The Federation Council of RF Federal Assembly approved on February 1, 2012 the bill "On Amendments to Article 29 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation" (in terms of ensuring judicial protection of crew members of Russian ships in wage payment and other remunerations), the parliament’s upper house press office said.
Earlier, the Russian State Duma passed the bill in third reading on January 25, 2012.
The draft law stipulates that members of the crew can file claim with the court for recovery of wages and other remunerations for work on board, the cost of repatriation and social security contributions, not only at the shipowner office location, but also at the current location of the defendant’s vessel or the ship’s home port.