Key legislation:

Recreational Craft Directive (2013)

• Directive 2013/53/EU on Recreational Craft and Personal Watercraft
• The Directive updates legislation covering the design and manufacture of motor and sailing craft.
• It seeks to ensure that, by complying with the same standards, there is fair competition for these products in the EU market.
• Associated documents:
  • List of harmonised standards (see bottom of page)
  • Guide to the application of the Directive
  • Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1 on Watercraft Identification, which lays down rules on watercraft identification, in particular rules on assignment and administration of manufacturers' codes
  • List of notified bodies
  • RSG guidelines (developed by the group of notified bodies)

Other relevant legislation:

Port Reception Facilities Directive (2019)

• Directive (EU) 2019/883 on Port Reception Facilities for the Delivery of Waste from Ships
• It enhances the availability and use of port reception facilities for ship-generated waste and cargo residues.
• It sets out a regime for the enforcement of ship-generated waste disposal, including a system for inspections and for the exchange of information.

Personal Protective Equipment Directive (2016)

• Regulation (EU) 2016/425 on Personal Protective Equipment
• It lays down requirements for the design and manufacture of personal protective equipment (equipment to be worn or held by a person to protect them against certain risks to their health and safety).

Maritime Spatial Planning Directive (2014)

• Directive 2014/89/EU Establishing a Framework for Maritime Spatial Planning
• It seeks to enable public authorities to organise human activities in marine areas so as to meet various ecological, economic and social objectives.
• It requires EU countries to draw up maritime spatial plans by 31 March 2021, which should map existing human activities in their marine waters and identify their most effective future spatial development, taking into account land-sea interactions and environmental, economic, social and safety aspects.
• The public and stakeholders must be involved in the process.

Invasive Alien Species Regulation (2014)

• Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 on the Prevention and Management of the Introduction and Spread of Invasive Alien Species
• It sets out rules to prevent and manage the introduction and spread of invasive alien species in the EU, seeking to minimise and mitigate their adverse effects on EU biodiversity and ecosystems, as well as on human health and the economy.

Biocidal Products Regulation (2012)

• Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 Concerning the Making Available on the Market and Use of Biocidal Products
• It harmonises the EU’s rules concerning the sale and use of biocidal products (such as household disinfectants, insecticides, and other chemicals), while ensuring high levels of protection of human and animal health and of the environment.

Consumer Rights Directive (2011)

• Directive 2011/83/EU on Consumer Rights
• It seeks to increase consumer protection by harmonising several key aspects of national legislation on contracts between customers and sellers.
• It encourages trade between EU countries, particularly for consumers buying online.

Waste Framework Directive (2008)

• Directive 2008/98/EC on Waste
• It establishes a legal framework for treating waste in the EU, designed to protect the environment and human health by emphasising the importance of proper waste management, recovery and recycling techniques to reduce pressure on resources and improve their use.
• It establishes a waste hierarchy.
• It confirms the polluter-pays principle, and introduces the concept of extended producer responsibility.
  It requires national authorities to establish waste-management plans.

Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008)

• Directive 2008/56/EC Establishing a Framework for Community Action in the Field of Marine Environmental Policy
• It establishes a common approach and objectives for the prevention, protection and conservation of the marine environment against damaging human activities.
• It requires EU countries to develop strategies to achieve ‘good environmental status’ by 2020.
• It emphasises the need for EU countries to cooperate with their neighbours in marine regions.
• It recognises the importance of spatial protection measures for the marine environment.

VAT Directive (2006)

• Directive 2006/112/EC on the Common System for Value Added Tax
• It updates legislation to clarify the EU’s VAT legislation currently in force.
• VAT is applied to all transactions carried out in the EU for payment by a taxable person, i.e. any individual or body that supplies goods and services in the course of business. Imports by any person are also subject to VAT.
• Taxable transactions include supplies of goods or services within the EU, intra-EU acquisitions of goods (goods supplied in and dispatched or transported by a business from one EU country to a business in another) and imports of goods into the EU from outside.

REACH Regulation (2006)

• Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 Concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH)
• It addresses the production and use of chemical substances, and their potential impacts on both human health and the environment.
• It established the European Chemicals Agency, which manages the technical, scientific and administrative aspects of REACH.

