The STCW 2010 requires that the STCW basic and advanced training courses, which are over 5 years old, must be refreshed, but not the entire certificate, only parts of your qualification.
However, there are some training providers that issue STCW basic training certificates with expiry dates even though the qualification doesn’t technically expire.
Elementary First Aid and PSSR do not actually expire or require revalidation, and this is where the difficulty lies.
Expiry dates on certificates
If there is an expiry date on your Elementary First Aid and PSSR certificates - or on your STCW Basic Training certificate if all on one certificate - then were your vessel to have a control by the Port State authorities, this may well be an issue as officially speaking, the certificates look as if they are no longer valid.
Therefore, many crew members in this position are choosing to take the complete STCW Basic Training again.
MCA:
If these two certificates do have expiry dates, they will be accepted by the MCA but, past that date, they may not be accepted by Flag State, Port State, Management companies or Insurance companies, so please check with your vessel if they have any issues.
In the end it is your choice whether to take the refreshers only or the full course again, but you may find some yacht management companies will enforce this.
