The European Commission proposed new legislation that will make the use of jet skis and sailing boats less harmful for European waters. The proposed revision of the Recreational Craft Directive (RCD) sets that propulsion engines will have to be designed and constructed to emit 20% less of HC+NOx emissions and 34% less of particulate matters. The proposal also clarifies some safety requirements.

The revision of the Recreational Craft Directive (RCD) proposed by the European Commission sets stricter limits for NOx, hydrocarbons (HC) and particulate matters for new recreational crafts. The proposal also improves market surveillance, for example by updating the rules on CE marking. The Commission already launched a campaign information on CE marking last year. Moreover, to guarantee a level playing field, the obligations for manufacturers, importers and distributors are strengthened in the proposal to better guarantee compliance with the new requirements for market surveillance in force since 1 January 2010. The proposal contains stricter obligations for private importers as well, as recreational crafts are quite often imported by individuals from third countries to the EU for their own use.

The Commission's proposal clarifies some safety requirements too. In particular, new habitable multihull craft should be so designed that they cannot invert or must have sufficient buoyancy to remain afloat in the inverted position. The legislation will also be simplified and technical requirements will be aligned with the EU major trading partners. But producers of small quantities (SMEs) will be taken into account too, because they will get more time to respect the new emission limits.

Approximately 6 millions of recreational crafts are in use in Europe. The Recreational Craft Directive (94/25/EC) covers recreational craft (motor boats, sailing boats etc), personal watercraft (jet skis), their engines and the components which are not used for commercial purposes. It lays down the safety requirements that manufacturers shall respect when designing and manufacturing craft as well as the limits for exhaust and noise emissions from marine propulsion engines. The recreational marine activities across Europe involve some 37.000 companies and it employs some 272.000 workers.