General Product Safety Directive (2001)

• Directive 2001/95/EC on General Product Safety
• It requires firms to ensure that items on sale are safe and to take corrective action when that is found not to be the case.
• It introduces an EU rapid alert system for dangerous non-food products. This enables national authorities to share information promptly on any measures taken to withdraw such products from sale.

Water Directive (2000)

• Directive 2000/60/EC Establishing a Framework for Community Action in the Field of Water Policy
• It sets out rules to halt the deterioration of EU water bodies and achieve ‘good status’ for Europe's rivers, lakes and groundwater by 2015.
• Specifically, this includes: protecting all forms of water; restoring the ecosystems in and around these bodies of water; reducing pollution in water bodies; guaranteeing sustainable water usage by individuals and businesses.

The recreational boating industry is substantially impacted by EU legislation over the last decades. This has allowed it to grow and become a significant sector of the European economy. To implement its mission of advancing and representing a sustainable boating and nautical tourism industry #MadeInEurope, EBI focuses on a number of overarching policy areas. These are those that significantly impact the recreational boating and nautical tourism industry.

In each EBI interacts with the key stakeholders and policy-makers to adress the key issues affecting the industry.

EBI interacts with the key regulatory bodies for the industry at EU level and internationally. This includes:

• European Union (European Commission, European Parliament, Council of the EU, European Economic and Social Committee, European Committee of the Regions)
• Regional Seas Conventions (OSPAR/North-East Atlantic, HELCOM/Baltic Sea, Barcelona Convention/Mediterranean)
• Regulatory bodies for inland navigation in Europe (UN Economic Commission in Europe (UNECE), Working Party on Inland Water Transport, European committee for drawing up standards in the field of inland navigation - CESNI)

EBI also interacts with the key stakeholder organisations for the recreational boating industry, for instance through the European Tourism Manifesto. EBI is one of over 70 European public and private organisations involved in the Coalition, covering the whole tourism value chain and beyond.

In order to defend the interests of the European leisure marine industry as efficiently as possible, EBI takes part in several EU-funded project. In a European project, organisations and stakeholders from different countries come together for several months to collaborate, learn from each other and address policy issue of common concern. 

Participating in European projects offers some undeniable advantages: it helps extend our sector's network, it helps finance our activities, it reinforces our image as a guarantor of our sector's interests, and it allows us to participate in EU policies and to provide our input.

In this section, you will learn about the projects EBI participates in.

Ongoing projects:

• EnviroNaut (2022-2024)
• Blue Generation (2018-2023) 

Past projects:

• PHAROS4MPAs (2017-2019)
• TCC-SCV (2014-2016)
• Boat DIGEST (2013-2015)

EnviroNaut (2022-2024)

Key objective: Creating the first-ever curriculum for the position of “Environmental Officer in Nautical Tourism” and deliver it in form of a modular online course.

The main project objective is to create a first-ever curriculum for the position of “Environmental Officer in Nautical Tourism” and deliver it in form of a modular online course as a continuous VET training that does not currently exist in the sector.

The project will create new environmental competences for workers in this industry, bridging the gap between the training and skills needed in the boating industry and enabling the whole sector to become more environmentally friendly, follow the European Green Deal and the UN-SDG14 and creating a new set of future-oriented skills for the workers and their companies. This will help in increasing the attractiveness of the whole sector, enabling growth in the nautical tourism sector, with the related economic improvement and job creation.

The project will create a new curriculum that will be delivered in form of a modular online course, available in English, Spainsh, German and Greek. The course will be free for everyone and will serve as continuous training for employees in the nautical tourism sector and can also be used by water sport users and the general public to raise their awareness in good environmental practices in the recreational boating and water sports industry.

Project website: http://environaut.eu/

Blue Generation (2018-2023)

Key objective: Promoting youth employment in maritime sectors

The Blue Generation project (2018-2023) aims at encouraging young people, especially those not in education, employment or training, to pursue a sustainable career in the blue economy. The project operates in Spain, Poland, Greece, Portugal and Bulgaria, and is funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Youth Employment.

