Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2011)456 - Recreational craft and personal watercraft - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2011)456 - Recreational craft and personal watercraft. |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2011)456  |
| date | 26-07-2011 |
The Recreational Craft Directive i was adopted in 1994 to regulate the placing on the market of pleasure boats on the European market. It lays down essential safety requirement that manufacturers shall respect when designing watercraft in order to place those safe watercraft on the EU market. The manufacturers must fulfil several obligations in order to show that their product complies with the Directive, including a Declaration of Conformity of the watercraft with the essential requirements of the Directive, affixing the CE marking on the product and providing the users with information on the use and maintenance of the product.
Directive 94/25/EC was amended by Directive 2003/44/EC which introduces a set of limit values for exhaust emissions for propulsion engines and noise levels for watercrafts with propulsion engines, for both the compression ignition (CI) engines and the spark ignition (SI) engines. The key air pollutants regulated in the Recreational Craft Directive are: Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), Hydrocarbons (HC) and the Particulates (PT). Furthermore, Directive 2003/44/EC enlarges the scope of the Recreational Craft Directive to cover also personal watercraft.
The same amending Directive provides a review clause (Article 2) which aims at reinforcing emission limits to reflect the technological progress of recreational marine engines as well as the need to harmonise the limits worldwide, particularly with the US. At the same time the vulnerable position of the SMEs should be taken into account as this sector consists mainly of small and medium enterprises (more than 95% of businesses are SMEs).
The SMEs active in the sector are mainly involved in boat building or engine marinising (modifying and fitting the on road or non road engine into the boat). There are also few small volume engine manufacturers operating on and supplying solely for the EU market.
The review clause (Article 2) also stipulates that the Commission shall report on the possibilities of further improving the environmental characteristics of engines and, if deemed appropriate in the light of this report, put forward appropriate proposals to the European Parliament and the Council. The Commission issued a report in 2007 (COM(2007/313) in which it announced that it would assess options to further reducing the exhaust emission limits of recreational marine engines.
The Recreational Craft Directive is embedded in a framework of European Legislation combining marine safety and environmental aspects.
One of the flagship policies defined in the Europe 2020 strategy i aims at establishing a resource efficient Europe to meet the climate/energy targets. The integrated maritime policy i streamlines the protection of the environment in every Union policy, especially those affecting the maritime environment. The Recreational Craft Directive revision takes place in this general context. It also contributes to the objective of the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity.
The Recreational Craft Directive is in line with the objectives of the Clean Air for Europe (CAFE) initiative i which provides an integrated and long term strategy for reducing the adverse impact of air pollution on human health and environment as specified in the Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe. i
The Recreational Craft Directive only covers health related pollutants from engines exhaust emissions such as particulates matters (PT), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and hydrocarbons (HC). It does not address CO2. Today no inventory or data is available on CO2 emissions from recreational craft engines. Nevertheless, CO2 emissions from engines in this sector might be addressed in the future in line with the recent developments in the road sector, either by voluntary or regulatory measures.
Consultation of interested parties
The revision has been under consideration since 2008 and has been the subject of a wide ranging consultation, namely in the framework of the Standing Committee for recreational craft with the Member States authorities and other stakeholders like industry, costumer associations, standardisation organisations and representatives of conformity assessment bodies.
A public internet consultation was organized in May/July 2009. The Commission services received 32 responses to the questionnaire published in English only. The results of the public consultation are published at: ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf
The replies to this consultation revealed support to introduce more restrictive limits for exhaust emissions while taking into account the position of SMEs. The respondents indicated that limits should be common not only for the EU/EEA, states but also for other parts of the world, the United States in particular. The survey also confirmed that a further reduction of noise limits of watercrafts with propulsion engines would not effectively solve the problem of excessive noise in the exposed areas.
The consultation highlighted that the specificities of the recreational marine sector should be better reflected in the EU legislation. Concerns were raised with regard to the very active second hand market as well as the self-built boats. The responses also indicated that there is a need to clarify the obligations of economic operators including private importers as well as competences of the national enforcement authorities
Collection and use of expertise
Several external studies have been commissioned to further examine the improvement of environmental characteristics of recreational marine engines and the impact thereof.
