Flag of Convenience (ship

1
Flag of Convenience (ships registry)

• A flag of convenience signifies that a ship of
  one nation is registered under the flag of
  another.
• The "flag of convenience" rules have both public
  law and private law implications.
• Private law comes into play in the
  employer-employee, passenger contract, and cargo
  contract obligations of the ship.
• Public law also interfaces with these rules in
  that ships and companies pick and choose flags of
  convenience for individual ships based upon
  liability concerns such as negligence,
  contractual, labour, customs, immigration, and/or
  environmental laws.

2

• The "flag of convenience" arrangement, also known
  as foreign registries, offered by the Bahamas,
  Liberia, Panama and other countries, permit ship
  owners to avoid most of the wage and labour laws
  of the United States.
• A ship is subject to liability as if it were
  "within" the country whose flag it flies.
• Passenger tickets and contracts also make
  reference to this fact that all claims by
  passengers or employees must be litigated in and
  under the law of the country whose flag the ship
  in question flies.