When does basic safety training expire?

The Convention does not force a printed expiry date onto a certificate of proficiency, and Paris MoU guidance says a CoP may carry one or not. What the 2010 Manila amendments do require is evidence, every five years, that the standard of competence in personal survival techniques and fire prevention and fire fighting has been maintained. In practice most administrations date the basic safety training certificate five years from issue, and an inspector reads a lapsed date as no evidence of basic training.

Can I revalidate my certificate of competency before it expires?

Yes, and it costs you no time. STCW Code section B-I/2, as cited in Paris MoU guidance, lets an administration that receives a revalidation application within the six months before expiry revalidate the certificate to the fifth anniversary of its current validity, not five years from the day you applied.

Does a flag state endorsement need its own revalidation?

It has its own expiry date, which can be at most five years from issue and can never run past the CoC it endorses, and it dies the moment the CoC expires. So the sequence is: revalidate the CoC with the issuing administration first, then ask the recognising flag for a fresh endorsement against the revalidated CoC.

Resources / Guide

STCW revalidation every five years: what expires, what needs a refresher, and how to check your own certificate

By the Docka team · Reviewed 7 September 2026

Last updated: 7 September 2026

Under STCW regulation I/11, a master, officer or radio operator must revalidate their certificate of competency at intervals not exceeding five years, by showing continued professional competence. Basic safety training and the survival craft and advanced fire fighting proficiencies also need evidence of continued competence every five years, a requirement added by the 2010 Manila amendments.

That is the whole rule in two sentences. The detail, and the confusion, is in which documents carry a date, which do not, and what "expired" means when someone checks your certificate against a register.

Which documents carry the five-year clock

The Convention was adopted in 1978, entered into force in 1984, and was rewritten twice: by the 1995 amendments, which created the STCW Code with its mandatory Part A, and by the 2010 Manila amendments, which added the five-year refresher for basic training alongside new medical standards and measures against fraudulent certificates.

Certificate of competency (CoC): dated, and revalidated under regulation I/11 at intervals not exceeding five years.
Flag state endorsement: dated; a separately issued endorsement cannot exceed five years from issue and cannot outlive the CoC.
GMDSS radio operator certificate (chapter IV): revalidated under I/11 in the same way as a CoC.
Certificates of proficiency under A-VI/1 (basic training), A-VI/2 (survival craft and rescue boats) and A-VI/3 (advanced fire fighting): evidence of continued competence every five years, usually a refresher course.
Tanker cargo proficiencies (chapter V): dated and revalidated; the exact route depends on the administration.
Medical fitness certificate: a shorter cycle. Docka's document catalogue records a one-year norm; your flag's rule may differ.

Some proficiencies, security awareness among them, carry no revalidation requirement in the Convention text as we read it, yet an administration may still print a date on them. When the paper and the rule disagree, the register decides what is current, so read the certificate and then check it.

Revalidation and refresher are different things

Revalidation is regulation I/11. The administration re-issues or re-dates the CoC once the holder proves continued competence, and the Convention lets that proof be approved seagoing service in the period before revalidation, an approved course, or an approved test. Each administration sets the exact months of service and the forms.

We deliberately do not restate the month thresholds here. Administrations implement I/11 with their own detail, the flag's revalidation notice is the document to read, and Docka does not compute revalidation eligibility for anyone.

A refresher is different. For A-VI/1, A-VI/2 and A-VI/3 the holder must show every five years that the standard of competence is maintained. Most seafarers do a short refresher course; some administrations accept documented on-board drills for parts of the syllabus. Ask the flag, not the training centre, which of the two it accepts.

Sea service evidence

The evidence for revalidation by sea service is the seaman's book (discharge book) and the company's sea service testimonials. In our experience the reasons an administration rejects them are mundane: a testimonial whose dates do not match the discharge book, a capacity on the testimonial that does not match the CoC, or a vessel that does not qualify as seagoing under that administration's definition.

Two habits prevent most of it. Have the master sign the testimonial before you leave the ship, and keep the discharge book entries and the testimonials in one place from the first contract onward. A crewing agency that holds both on file for its seafarers saves everyone weeks when the fifth year comes round.

What "expired" means to a register

Each administration's register answers in its own way. The registers Docka queries return the certificate's current status or its recorded details; none of them consult the date printed on your PDF. If the register says expired, the paper is out of date, whatever it shows.

Three things follow from an expired CoC. The flag state endorsement expires at the same moment. An inspector treats expired certificates as an example of a detainable deficiency, and a lapsed basic training certificate as "no evidence of basic training". And a medical that runs out mid-voyage has a grace rule in some flags: under the UK ENG 1 rules the seafarer may work until the next port where it can be replaced, or for up to 3 months, whichever is sooner.

How to check your own certificate

Find your issuing administration on the registry coverage page. It lists the eight flag-state registers Docka checks live and the fields each one asks for.
Enter the certificate number, and the date of birth where the register asks for it, on the free certificate check. Docka is free for seafarers.
Read the answer as the status. A "not found" can mean the register's coverage starts after your issue date, not that your certificate is bad; the coverage page states each register's limit.
If the fifth anniversary is within six months, apply now. The administration can revalidate to the anniversary date, so applying early loses you nothing.

If your certificate is held in a Docka profile, the reminders go out ahead of the expiry date, and a required STCW certificate that has lapsed hard-blocks the profile until a current one is on file. The companion guide on checking whether an STCW certificate is still valid covers the same check from the agency's side.

Frequently asked questions

When does basic safety training expire?: The Convention does not force a printed expiry date onto a certificate of proficiency, and Paris MoU guidance says a CoP may carry one or not. What the 2010 Manila amendments do require is evidence, every five years, that the standard of competence in personal survival techniques and fire prevention and fire fighting has been maintained. In practice most administrations date the basic safety training certificate five years from issue, and an inspector reads a lapsed date as no evidence of basic training.
Can I revalidate my certificate of competency before it expires?: Yes, and it costs you no time. STCW Code section B-I/2, as cited in Paris MoU guidance, lets an administration that receives a revalidation application within the six months before expiry revalidate the certificate to the fifth anniversary of its current validity, not five years from the day you applied.
Does a flag state endorsement need its own revalidation?: It has its own expiry date, which can be at most five years from issue and can never run past the CoC it endorses, and it dies the moment the CoC expires. So the sequence is: revalidate the CoC with the issuing administration first, then ask the recognising flag for a fresh endorsement against the revalidated CoC.

Sources

IMO: the STCW Convention, for regulation I/11 and the five-yearly refresher training the 2010 Manila amendments added.
Paris MoU: PSCC instruction 57/2024/05, for the six-month application rule (STCW Code B-I/2), endorsement expiry and the expiry date on a certificate of proficiency.
GOV.UK: seafarer medical certificates, for what happens when an ENG 1 expires during a voyage.

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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Enter the certificate number and Docka checks it against the issuing flag state's register.