· TNO [6] “Stocktaking study on the current status and developments of technology and regulations related to the environmental performance of recreational marine engines – Final Report”, January 2005. (“Stocktaking study”). The Commission requested this study after having introduced environmental requirements in the Recreational Craft Directive, to evaluate the environmental impact of the use of propulsion engines in recreational craft.
· European Confederation of Nautical Industries “Study on The Feasibility and Impact of Possible Scenarios for Further Emission Reduction Measures for Recreational Craft Engines in the Context of Directive 94/25/EC, as Amended by Directive 2003/44/EC: Impact Assessment Report – Final Report”, 26 October 2006”. This study identified and measured in detail the impacts and distributive effects of the four possible scenarios for further emission reduction measures identified in the TNO study.
· ARCADIS [7] “Complementary Impact Assessment Study on possible emission reduction measures for recreational marine engines” – June 2008. Following the results of the previous study, the Commission launched another study in order to identify and assess new scenarios which would take into account the peculiar position of SMEs in the recreational craft sector.
· The studies are available at: ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/maritime
The Commission has carried out a detailed impact assessment listed in its Work Programme.
The impact assessment focuses on the following three areas of the revision having substantial impacts:
A. exhaust emissions,
C alignment to the New Legal Framework:
For these three areas the following options were analysed in detail.
Option 1 - No change
The existing exhaust emission limits in the Directive remain as defined by the amendment 2003/44/EC.
The possibility of introducing the Stage II of the exhaust emission limits has been assessed. Altogether five possible scenarios to further restrict the limits have been proposed (see for details impact assessment p.21).
The Scenario 5 as the most suitable scenario was selected for further evaluation. This scenario 5 harmonises the limits with the US for both: Spark ignition (SI) engines and compression ignition (CI) engines. For CI engines the limits are those set in US EPA 40 CFR Part 1042 for marine diesel recreational engines. For SI engines the limits are be those set in US EPA 40 CFR Part 1045 for new non-road SI engines, equipment and vessels.
Option 3 - Stricter exhaust emission limits (Stage II) combined with mitigating measures to limit negative economic/social effects
This option looks into different possibilities to tighten the rules for exhaust emissions while at the same time including a mitigating measure to limit the negative economic and social effects, which the introduction of higher emission limits may have on manufacturers.
Sub-option 3.1 – Use of a flexibility scheme
An option to mitigate the effects of stricter exhaust emission rules might be the introduction of the flexibility scheme. The idea is to allow the engine manufacturers to place on the market a limited number of recreational marine engines compliant with the previous stage of emissions, still after the entry into force of new emission limit values.
Sub-option 3.2 – Use of a transitional period for all engine manufacturers (3 years)
The proposal is to provide a three years transitional period after the entry into force of the Directive in order to allow the engine manufacturers to adapt the engines to the new technologies.
Sub-option 3.3 – Use of a transitional period for all engine manufacturers + a specific transitional period for small and medium sized engine manufacturers placing on the EU market the SI outboard engines < 15 kW (3+3 years).
The three years transitional period for the industry would remain. On top of this, an additional period of 3 years (6 years from the entry in force) would be granted to SME engine manufacturers who place on the market SI engines below 15 kW.
This last sub-option was selected in the impact assessment as the preferable option.
B. Noise emission limits for watercrafts with propulsion engines.
The existing noise emission limits in the Directive remain as defined by the amendment 2003/44/EC.
Option 2 – Stricter noise emission limits
The current EU noise emission limits regulating the sound emitted by the watercraft would be tightened.
– it does not entail compliance cost (companies will not have to invest in new technologies to achieve the required emission limits);
– it provides the possibility to achieve greater environmental benefits through tailor-made, national, measures, specifically designed for the areas in which watercraft operates in each country.
