Saturday, October 11, 2014

Royal Decree over the nautical qualifications is approved at the Council of Ministers

The beginners to yachting are to benefit greatly from the reform of the nautical qualifications. Boosting and promoting the nautical activity has been of utmost importance when developing the new normative.

There will be no need to have a qualification to maneuver motor boats up to 5 meters of length, and sailing boats up to 6 meters. This rule will be valid straight after the publication of the Royal Decree in the Official State Bulletin, which will happen in the next few days.

The Navigation License, which replaces the current license popularly known as Titulín, will be valid within 20 days from the publication of the RD in the Official State Bulletin. The other modifications that broaden the scope of the rest of the nautical qualifications and simplify the training, will be valid in three months after the publication of the RD in the Official State Bulletin, a time period required for the Royal Decree to become a Law.

According to the information ANEN has received from the Administration, apart from minimal changes the RD respects the draft presented during the II Nautical Congress. The draft text was agreed between the industry associations, the companies, the yacht clubs and marinas, nautical schools and the aficionados within the sector.

The reform of the nautical qualifications has been a long process, in order to be satisfactory to a largest possible part of the sector, to be in line with the latest developments in the industry and to guarantee safety at sea. It brings along a modernization of the nautical qualifications, which from now on will be more competitive with the ones valid in the leading nautical markets in Europe. Besides, the beginners to yachting will clearly benefit from the new normative, as explained above.

It is worth mentioning that one of the changes in respect to the text presented in April, is the speeding up of the application of the right to handle motor boats up to 5 m and sailing boats up to 6 m, powered up to 11,26 Kw (15 cv), daytime navigation only and maximum 2 nm from a port or a shelter without a license. This rule will come into force the next day from the publication of the RD in the Official State Bulletin.

There is a modification to the Navigation License as well, restricting the permission to drive only "category C" jet skis, instead of all types of jet skis as ANEN had applied for and will continue to reclaim in the future updates of the normative. ANEN will also continue to demand the elimination of the 24 m limit that the RD maintains for the qualification as a Yacht Captain (ANEN had requested that this qualification should enable its holder to maneuver motor and sailing vessels without any restriction to length).

"We are very happy to be finally able to announce that the reform of the nautical qualifications - despite having taken more time than we wished for - is something that gives us hope for the future, now that we have received the first timid signs of recovery after six years of sharply falling sales", declares Carlos Sanlorenzo, the general secretary of ANEN, who is "grateful for the support of all the nautical associations and the Barcelona Boat Show, who put their weight behind this reform".

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