Does the PSC inspector test a seafarer's competence, or only the paperwork?

Only the paperwork, unless there are clear grounds. The Paris MoU instruction allows an assessment of competence only where there are clear grounds for believing watchkeeping or security standards are not being maintained, and it says that assessment starts with verification of the certificates. Where doubt remains, the officer may ask the seafarer to perform an operational control at the place of duty.

How are the Paris MoU and Tokyo MoU different for crew certificates?

By region, mostly. The Paris MoU covers Europe and the North Atlantic; the Tokyo MoU has 22 member Authorities in the Asia-Pacific region. Both code certificate findings under category 01, Certificate and Documentation, with a crew-certificates sub-group, and the item names match. The Paris MoU also publishes the instruction its officers follow for STCW certification and manning; we have not found an equivalent public instruction on the Tokyo MoU site.

What happens when an inspector suspects a certificate is fraudulent?

The instruction tells the officer to ask the issuing STCW Party to verify the certificate's authenticity and validity, using the contact points that issuing authorities have lodged with IMO on GISIS, and the EMSA STCW Information System for EU-recognised certificates. Evidence that a certificate was fraudulently obtained, or that the holder is not the person it was issued to, is listed among the examples of detainable deficiencies.

Resources / Guide

Port State Control and crew certificates: what inspectors check, and what gets a ship detained

By the Docka team · Reviewed 7 September 2026

Last updated: 7 September 2026

A Port State Control (PSC) inspector checks that every seafarer who must be certificated holds the right certificate of competency or proficiency, the flag state endorsement and a valid medical, and that the crew matches the minimum safe manning document. Missing, expired or fraudulent certificates are on the published list of deficiencies that may warrant detention.

The two regimes that matter for most of our readers are the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (Europe and the North Atlantic) and the Tokyo MoU (Asia-Pacific, 22 member Authorities). Both publish the deficiency codes their inspectors use, and the Paris MoU publishes the instruction its officers follow for certification and manning. This guide is built from those documents, not from anecdotes.

What the inspector checks first

The Paris MoU instruction PSCC57/2024/05 limits the initial inspection of seafarer certificates to verifying that seafarers who are required to be certificated hold the appropriate CoC, CoP and documentary evidence under chapters II to VII of STCW, plus their flag state endorsement, a valid dispensation, or proof that an endorsement application has been submitted.

The officer then confirms the certificates fit the ship's characteristics, its operation and the person's position on board. A chief mate's CoC on a chemical tanker without the tanker proficiency fails that test, however valid the CoC is.

Manning is checked alongside. The officer reads the Minimum Safe Manning Document (MSMD) and the muster list and verifies that the numbers and certificates on board match them. If the ship is manned in line with its MSMD, the officer should accept it as safely manned. Hours of rest come next: the watch schedule must be posted in the ship's working language and in English, and the daily rest records must be kept in the same way.

The instruction also says plainly that incorrect wording or missing information on a certificate may be cause for suspicion of fraud, and the officer should investigate. A capacity wording that does not match the endorsement, or a number format that is wrong for the issuing flag, draws attention for exactly that reason.

The deficiency codes

Both MoUs code certificate findings under category 01, Certificate and Documentation, which splits into ship certificates and crew certificates. The Tokyo MoU deficiency code list (as of 25 December 2025) numbers the crew items: 01201 certificates for master and officers, 01202 certificate for rating for watchkeeping, 01203 certificates for radio personnel, 01204 certificate for personnel on tankers, 01206 certificate for advanced fire-fighting, 01213 evidence of basic training, 01214 endorsement by flag State, 01215 application for endorsement by flag State, and 01218 medical certificate.

The Paris MoU list of 1 July 2026 uses the same item names, from "Certificates for master and officers" through "Endorsement by flagstate" and "Evidence of Basic Training" to "Medical certificate".

Why the code matters to you: it is what appears on the inspection report against the ship, and a pattern of crew-certificate findings across a company's ships is visible to the next inspector who looks the company up. We do not quote detention or deficiency counts here. Both MoUs publish current detention lists and annual reports, and those figures change monthly.