Member States would enjoy more leeway to design specific measures which would allow them to effectively restrict noise, since noise emitted by watercraft is not the sole result of the engines, but also depends on factors such as operation, weather conditions, etc.
Consequently to the adoption of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 and of Decision 768/2008/EC, the Recreational Craft Directive has to be brought in line with the principles of New Legislative Framework. It means basically the inclusion of the chapters describing the obligations of economic operators, the competences of conformity assessment bodies and market surveillance authorities, new conformity assessment modules and the status of CE marking.
Since the Commission is engaged to align the sectorial legislation to the NLF, the impact assessment concentrated in analysing the impacts of the alignment only. These impacts should be mostly positive, since the horizontal provisions are clarifying certain issues which are subject to uncertainty for the moment. Legal certainty will be for the benefit of all parties: economic operators, national and European Union administration as well as consumers. Certain new obligations set for economic operators, can have an economic impact in terms of new costs for the economic operators. i
Contents
- legal elements of the proposal
- budgetary implications
- General context
- Consistency with other policies and objectives of the Union
- 2. consulation of interested parties and impact assessment
- Impact assessment
- B. noise emissions; and
- A. Exhaust emission limits for engines
- Option 2 - Stricter exhaust emission limits (Stage II)
- Option 3 - Stricter exhaust emission limits (Stage II) combined with mitigating measures to limit negative economic/social effects
- Option 1 - No change
- Option 1 (keeping the current limit values) was found to be the preferred option because of
- C. Alignment of the RCD with the New Legislative Framework
- Main elements of the revision
- 3.1. Clarifying scope and concepts of the Directive
- 3.2. General safety requirement
- 3.3. Exhaust emissions
- 3.3.1. The new stricter emission limits
- 3.3.2. Reference fuels and test cycles
- 3.3.3. Mitigating measures for industry
- 3.4. Constructional requirements
- 3.5. Post construction assessment and private importer
- 3.6. Affixing of the CE-marking
- 3.7. Reporting
- 3.8. Aligning the Recreational Craft Directive with the New Legislative Framework (NLF) and the applicable conformity assessment procedures
- 3.8.1. Horizontal rules
- 3.8.2. Conformity assessment procedures
- 3.9. Comitology and Delegated acts
- Legal basis
- Subsidiarity principle
- Proportionality
- 5. additional information
- European Economic Area
In order to facilitate the application of the Recreational craft Directive by manufacturers and national authorities, the scope and some definitions of this Directive are clarified.
In the past, there have been debates about the content of the term “recreational craft” in the Directive which has been sometimes claimed to be an overall term covering both recreational craft and personal watercraft. This lack of clarity is now eliminated by introducing into the definitions a new overall concept “watercraft” which covers both recreational craft and personal watercraft.
Since the term “recreational craft” is now clearly limited to only some types of products covered by the Directive, the title of the Directive is changed to ““Directive on recreational craft and personal watercraft” in order for the title to correspond better to the scope.
As regards the list of excluded products, it is necessary to add amphibious craft to the list to exclude it from the requirements of this Directive. For reasons of consistency and clarification it is also specified that only personal watercraft intended for sports and leisure is included in the Directive, and not for instance personal watercraft intended for rescue and police services. Furthermore, the definition of “Canoes” that are excluded from the scope is clarified to indicate that the canoe must be “designed to be propelled by hand paddle power only” in order to be excluded from the scope of the Directive.
It is also appropriate to provide definitions of “watercraft built for own use” and of “private importer” specific to this sector in order to facilitate the understanding and uniform application of the Directive
For reasons of clarity and consistency with other New Approach Directives, it is necessary to specify explicitly that that products covered by this Directive may only be placed on the market or put into service if they meet the general requirement imposing them to be without danger to the safety and health of persons, property or environment and only if they meet the essential requirements set out in Annex I. Laying down this general safety requirement is important since it could be used as a legal base for taking out of the market unsafe watercraft in particular in a situation where a new risk which is not covered by the harmonized standards is discovered.
