In addition to all of this a CE Compliant Vessel is required to fulfil the essential requirements. Should a vessel be found not to have the required Hull Identification Number, or CE plate fixed to the structure, there should also be manufacturer supplied documentation which will contain vital information which could demonstrate that the vessel was compliant, and therefore the Hull Identification Number and CE plate could be reinstated. This information includes a Builder’s Certificate, a Certificate of Conformity a documentary copy of the CE Plate with the category, maximum loading and so on. All this and more should be contained within the Owner’s Manual, the existence of which is also a requirement of CE conformity.


If a boat is thought not to be CE compliant, it could be that it is not required to be as there are vessels which may have been exempt from the Directive. These are:


(a) craft intended solely for racing, including rowing racing boats and training rowing boats labelled as such by the manufacturer’


(b) canoes and kayaks, gondolas and pedalos; (c) sailing surfboards;


(d) powered surfboards, personal watercraft and other similar powered craft;


(e) original, and individual replicas of, historical craft designed before 1950, built predominantly with the original materials and labelled as such by the manufacturer;


(f) experimental craft, provided that they are not subsequently placed on the Community market;


(g) craft built for own use, provided that they are not subsequently placed on the Community market during a period of five years;


(h) craft specifically intended to be crewed and to carry passengers for commercial purposes, without prejudice to paragraph 2, in particular those defined in Directive 82/716/EEC of 4 October 1982 laying down technical requirements for inland waterway vessels (2), regardless of the number of passengers;


(i) submersibles; (j) air cushion vehicles; (k) hydrofoils.


As one would expect there are always some difficult to understand sections:


Chapter 1 Paragraph 1 of the Directive, for example: Partly Completed Boats. Often Inland Waterways Craft predominantly ‘Narrowboats’ are bought as a hull for fitting out by a private individual, in which case quoting the Directive, “The Partly Completed Boat does not fulfil all the essential requirements of the directive and is deemed to be completed i.e. completely fulfil the essential requirements, by another party who will be regarded as the manufacturer”.


This means that the person completing the boat becomes responsible for ensuring that it satisfies the requirements of the Directive and must therefore ensure that all the “when separate and installed” components are assessed for conformity during construction and have the vessel assessed for ‘Post Constructive Compliance’ on completion. Therefore, these vessels are not exempt.


Kit built boats built using all the necessary


components as supplied by the supplier of the Kit (ie the manufacturer), must be certified by the manufacturer on completion. Therefore, these are not exempt.


(g) Home built boats sold after the five-year limit. The issue here is that the purchaser of any such vessel must be aware that it may not have been built in accordance with any recognised standards. A good analogy is that you are buying a boat, as you may buy a car, that had been constructed in somebodies back garden using materials of unknown quality which the builder sourced himself. (Buyer beware) because it appears that these vessels are exempt.


During discussions regarding the question of


compliance I have been told on several occasions that nobody has ever been prosecuted for selling a non-compliant vessel. This I cannot confirm myself; however, I would consider that if a person sold a non-compliant vessel which subsequently suffered a catastrophic failure, the person who first placed the vessel on the market or imported the vessel could find themselves liable.


According to the directive “Placing on the market refers to each individual product which physically exists and is complete (except those specifically referred to (above) in the directive) and is covered by the directive, regardless of the time or place of manufacture and whether it was made as an individual unit or in series. The concept of placing on the market must be clearly distinguished from sale. Placing on the market relates to the physical availability of the product regardless of the legal aspects of the act of transfer (loan, gift, sale or hire. Thus, manufacturer’s stock, wherever physically situated after the 16th


June 1998, where no transfer


has taken place (seed definition of “Making Available”) will be required to comply with the requirements of the Directive when placed on the market.”


During survey a surveyor must satisfy themselves whether the vessel needs to be compliant or not and in addition that the vessel has been constructed correctly, that the systems and fitted equipment are to the ISO standards as required by the directive and should record these facts within the submitted survey report.


Geoff Waddington, President


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