In recent years, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management has been working on renewing the rules for crew on seagoing vessels. This has resulted in the new “Wet bemanning zeeschepen (Wbz - Maritime Crew Act),” which took effect July 1, 2025. This law and the associated decrees and regulations ensure that the Netherlands complies with agreements of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Labor Organization (ILO) and EU directives on manning seagoing vessels, such as the STCW Convention, the STCW-F Convention, the MLC and the C188 Convention.
On the ILT website you can find the most important changes: