It´s a long time since we have received so many good news in such a short time in the nautical sector as during this autumn. Only a few days ago the Council of Ministers approved the Draft of Law of Maritime Navigation, which will update our legal regulations so that for the first time ever the recreational yachting will get a specific treatment in the legislation. It is a truly historical milestone. One of the other controversial points of the spanish nautical sector, the nautical qualifications, is also close to being adapted to the european actuality. We will discuss these and some other issues in this letter.
As I mentioned, we are finally close to having a more rational legal framework, adapted to international agreements, and which grants our activity, the recreational yachting, a specific treatment. So far our system has never distinguished the commercial ships from recreational yachts and this has been a huge problem for our businesses. Thanks to ANEN and all of us who form part of it, we have managed to change this. As members of the Board of Directors of ANEN, we can testify to the huge effort required to get this far. A lot of team work was needed and an investment in reports that accurately reflect the sector, to be able show what doesn´t work and to convince the Public Administration why a change is necessary. We have succeeded and made progress through hard work and by going that extra mile. With this new law, which still has to be approved in the Congress, Spain overcomes the contradictions between the international agreements and the last century Spanish normative, harmonizes the legislation with the international maritime law, thus giving us and our clients better legal security, and introduces updates in the sales contracts. If you want to study the details more in depth, you can find the complete Draft of Law on the website of the Ministry of Justice.
Another one of this month´s good news is the start of the legislative process to update the nautical qualifications in our country. ANEN has actively worked for a long time to adapt our system to the european normative. After numerous meetings the DGMM finally released the proposed text of the future Ministerial Order a couple of weeks ago. This will allow a better concession of certain nautical licenses, it will speed up the administrative proceedings and extend the competencies of the licenses , as well as authorize the sea schools and sailing federations to examine and issue basic navigation certificates. A set of improvements that will strengthen the recreational yachting.
This month we also received the news that STP is fully booked until April 2014. These good news rise the expectations for the coming season, even more so when we take into account the recent exemption of the matriculation tax on charter yachts. This fact demonstrates that the sector outside Spain is already on the path of recovery, and that the Balearics is a prime destination thanks to our natural assets, industrial grid, professionals and the infrastructure. Thanks to the legislative and fiscal changes previously mentioned, we are now able to attract a larger percentage of nautical tourism than last year, which will have an impact on the wellbeing of the whole community.
In November we could read in the press that the Townhall of Calvià has started a plan to promote the nautical sector. At AENIB we believe that not so many scattered action plans are needed as a unified plan on an autonomic and national level, which will allow us entrepreneurs to position Balearics as the preferred destination for the nautical enthusiasts. The experience has taught us one thing: the only way to succeed is to work together for mutual benefit.
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