All of these flag States have the right to sail ships flying their flag on the high seas (LOSC Article 90) ; and those ships enjo y the freedom of navigation upon the high seas (LOSC Article 87) . W ith this freedom comes a concomitant duty upon the flag State to effectively exercise its jurisdiction and control in administrative , technical , social (LOSC Article 94 (1)) and en vironmental protection (LOSC Article 217) matters over ships flying its flag. 1.2 Flag State Responsibility The absence of any authority over ships sailing the high seas would lead to chaos. One of the essential adjuncts to the principle of freedom of the seas is that a ship must fly the flag of a single State and that it is subject to the jurisdiction of that State. (Brown 1994 , p. 287) This opinion of the International Law Commission in 1956 on a draft article of the High Seas Convention (HSC) was a product of its time; a time of traditional maritime States and responsible long-established shipping companies operating for 3 the most part under the effective maritime administrations of their national flag .

The texts of the Guidelines for flag State inspections under the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 and Guidelines for port State control officers carrying out inspections under the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 are to be submitted to the 303rd Session (November 2008) of the ILO Governing Body which is expected to take a decision on its publication.

This study gives an overview of the obligations of flag States and the control of their compliance with such obligations. It outlines the main obligations as to maritime safety and security as well as marine pollution prevention under international as well as European law and shows the still existing enforcement deficits vis-a-vis non-complying flag States as well as substandard ships. Some of the main developments to counter these deficits such as the Voluntary Member State Audit Scheme on the IMO level or the Third Maritime Safety Package on the EU level are taken into account.

The guidelines contained in this book are an important international resource for implementing port State responsibilities under the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC). They were adopted by the ILO in September 2008 together with Guidelines for flag State inspections under the MLC, 2006.

This book is the first comprehensive examination of state practice relating to enforcement by non-flag states of the high seas conservation and management measures adopted by Regional Fisheries Organisations. It demonstrates that an exception is emerging in customary international law to the rule of the primacy of flag state jurisdiction in the high seas fisheries context.

This publication provides guidance to port State control officers (PSCOs) on the conduct of inspections of foreign ships, in order to promote consistency in the way inspections are carried out worldwide, and to harmonize the criteria for deciding on deficiencies found on board relating to the ship, its equipment or its crew, as well as the application of procedures.