Boat Registration
The EBA and the European pleasure boating community support the EU Commission and the member states’ Governments in their efforts to prevent terroristic attacks. However, the EBA believes that an EU wide registration scheme would not improve security, believing instead that the most effective security is achieved by engaging with the recreational boating community rather than by alienating them.
Mandatory registration will also not increase safety at sea or harbour security for leisure users or improve their access to, or enjoyment of, boating.
The EBA believes that the registration of all boats in the EU would require a substantial bureaucratic and financial effort both initially and subsequently in order to keep the registers accurate. This would certainly increase the costs of participation and so could discourage people from boating, which could have far reaching effects economically in the leisure marine industry.
The EBA position is therefore that the EBA opposes any move to establish a supra-national compulsory requirement for vessels to be registered.