APER is a world leader in the dismantling, recycling and recovery of end-of-life recreational craft. It has dismantled more than 6,500 boats through its network of 30 dismantling centres. It was created by the French Federation of Nautical Industries and approved by the French State in 2019.

On Monday 5 December, at the “salon nautique de Paris”, the eco-organisation APER and Composite Recycling formalised their partnership aimed at deploying low-energy mobile units to treat composite waste from the scrapping of recreational craft. Once separated from the resin and cleaned, they can be used again, in the manufacture of recreational boats or many other products.

This is great news for the industry, which is moving towards a more sustainable and environmentally beneficial impact.

You can read the original press release (in French) here.

The 2022 edition of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD´s biennial Tourism Trends and Policies analyses tourism performance and policy trends to support recovery across 50 OECD countries and partner economies. It examines the key tourism recovery challenges and outlook ahead, and highlights the need for co-ordinated, forward-looking policy approaches to set tourism on a path to a more resilient, sustainable and inclusive future.
Tourism policy priorities, reforms and developments are analysed and examples of country practices highlighted. Thematic chapters provide insights on building resilience in the tourism ecosystem and promoting a green tourism recovery.

You can read the report here.

The UK Government has extended the recognition period for CE marking in Great Britain until 31 December 2024.Some key takeaways for members to be aware of:

• Starting in January 1st 2025, most goods being placed on the market or put into service in Great Britain, including recreational craft, will have to comply with the new UK Conformity Assessed.
• Conformity assessment activities for CE marking undertaken before 31 December 2024 will be allowed to be used as a basis for UKCA marking until the expiry of the certificate or until 31 December 2027, whichever is earlier.
• Companies will continue to be able to affix the UKCA marking and include importer information for products from EEA countries on an accompanying document or label until 31 December 2027.

The relevant legislation has now also been published and can be found here. More information can be found in the website of the UK Government.

The Council of the EU, representing EU countries, has adopted formal conclusions setting out a European Agenda for Tourism 2030, which includes a multi-annual EU work plan to help Member States, public authorities, the Commission and stakeholders make the tourism sector greener and more sustainable, resilient and digitalised.

Council conclusions are not legally binding, but they have a strong influence on European policies, as they are the main instrument by which the Council guides the political agenda of the European Union, determining the objectives and actions to be taken.

Tourism is a key industry for the European economy but, it has been negatively affected by the Covid-19 crisis and the war in Ukraine. Around 11 million jobs in the EU tourism sector were affected by the pandemic in 2020.
For these reasons, the European Agenda for Tourism 2030 emphasises the need to protect the tourism sector and, at the same time, develop a forward-looking vision to take advantage of the willingness of many Europeans to change their travel and tourism habits so as to become more sustainable and responsible.

The full Conclusions and more information is available here.

The European Parliament and Council reached an agreement ensuring all new cars and vans registered in Europe will be zero-emission from 2035. The agreement is meant to send a strong signal to industry and consumers: Europe is embracing the shift to zero-emission mobility and an acceleration on the production and sale of low emissions vehicles is expected.

This agreement aims to encourage the acceleration in the production and sale of low-emission vehicles, starting the transport sector on the road to climate neutrality by 2050. Once formally adopted by the European Parliament, the new legislation will be one of the cornerstones of the European Green Deal, with the aim to make the EU’s automotive transport more sustainable, providing cleaner air for Europeans and showing the EU’s commitment to reach its climate goals. While without any direct consequences on the recreational boating market in terms of regulation, its impacts have to be taken into account by all connected sectors. Impacts may appear in terms of engine availability, supply chains, fuel market, and consumer demands.

You can read more here.

Underwater noise due to human activities at sea can harm marine biodiversity. EU experts have adopted recommendations on maximum acceptable levels for impulsive noise (such as oil and gas exploration and extraction) and continuous underwater noise. Maritime traffic is the main source of continuous underwater noise.

The new limits mean, that to be in tolerable status, no more than 20% of a given marine area can be exposed to continuous underwater noise over a year Similarly, no more than 20% of a marine habitat can be exposed to impulsive noise over a given day, and no more than 10% over a year. These limits are the first at global level and are part of the EU’s Zero Pollution Action Plan.

The threshold values have been developed under the Commission’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive. It requires EU Member States to develop and implement strategies to protect the marine environment, covering biodiversity and several types of pollution. To respect these limits, Member States will need to implement appropriate measures in their marine strategies, for example by reducing ship-generated noise, designing methods to minimise impulsive noise by design or setting spatial restrictions for human activity. This will also be done and coordinated at regional level with the support of the Regional Sea Conventions.

More information can be found here.

Developed by the EU-funded Destimed project, a mapping tool has been created to identify ecological vulnerability to tourism in the Mediterranean Sea. This includes a number of indicators specific to boating and nautical tourism, such as moorings per km of coastline, marinas influence area, and pleasure craft traffic. These indicators can be combined on the map with other key data, such as Marine Protected Areas, activity of other tourism sectors, and biodiversity. The tool can be of use to policy-making and scientific deliberations at local, regional and European level.

The mapping tool can be found here.