The Recreational Craft Directive (RCD)
The Directive entered into application as from 16 June 1996 and became fully applicable as from 16 June 1998. As from this date, manufacturers and importers may no longer place pleasure craft and components on the market which do not comply with the essential requirements of the Directive. In addition to these technical requirements, the Directive imposes the manufacturer to keep a technical file of all relevant data, to officially state the conformity of his product in a Declaration of Conformity, to affix the CE Marking on it and to inform the users about its safe use and maintenance through a builder's plate and an owner's manual.
Recreational Craft are defined as "any craft intended for sport or leisure purposes, regardless of the type or the means of propulsion, with a hull length of 2.5 to 24 meters, measured according to the appropriate harmonised standards'. The Directive applies to pleasure craft, partially completed boats and loose and assembled components.
Directive 94/25/EC
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Guide to the Application of Directive 94/25/EC (including the Directive)
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The Commission proposed in November 2000 to amend the Recreational Craft Directive 94/25/EC to introduce limit values for exhaust and sound emissions of petrol and diesel engines and to extend its scope to personal watercraft such as jet skis. The Commission proposal lays down limits for exhaust emissions of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides and various pollutants. These limits vary depending on whether the engine is two-stroke, four-stroke or compression-ignition. The proposed noise limits also take into account different types of engines: inboard, outboard, jet ski and single or multiple installations.
So Directive 94/25/EC has been amended by Directive 2003/44/EC, and has to be applied fully in its amended version as from 1 January 2006. The following documents have to be read in conjunction with Directive 94/25/EC and its comments.
Directive 2003/44/EC to amend Directive 94/25/EC
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Guide to the Application of Directive 2003/44/EC to amend Directive 94/25/EC (including the Directive)
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The folowing document is a consolidated guide to the application of the amended Directive issued by the Commission services and intended to be a reference document for all parties directly or indirectly involved with the assessment of recreational craft, personal watercraft and propulsion engines on their conformity with the provisions of Directive 94/25/EC, as amended by 2003/44/EC.
Guide to the Application of the amended Recreational Craft Directive (including both Directives)
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The Recreational craft Sectoral Group (RSG) has been established to assist in the uniform application and interpretation of the amended Directive by all Notified Bodies. The Group meets under the supervision of the EU Commission who has the copyright on the RSG Guidelines which are intended to assist with the conformity assessment procedures undertaken by Notified Bodies.
Starting with the 2010 RSG Guidelines a new format was chosen to serve as a one-stop-guide in order to understand and implement the Recreational Craft Directive and to combine the available information already shown above to a large extent into one piece of literature only !
RSG Guidelines 2010 (including the above literature to a large extent)
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Directive 94/25/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 16 June 1994 on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to Recreational Craft is a Directive based on the New Approach & Global Approach, and sets essential requirements for the design and construction of recreational craft. The so-called Blue Book provides information on the New Approach to technical harmonisation and the Global Approach to conformity assessment.
Guide to the Implementation of Directives based on the New Approach and the Global Approach [Blue Book]
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