
To apply for short-term onboard teaching and training, foreign students shall be subject to the same qualifications and procedures for domestic students and one of the following documents shall be provided:
1. Alien Resident Certificate or Alien Permanent Resident Certificate..
2. Passport and residence document with validity of at least one year.
Cadets and students participating in onboard teaching and training as approved by the Maritime Administration shall receive training in accordance with the program specified in the onboard training register and their Internship experience shall be recorded.

With regard to students receiving short-term onboard teaching and training mentioned in the previous Article, the employer shall determine its own business needs to sign a fixed-term seafarer employment contract with students pursuant to subparagraph 2 of paragraph 1 of Article 74.

The master and high-ranking officers shall instruct and help cadets learn seafarer tasks at all levels. The chief mate and second engineer officer shall be responsible for supervising and evaluating the cadets’ work and daily lives.

Seamen serving on board a vessel shall be evaluated by the master and reported to the employer, and the master shall be evaluated by the employer.

All vessels shall prepare a seafarer roster to record all of the seafarers’ responsibilities, names, dates of birth, dates of embarkation, passport numbers, and validity periods; said roster shall be signed and held by the master. If any change occurs to the aforementioned items, the roster shall be amended accordingly.

In the case of a ship accident or other extraordinary circumstance, the Maritime Administration, R.O.C. embassies, representative offices, and other institutions authorized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall request relevant seafarers to help with providing assistance or investigating, as necessary.

Ratings shall be required to obtain watch-keeping qualifications pursuant to the following regulations:
1. Deck department: Sailors and other seamen in the deck department shall have more than one year of experience in domestic routes or more than two months of experience in international routes, as well as a certificate of competency issued by a competent authority for ratings that form part of the navigational watch.
2. Engine department: The deputy chief mechanic head and other seamen of the engine department shall have more than one year of experience in domestic routes or more than two months of experience in international routes, as well as a certificate of competency issued by a competent authority for ratings that form part of the engineering watch.

Ratings may be eligible for promotion pursuant to the following:
1. A boatswain or deputy boatswain may be selected by the employer from among capable sailors and quartermasters serving on board the vessel.
2. The Able seafarer deck may be selected by the employer from among capable sailors and quartermasters serving on board the vessel with at least one year of experience and who have obtained a deck assistant competency certificate.
3. The chief mechanic head, deputy chief mechanic head, copper technician, electrician, electric technician, air conditioning technician or pump technician may be selected by the employer from among the seamen with qualified mechanical competence.
4. The Able seafarer engine may be selected by the employer from among the seamen with at least one year of onboard machinist service experience and who have obtained an engineer assistant competency certificate.

The employment of a general affairs department seamen shall be approved by the Maritime Administration pursuant to Article 7.

The head of meals, head chef, sous chef, and kitchen workers that make up the general affairs department shall be at least 18 years old, shall have participated in the ship’s cook’s essential training held by a domestic seafarer training institution and been qualified in the training, as well as have already obtained a training qualification certificate prior to serving on board.
The training mentioned in the above paragraph shall be planned by domestic seafarer training institutions and approved by the Maritime Administration. The training programs and courses shall be created by seafarer training institutions pursuant to the requirements of the Maritime Labor Convention and shall be submitted to the Maritime Administration for approval prior to implementation.

Ratings in the general department shall be eligible for promotions pursuant to the following:
1. The application of able sailors, quartermasters, or mechanic to transfer to the general department shall first have served as a deputy generalist and then shall only be promoted to the formal generalist after six months of seagoing experience and recorded onboard training, as well as shall have a certificate of competency issued by a competent authority for ratings that form part of the navigational and engineering watches.
2. The promotion of a deputy generalist who has not been previously engaged as an able seaman, quartermaster, or mechanic to generalist shall have at least one year of seagoing service experience in that position and recorded training and shall also have a certificate of competency issued by a competent authority for ratings that form part of the navigational and engineering watches.
3. The generalist head and deputy generalist head shall be chosen by the employer from among the ratings with generalist qualifications.

The seagoing service experience certificate visa of seafarers serving on board official vessels shall be issued by the organization for which the seafarer works and shall be submitted to the Maritime Administration for auditing. The seagoing service experience confirmation shall be calculated as two-thirds times years of service.
The purpose shall be included in the aforementioned seagoing service experience certificate.

Regarding seafarers employed by government agencies on board vessels that have official duties, subordinate agencies shall create shift schedules pursuant to the seafarers’ minimum safety shift allocation configuration established in the seafarers’ minimum allocation standards and shall produce a register of actual allocations that the Maritime Administration shall be able to review at any time.
The shift allocation of the aforementioned seagoing service experience shall be determined based on a 16-hour shift. The seagoing service experience of seafarers serving on board different types of vessels shall be determined separately.
The seagoing service experience of senior seafarers with a low position as specified in subparagraph 1 shall be determined pursuant to the seafarer minimum allocation standard of such seafarers’ actual position in the serving vessel.

The employer shall establish both a health and safety and an accident prevention system or plan in order to protect its seafarers’ occupational safety and health.
Said system or plan shall include the following:
1. Risk assessment of occupational safety and health management and the training and instruction of seafarers.
2. Practical prevention measures and procedures for verifying, reporting, and correcting unsafe situations.
3. Instruction of seafarers regarding how to manage their occupational safety and health.
4. The establishment of a ship safety committee; ships with less than five seafarers shall be exempt.
5. Other matters related to occupational safety and health management.

Personnel serving as vessel inspectors pursuant to the Maritime Labor Convention of 2006 (hereinafter referred to as the Convention) shall have the proper inspection knowledge and skills set forth in the Convention and shall have obtained a certificate the conforms to the inspector qualifications of the Convention.
The inspection items to which the above paragraph refers consist of the following:
1. Minimum age
2. Medical certification
3. Seafarers’ qualifications
4. Seafarers’ employment agreements
5. Seafarers’ recruitment and employment service institutions
6. Respective work and rest hours
7. Manning levels for the ship
8. Onboard accommodation spaces
9. Onboard recreational facilities
10. Food and catering services
11. Health and safety management and accident prevention
12. Onboard medical care
13. Onboard complaint procedures
14. Wage payment
The Maritime Administration may designate a non-governmental organization to manage the inspector training or certificate issuance operations specified in paragraph 1.
The aforementioned designation shall be published in the Government Gazette and relevant websites pursuant to regulations.

Before being assigned to shipboard duties, all persons employed or engaged on a seagoing ship, other than passengers, shall receive approved familiarization training in personal survival techniques or receive adequate guidance.
Before being assigned to shipboard duties, all persons employed or engaged on a seagoing ship, which is required to comply with the provisions of ISPS Code, other than passengers, shall receive approved security-related familiarization training.