While the demand for workers in the blue economy is increasing, young people are not being attracted to maritime careers despite the large proportion of youth unemployment in Europe. Therefore, bringing young workers into the blue economy is an opportunity to increase employment and close the skills gap. It can also help enhance ocean literacy and ensure the development of a dynamic and sustainable blue economy.

The project provides a career portal advertising jobs, internships and training in the blue economy (sectors include coastal tourism, aquaculture, ocean energy, marine biotechnology, shipbuilding, maritime transport and fisheries). The carrer portal can be found here. The project also offers a set of free learning modules about jobs in the blue economy (here), as well as a blue careers guide (here), both of which EBI helped to develop. In addition, the project organises informative events and engages with high schools, adult education centres, NGOs, unmemployment services or local associations to promote blue career opportunities.

Project website: https://www.bluegeneration.org/index.php/en/

PHAROS4MPAs (2017-2019)

Key objective: Ensuring the sustainable management of Marine Protected Areas

The PHAROS4MPAs project aimed to enhance the management of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Mediterranean Sea through awareness raising, capacity building and networking, in order to preserve biodiversity and natural ecosystems.

In collaboration with a range of partners (including institutions, NGOs, industry actors and scientific bodies), among which was EBI, the project analysed the impact on MPAs of seven maritime sectors, namely offshore windfarms, maritime traffic and ports, cruises, leisure boating, recreational fisheries, aquaculture, and small-scale fisheries.

It then issued a report for each of those sectors, with recommendations to guide future sustainable interaction between the seven sectors and MPAs. EBI provided input on the impact of leisure boating and helped draft the recommendations.The reports can be found here. In addition, the recommendations were formatted into a user-friendly online tool that helps readers find the information that is relevant to them. The online tool can be found here.

Project website: https://pharos4mpas.interreg-med.eu/

TCC-SCV (2014-2016)

Key objective: Enhancing the comparability of skipper qualifications and encouraging their recognition across the EU

Currently, professional skipper qualifications are not mutually accepted between member states. This means that skippers with a Spanish qualification can only work on vessels with a Spanish flag, those with a German qualification can only work on vessles with a German flag, etc. This has a direct impact on the free movement of labour within the Single Market, hindering the mobility of professional skippers and limiting businesses' access to labour.

The TCC-SCV project (TRECVET Core Curriculum for Skippers of Small Commercial Vessels) tried to find a solution to this problem. The project analysed professional skipper qualifications from seven EU member states, broke them down into their component parts, and developed an online comparison tool, in order to allow for easy comparability between them. This enabled skippers to understand what additional training competences would be required when working in a vessel with a different member state flag. The tool showed that 80-90% of the content in the analysed qualifications was identical. The project then proposed a Core Curriculum together with National-Specific Modules. This system would allow skippers to personalise their training needs in an optimal way, completing the core curriculum and then taking the specific modules depening on which Member State they want to work in.

The project was led by a consortium of ten partners selected for their expertise, among which was EBI.

Project website: https://www.tcc-scv.eu/

Boat DIGEST (2013-2015)

Key objective: Improving boat dismantling standards among dismantlers and raising awareness about dismantling among boat users

There is an increasingly large number of recreational boats that come to their end of life and must be dismantled in a responsible manner. The Boat DIGEST project (which stands for Boat Dismantling Insight by Generating Environmental and Safety Training) tried to enhance the dismantling of end-of-life recreational boats, by improving the health, safety and environmental standards of dismantling practices andby raising awareness among boat users.

Firstly, the project produced a free online training module for dismantling companies and workers, consisting of four units, in order to increase the health, safety and environmental competences of dismantlers. Individuals who successfully complete it obtain a certificate granted by the University of Strathclyde. Secondly, the project also created an online awareness module for end-of-life boat owners, with guidance on good disposal practices. Furthermore, it produced an online map displaying boat dismantling companies, in order to help end-of-life boat owners locate professional waste management sites in Europe that deal with end-of-life boats. Finally, four sets of guidelines were produced, targeting various audiences (boaters and nautical associations, marinas and leisure harbours, repair and refit companies, and boating schools), with information on the actions that these four groups can take and the role they play in raising boat owners’ awareness about the issue. The learning tools, the network map and the guidelines are all available on the Boat DIGEST website.

Project website: http://www.boatdigest.eu/