Recreational Craft
What is a recreational craft and personal watercraft?
Recreational craft means any watercraft of any type, excluding personal watercraft, intended for sports and leisure purposes of hull length from 2,5 m to 24 m, regardless of the means of propulsion.
A ‘personal watercraft’ means a watercraft similar to a recreational craft less than 4 m in hull length which uses a propulsion 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.
The legislation also covers partly completed recreational crafts, partially completed personal watercraft, components as listed in the Annex II, propulsion engines, mayor modifications of the engines and any mayor conversion of watercraft.
The legislation defines the health and safety requirements needed to be followed and puts limits in the amount of the noise and exhaust emissions the engines can have.
Legislation
Documents
Placing on the market
To place a recreational craft or a personal watercraft in the market, it needs to bear the CE marking, and be accompanied by the EC declaration of conformity. To draw the declaration of conformity a process called conformity assessment needs to be followed.
The exact process of the conformity assessment varies in function of the design categories and the dimensions of the craft, for more information please refer to Chapter IV of the Recreational Crafts Directive.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
The Technical Regulations Division would like to draw your attention to the provisions of the Council Regulation (EU) No. 833/2014 as amended by the Council Regulation (EU) 2022/394 and the Council Regulation (EU) 2022/576 concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine.
In particular Article 3i.1 states:
It shall be prohibited to purchase, import, or transfer, directly or indirectly, goods, which generate significant revenues for Russia thereby enabling its actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine, as listed in Annex XXI into the Union if they originate in Russia or are exported from Russia.
Article 3i.2(a) states:
It shall be prohibited to provide technical assistance, brokering services or other services related to the goods and technology referred to in paragraph 1 and to the provision, manufacture, maintenance and use of those goods and technology, directly or indirectly in relation to the prohibition in paragraph 1.
Annex XXI refers to: vessels for the transport of persons or goods
Therefore, import of recreational craft from Russia, providing of the conformity assessment to Russian natural or legal persons and the assigning of the unique code of the manufacturer, as set out in Annex I.A.2.1(2) of the Recreational Craft Directive 2013/53/EU, to Russian manufacturers, is prohibited.
Contact Us
Need further information or assistance?
Feel free to send us an email - rad@mccaa.org.mt or give us a call at +356 23952000.
Additional information
Guidance on CE marking for professionals
The ‘Blue Guide’ on the implementation of EU product rules
Recreational craft sector EU website
