The Recreational Craft Regulations 2004
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 2004/1464 |
| Year | 2004 |
2004 No. 1464
CONSUMER PROTECTION
The Recreational Craft Regulations 2004
Made 26th May 2004
Laid before Parliament 28th May 2004
The Secretary of State, being a Minister designated1for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 19722in relation to measures relating to craft intended for recreational purposes, in exercise of the powers conferred upon her by that section, hereby makes the following Regulations:
Citation, commencement and revocation
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Recreational Craft Regulations 2004.
(2) This regulation, regulations 2, 12 and 13 shall come into force on 30th June 2004, except that regulation 2(2)(a) shall not have effect until the date of the coming into force of the Decision by the EEA Joint Committee by which the application of the amendment3of the Directive is extended to the EEA.
(3) The remaining regulations shall come into force on 1st January 2005.
(4) The Recreational Craft Regulations 19964are hereby revoked save as regards their application to:
(a)
(a) any product (as defined in those Regulations) placed on the market (as so defined) prior to 1st January 2005;
(b)
(b) any such product to which these Regulations do not apply by virtue of regulation 6;
(c)
(c) any such product placed on the market in the EEA (other than in the Community) until such time as regulation 2(2)(a) has effect; and
(d)
(d) the appointment or termination of appointment of any notified body for the purposes of those Regulations.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Regulations, the following definitions shall apply—
“the 1987 Act” means the Consumer Protection Act 19875;
“authorised representative” means any person established in the Community who has received a written mandate from the manufacturer to act on his behalf with regard to the latter’s obligation under the Directive;
“CE marking” means the CE conformity marking referred to in regulation 8 consisting of the initials “CE” taking the form of the specimen given in Schedule 4;
“the Commission” means the Commission of the European Communities;
“component” means any one of the components referred to in Schedule 2 when placed on the Community market and when intended for installation in recreational craft;
“the Directive” means Directive 94/25/ECof the European Parliament and of the Council on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the member States relating to recreational craft6;
“enforcement authority” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 15;
“engine family” means the manufacturer’s grouping of engines which, through their design, are expected to have similar exhaust emission characteristics and which comply with the exhaust emissions requirements of the Directive;
“essential requirements” means the requirements in Annex I which is set out in Schedule 1;
“harmonised standard” means a technical specification adopted by the European Committee for Standardisation or the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation or both upon a remit from the Commission in accordance with Directive 98/34/ECof the European Parliament and of the Council laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations and of rules on Information Society services7;
“major craft conversion” means a conversion of a craft which:
(a) changes the means of propulsion of the craft;
(b) involves a major engine modification; or
(c) alters the craft to such an extent that it is considered a new craft;
“major engine modification” means the modification of an engine which:
(a) could potentially cause the engine to exceed the emission limits set out in Annex I.B., which is set out in Schedule 1, excluding routine replacement of engine components that do not alter the emission characteristics; or
(b) increases the rated power of the engine by more than 15%;
“manufacturer” means any person who designs and manufactures a product or who has such a product designed and/or manufactured with a view to placing it on the market on his own behalf, and in respect of a product which requires a declaration specified in Annex III, which is set out in Schedule 3, shall include the builder of that product;
“means of propulsion” means the mechanical method by which the craft is driven, in particular marine propellers or waterjet mechanical drive systems;
“notified body” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 11;
“personal watercraft” means a vessel less than 4 metres in length which uses an internal combustion engine having a water jet pump as its primary source of propulsion and designed to be operated by a person or persons sitting, standing or kneeling on, rather than within the confines of, a hull;
“placing on the market” includes (except for the purposes of the definition of “component”, regulations 3(1)(c)(ii), 3(2), 4(a)(vi) and (vii), 4(b)(i)(bb), 4(b)(iii), 4(c)(ii), 7(2)(b)(i) (second reference only), 7(2)(c), 7(3)(b) and 16(2)) putting into service, and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly;
“product” means any product described in regulation 3(1);
“propulsion engine” means any spark or compression ignition, internal combustion engine used for propulsion purposes, including 2-stroke and 4-stroke inboard, stern-drive with or without integral exhaust and outboard engines;
“recreational craft” means any boat of any type regardless of its means of propulsion—
(a) whose hull, when measured in accordance with the appropriate harmonised standards, is not less than 2.5 metres and not more than 24 metres in length; and
(b) which is intended for sports or leisure purposes;
and “partly completed recreational craft” or “partly completed boat”, as the case may be, shall be construed accordingly; and
“transposed harmonised standard” means a standard the reference number of which is published—
(a) in the United Kingdom, by the Secretary of State in such manner as she considers appropriate; or
(b) in another member State of the Community,
and which corresponds to a harmonised standard the reference number of which is published in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
(2) In these Regulations—
(a)
(a) except for the references to the European Communities in the definition of “the Commission” and in relation to the Official Journal, a reference to the Community includes a reference to the EEA, and a reference to a member State includes a reference to an EEA State: for the purposes of this sub-paragraph—
(i) the “EEA” means in the European Economic Area;
(ii) an “EEA State” means a State which is a Contracting Party to the EEA Agreement; and
(iii) the “EEA Agreement” means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 19938; and
(b)
(b) a reference to an Annex is a reference to an Annex of the Directive.
Application
3.—(1) Subject to paragraph (3) and regulations 4, 5 and 6, these Regulations apply to any product of the following descriptions:
(a)
(a) with regard to design and construction, to—
(i) recreational craft and partly completed boats;
(ii) personal watercraft; and
(iii) components;
(b)
(b) with regard to exhaust emissions, to—
(i) propulsion engines which are installed or specifically intended for installation on or in recreational craft and personal watercraft; and
(ii) propulsion engines installed on or in such craft that are subject to a major engine modification; and
(c)
(c) with regard to noise emissions, to—
(i) recreational craft with stern drive engines without integral exhausts or inboard propulsion engine installations;
(ii) recreational craft with stern drive engines without integral exhausts or with inboard propulsion installations which are subject to a major craft conversion and subsequently placed on the Community market within five years following conversion;
(iii) personal watercraft; and
(iv) outboard engines and stern drive engines with integral exhausts intended for installation on recreational craft.
(2) The application of these Regulations to any recreational craft or partly completed recreational craft shall not be prevented by the fact that the said craft could be used for charter or for recreational boating training when it is placed on the market for recreational purposes.
(3) The requirements of these Regulations shall not apply to the showing of any product at any trade fair, exhibition, demonstration or the like provided that a visible sign clearly indicates that the product in question may not be placed on the market until it has been made to comply with them.
Excluded products
4. The following are not products for the purposes of these Regulations—
(a) with regard to products referred to in regulation 3(1)(a)—
(i) craft intended solely for racing, including rowing racing boats and training rowing boats, labelled as such by the manufacturer;
(ii) canoes and kayaks, gondolas and pedalos;
(iii) sailing surfboards;
(iv) surfboards, including powered surfboards;
(v) original historical craft and individual replicas thereof designed before 1950, built predominantly with the original materials and labelled as such by the manufacturer;
(vi) experimental craft, provided that they are not subsequently placed on the Community market;
(vii) craft built for own use, provided that they are not subsequently placed on the Community market during a period of five years;
(viii) craft specifically intended to be crewed and to carry passengers for commercial purposes (without prejudice to regulation 3(2)), in particular those defined in Council Directive 82/714/EECof 4th October 1982 laying down technical requirements for inland waterway vessels9, regardless of the number of passengers;
(ix) submersibles;
(x) air cushion vehicles;
(xi) hydrofoils; and
(xii) external combustion steam powered craft...
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