After a lengthy wait of four-and-a-half years, the new Italian Nautical Code has been approved and published in the country’s Official Gazette. This new regulation implements the pleasure boating code and allows the legislative reforms of the sector code to become operational, starting with a series of important simplifications.
This Italian Nautical Code, and its significance, received consistent mentions in various meetings and conferences held as part of the 64th Genoa International Boat Show.
“It was not an easy path, which required the concerted signature of 14 ministers and saw the national trade association of the industry and the nautical supply chain in the front row to obtain simplifications for companies and users,” said Marina Stella, general director of Confindustria Nautica.
“The innovations concern both small boats and superyachts,” explained Roberto Neglia, head of institutional relations at Confindustria Nautica and head of delegation at the technical table with the Ministry of Transport (MIT), “affecting registration, moorings, safety equipment and introducing the highly-anticipated nautical license which allows 16-year-olds to approach the sea.”
Key aspects of the new code are:
– Part of the new code aims to encourage the registration, including of foreign vessels. It includes simplifications provided for the registration of vessels from other registers and these also apply to pleasure vessels.
– The seller’s declaration of sale, with authenticated signature, or the sales invoice are considered as title of ownership for registration in the electronic register also for ships and superyachts registered in the Italian international register.
– For superyachts registered in the Italian International Register, registration can also be requested by the leasing user; the title of ownership or the extract from the Register of ships under construction or the certification of the start of cancellation from another EU register is sufficient, together with the tonnage certificate, even temporary. For the superyacht or ship, a navigation license may be requested, instead of the nationality document, and it may be authorized to navigate with a provisional license, valid for six months.
– A single logbook is required, issued by the maritime compartment of registration; it is possible to replace the Crew Role; simplified the embarkation and disembarkation of a crew member in a foreign port without consular authority, providing that the enlistment or disembarkation is noted upon the seafarer’s return to Italy.
– The Superyacht safety regulation will be modified by decree of the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, which will provide for alternative standards, exemptions and equivalences to international conventions.
– The Italian Passenger Yacht Code initiates the special standard for pleasure craft carrying up to 36 passengers, to be adopted by decree of the Minister of Infrastructure, which will provide for alternative standards, exceptions and equivalences to international conventions.
– In respect of construction or refitting, the pleasure vessel is exempted from the stability test if twinning conditions exist with another unit built by the same shipyard, certified by an authorised technical body.
– The application of alternative standards, exemptions or equivalences is envisaged on the basis of the declaration of equivalence issued by the authorised technical body, both in the design and construction phases of the ship or superyacht.
– In the case of transformation work on non-EU units at Italian shipyards, the owner, shipowner or user under finance lease can deliver the certificate of registration in the foreign register or other equivalent document to the customs offices, which is retained until re-export of the unit in order to access the procedural simplifications to be defined with the Customs and Monopolies Agency.
– Appointment of shipowner allows for the declaration or revocation of the shipowner to be made with a verbal process not only before the port authority but also at a yachtsman’s electronic help desk.
– Pleasure boats: In order to support small boating, specific spaces have been identified within the regulation of port areas for the mooring, including dry mooring, of units up to 6m(20ft), as well as public slipways for launching the same units and parking of the relevant trolleys
– In establishing the buoy fields and equipped mooring areas, the managers of the marine protected areas take into due consideration the pleasure craft belonging to social boating and regulate any concessions for them.
– For safety purposes, essential instructions for the command of pleasure boats rented without the requirement of a nautical license are provided, also in English.
A key part of the new Italian Nautical Code relates to younger people in that it allows those who have reached the age of 16 to obtain the daytime qualification, within six miles from the coast, for units of up to 10m (39ft) equipped with engines not exceeding 85kW or 115.6hp achieved following the attendance of a training course, integrated with practical navigation and motor manoeuvring exercises, as well as passing a final suitability quiz test.
The code also has a section relating to safety equipment which includes manufacturer’s recommendations, the identification of individual lifesaving appliances being used by a shipowner or financial leaser. Mandatory equipment must include an electronic compass safety harnesses dependent on particular distances from the coast. Rules also related to rocket packs carried.
A series of rules within the code also relate to liferafts which are linked to distances of sailing from the coast. Rules also apply to life jackets carried. A set of rules also apply to boats and pleasure craft with CE marking, in the event of serious failures or loss of the essential safety requirements or significant modification to the engine.
In the case of refit work on units flying the flag of third countries at Italian shipyards, in the application of the customs regimes envisaged, the owner, the shipowner or the user under finance lease can deliver the certificate of registration in the foreign register to the competent customs offices or other equivalent document.
The Italian Nautical Code also includes rules about speed limits and noise as follows:
– Within the limit of 500m (1,642ft) from the coast the speed limit is 8kt; inside the ports, and in the bays where there are anchored units, it is 3kt. For disturbing noises within 500m of the coast, it is forbidden to produce them.