Detention, or rectify before departure

The instruction is specific. Deficiencies that may warrant detention are those that pose a danger to persons, property or the environment under STCW regulation I/4, and it lists them:

a seafarer who fails to hold a certificate, an appropriate certificate, a valid dispensation, or proof that an endorsement application was submitted;
failure to comply with the flag state's safe manning requirement;
navigational or engineering watch arrangements that do not meet the flag's requirements;
nobody in the watch qualified to operate equipment essential to safe navigation, safety radio communications or pollution prevention;
inability to provide rested, fit persons for the first watch and the relieving watches.

Its worked examples on the documentation side: a CoC not available or with a serious discrepancy; no GMDSS radio operator certificate or endorsement in the watch; missing documentation for personnel with designated safety, security or environmental duties; expired certificates, including expired medicals; and evidence that a certificate was fraudulently obtained or that the holder is not the person it was issued to.

Everything short of that is a deficiency to rectify, usually before departure. The instruction gives the example of a missing or expired recognition endorsement: the officer considers whether the ship still meets the flag's safe manning with the remaining certificated crew, and the finding may be rectified before departure or detention may be applied. Before detaining, the officer weighs the length and nature of the voyage, whether the deficiency endangers anyone, whether rest periods can be kept, the ship's size and type, and the cargo.

So a missing endorsement on a third officer with a fully manned bridge before a short coastal leg reads differently from the same gap on the only GMDSS holder before an ocean crossing. Same code, different outcome.

How to prepare a crew file that passes

Verify every CoC, CoP and endorsement against the issuing register before the seafarer travels, and keep the timestamped result with the file. Docka does this live for eight flag-state registers and records each answer at the trust level the check reached.
Check the endorsement against the CoC: same holder, same capacity wording, expiry not beyond the CoC.
Map the crew list to the MSMD by capacity, not by name, and confirm every capacity on the MSMD has a holder with the right certificate and endorsement.
Put originals on board. Electronic originals are acceptable under the Paris MoU instruction; office scans are not the original.
Confirm medicals are valid for the whole voyage, or know the grace rule of the issuing flag. The UK ENG 1 allows work until the next port where it can be replaced, or up to 3 months after expiry, whichever is sooner.
If a recognition endorsement is pending, carry the confirmation of receipt of application, and know that the flag can permit no more than three months of service on it.

What Docka does not do: it does not talk to the inspector, it does not read your MSMD, and it cannot verify a certificate whose flag publishes no register. What it does is give the master a printable dossier with every register answer and its timestamp, which is the document an inspector wants to see when the question is "is this certificate real".

Frequently asked questions

Does the PSC inspector test a seafarer's competence, or only the paperwork?: Only the paperwork, unless there are clear grounds. The Paris MoU instruction allows an assessment of competence only where there are clear grounds for believing watchkeeping or security standards are not being maintained, and it says that assessment starts with verification of the certificates. Where doubt remains, the officer may ask the seafarer to perform an operational control at the place of duty.
How are the Paris MoU and Tokyo MoU different for crew certificates?: By region, mostly. The Paris MoU covers Europe and the North Atlantic; the Tokyo MoU has 22 member Authorities in the Asia-Pacific region. Both code certificate findings under category 01, Certificate and Documentation, with a crew-certificates sub-group, and the item names match. The Paris MoU also publishes the instruction its officers follow for STCW certification and manning; we have not found an equivalent public instruction on the Tokyo MoU site.
What happens when an inspector suspects a certificate is fraudulent?: The instruction tells the officer to ask the issuing STCW Party to verify the certificate's authenticity and validity, using the contact points that issuing authorities have lodged with IMO on GISIS, and the EMSA STCW Information System for EU-recognised certificates. Evidence that a certificate was fraudulently obtained, or that the holder is not the person it was issued to, is listed among the examples of detainable deficiencies.

Which registers Docka checks live, and what each one asks for, is on the registry coverage page. The method behind every check is in how seafarer certificate verification works.

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