European Communities (Recreational Craft) Regulations, 1998

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR SI 40/1998
• Year: 1998

S.I. No. 40 of 1998.
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (RECREATIONAL CRAFT) REGULATIONS, 1998.
I, MICHAEL WOODS, Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving full effect to Council Directive 94/25/EC(1) of 16 June, 1994, on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to recreational craft, hereby make the following Regulations:
(1)O.J. No. L164, 30.6.94, p.15.
	1 Citation and Commencement	1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Recreational Craft) Regulations, 1998 and shall come into operation on the 27th day of February, 1998.
	2 Definitions	2. (1) In these Regulations:—
"authorised officer" means a person appointed under regulation 13;
"authorised representative" means an authorised representative established within the Community;
"CE marking" means the mark of conformity consisting of the initials "CE", taking the form of the specimen given in Annex IV of the Directive;
"the Commission" means the Commission of the European Communities;
"the Community" means the European Community;
"component" means any one of the components listed in Annex II of the Directive, whether separate or installed, which is intended for use in recreational craft;
"the Directive" means European Parliament and Council Directive 94/25/EC of 16 June, 1994;
"free movement" means the placing on the market and putting into service of a product covered by these Regulations;
"Member State"means a Member State of the Community;
"Minister" means the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources;
"notified body" means a body appointed under regulation 8;
"partly completed boat" means a recreational craft consisting of a hull and one or more components;
"place on the market" means import, sell (whether by wholesale or retail), offer or expose for such sale, distribute free of charge, or supply by a manufacturer for any of those purposes, and cognate words shall be construed accordingly;
"product" means any recreational craft, partly completed recreational craft or component;
"putting into service" means the use in the Community for the first time, by the final user, of a product to which these Regulations apply;
"recreational craft" means any boat of any type, regardless of the means of propulsion, whose hull when measured in accordance with the appropriate harmonised standards concerned, is not less than 2.5 metres and not more than 24 metres in length and which is intended for sports and leisure proposes and shall include recreational craft intended for use for charter or recreational boat training when placed on the market for recreational purposes.
(2) A word or expression that is used in these Regulations and is also used in the Directive has, unless the contrary intention appears, the same meaning in these Regulations that it has in the Directive.
(3) In these Regulations unless otherwise indicated-
(a) a reference to a regulation is to a regulation of these Regulations,
(b) a reference to a paragraph or subparagraph is to a paragraph or subparagraph of the regulation in which the reference occurs, and
(c) a reference to an Annex is to an Annex of the Directive.
	3 Application and Exclusions	3. (1) These Regulations shall apply to recreational craft, partly completed boats and components.
(2) These Regulations shall not apply to any product to which these Regulations apply and which is placed on the market and put into service on or before the 15th day of June, 1998, and which complies with any rules in force in the State on the 16th day of June, 1994.
(3) These Regulations shall not apply to all or any of the following, namely —
(a) craft intended solely for racing, including rowing racing boats and training rowing boats labelled as such by the manufacturer,
(b) canoes and kayaks, gondolas and pedalos,
(c) sailing surfboards,
(d) powered surfboards, personal watercraft and other similar powered craft,
(e) original, and individual replicas of, historical craft designed before 1950, built predominantly with the original materials and labelled as such by the manufacturer,
(f) experimental craft, provided that they are not subsequently placed on the Community market,
(g) craft built for own use, provided that they are not subsequently placed on the market during a period of five years,
(h) craft specifically intended to be crewed and to carry passengers for commercial purposes (except craft also capable of being used as recreational craft) in particular those defined in Directive 82/716/EEC of 4 October, 1982(2), laying down technical requirements for inland waterway vessels, regardless of the number of passengers,
(2)O.J. No. L301, 28.10.1982, p.1
(i) submersibles,
(j) air cushion vehicles, and
(k) hydrofoils.
	4 Placing on the Market and Putting into Service	4. A person shall neither place on the market nor put into service for use in accordance with its intended purpose, a product to which these Regulations apply, unless when correctly constructed and maintained, the product does not endanger—
(a) the safety and health of persons,
(b) property, or
(c) the environment,
and the product complies with the essential safety requirements set out in Annex 1.
	5 Free Movement	5. (1) Nothing in these Regulations shall either prohibit, restrict or impede:
(a) the placing on the market and putting into service of the products to which these Regulations apply and bearing the CE marking which indicates the conformity of those products with the provisions of these Regulations;
(b) the placing on the market of partly completed boats, where the builder, his or her authorised representative or the person responsible for the placing on the market declares, in accordance with Annex III(a), that the partly completed boats are intended to be completed by others;
(c) the placing on the market and putting into service of components and bearing the CE marking which indicates the conformity of the components with the relevant essential safety requirements where these components are intended to be incorporated into recreational craft in accordance with the declaration referred to in Annex III(b), of the manufacturer, his or her authorised representative, or, in the case of imports from a third country, of any person who places those components on the market.
(2) Nothing in these Regulations shall prevent the showing at a trade fair, exhibition, demonstration or similar event of the products to which these Regulations apply and which do not comply with these Regulations, provided that a clearly visible and legible notice is displayed indicating that those products —
(a) do not comply with these Regulations, and
(b) may not be placed on the market or put into service until they comply with these Regulations.
	6 Safeguard Clause	6. (1) Where the Minister or an authorised officer is of the opinion that there may be or there has been a contravention of regulation 4 the Minister or the authorised officer may, by direction in writing stating the reasons for such direction and given to or sent to the person who is placing or has placed on the market a product to which these Regulations apply—
(a) prohibit him or her from placing or continuing to place that product on the market,
(b) impose restrictions on him or her so doing, or
(c) require him or her to take all practicable steps to withdraw from the market any such product already placed by him or her on the market,
and that person shall comply with the direction.
(2) The Minister may, as he or she thinks fit, withdraw a direction given by him or her or an authorised officer under paragraph (1).
(3) Where the Minister or an authorised officer gives a direction under paragraph (1) or the Minister withdraws a direction under paragraph (2) the Minister shall immediately inform the Commission of the fact indicating the reasons for having given or withdrawn the direction.
(4) Any importer or manufacturer affected by a direction given under paragraph (1) may appeal to the High Court against the direction and the Court, as it thinks proper, may vary, annul or confirm the direction.
(5) Where such an appeal arises a document purporting to be a direction given by the Minister or an authorised officer under paragraph (1) and to be signed by the Minister or the authorised officer shall be received in evidence and deemed to be such a direction without further proof, unless the contrary is shown.
	7 Conformity Assessment	7. (1) Before producing and placing on the market any of the products to which these Regulations apply, the manufacturer or his or her authorised representative shall apply the procedures for boat design set out in paragraphs (2) to (4).
(2) The procedures for boat design categories A and B as referred to in section 1 of Annex 1 —
(a) in respect of boats whose hull measures less than 12 metres in length, shall be the internal production control plus tests (module Aa) referred to in Annex VI;
(b) in respect of boats whose hull measures from 12 metres to 24 metres in length, shall be the EC type-examination (module B) referred to in Annex VII supplemented by module C (type conformity) referred to in Annex VIII, or any of the following modules referred to in the Annexes: B plus D, or B plus F, or G or H.
(3) The procedures for boat design category C as referred to in section 1 of Annex 1 —
(a) in respect of boats whose hull measures from 2.5 metres to less than 12 metres in length:
(i) where the harmonized standards relating to sections 3.2 and 3.3 of Annex I are complied with, shall be the internal production control (module A), referred to in Annex V;
(ii) where the harmonized standards relating Sections 3.2 and 3.3 of Annex I are...