New stricter limits are foreseen for the exhaust emission of Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), Hydrocarbons (HC) and the Particulates (PT).
For CI engines these limits are set applying the US EPA standards for marine diesel recreational engines (40 CFR Part 1042). For SI engines, the limits are set using the US EPA emission standards for new non-road SI engines, equipment and vessels (40 CFR Part 1045). This approach sets the limits at a level that reflects the technical development of cleaner marine engine technologies and that allows a development towards the harmonisation of exhaust emission limits worldwide.
The CO-limits are slightly relaxed as a trade-off for achieving the significant decrease of other air pollutants and in order to ensure that the compliance costs to industry remain proportionate. However, the relaxation does not lead to a safety risk.
The test fuels used in the assessment of conformity to the exhaust emission limits need to reflect the composition of the fuels used in the relevant market, and therefore the European test fuels must be used in the type approval by the European Union manufacturers. However, since non EU manufacturers may not have access to European reference fuels, it is necessary to foresee that the authorities performing the conformity assessment (Notified bodies) may also accept that engines are tested with other reference fuels. The choice of reference fuels is, however, limited to U.S. and Japanese specifications as specified in the relevant ISO standard in order to ensure quality and comparability of test results. (Reciprocating internal combustion engines-Exhaust emission measurement- Part 5: Test fuels. Currently EN ISO 8178-5:2008).
In addition, the relevant test cycles must be specified by reference to the same ISO standard (Reciprocating internal combustion engines - Exhaust emission measurement - Part 4: Test cycles for different engine applications which is currently EN ISO 8178-4:1996).
The recreational craft sector is actively involved in the development of innovative solutions for propulsion systems, which involve hybrid, electrical engines and even fuel cells. Specific test cycles may in future be developed for hybrid systems.
A general three years transitional period for the industry is foreseen. In addition, as regards exhaust emission requirements, a supplementary 3 years is granted to SME engine manufacturers who place on the market the SI engines below 15 kW. This is needed in order to allow SMEs operating in this market segment to avoid financial disruption and to adjust their production to the new rules.
A new requirement is foreseen to impose mandatory installation of holding tanks to watercraft fitted with toilets in order to contribute to the marine environmental protection.
Directive 94/25/EC contains rules on the post construction assessment of recreational craft which is carried out by any natural or legal person established within the Community who places the product on the market in cases, where neither the manufacturer, nor his authorized representative fulfils the responsibilities for evaluating the conformity of products to the Directive. For consistency, it is appropriate to extent the scope of this procedure to cover not only recreational craft but also personal watercraft. For clarity, it must be specified by whom and in which situations exactly this procedure can be used. These are:
· Private importer, that is a natural or legal person who imports in the course of non-commercial activity a product from a third country into the Union with the intention of putting it into service for his own use.
· Any person placing on the market or putting into service an engine or a watercraft after a major modification or conversion thereof or any person changing the intended purpose of a watercraft not covered by the scope this Directive in a way that it falls under its scope
· Any person placing on the market a watercraft built for own use before the end of the 5 year period mentioned in Article 2 i (a) (vii).
As regards importing recreational craft and personal watercraft, it should be noted that compared to Directive 94/25/EC, the use of Post construction assessments is restricted to cases of non commercial import by private importers. The aim is to prevent abuse of this procedure for commercial ends. Finally, in order to ensure a reliable assessment of the conformity of the product by the notified body with regard to the post construction assessment, there is a need to widen the obligations of the person asking for the post construction assessment to provide documents to the notified body. It is foreseen that he has to provide all the documents necessary for the assessment of the conformity of the product.
Rules governing the affixing of the CE marking on the watercraft, components and engines are laid down in this Directive. Compared with Directive 94/25/EC, it is appropriate to enlarge the obligation to affix the CE-marking also to all inboard engines and stern drive engines without integral exhaust which are regarded as meeting the essential requirements set out in Annex I.B and I.C.
The CE marking must be affixed on the watercraft, engines and components. In case of components, where that are not possible or not warranted on account of the size or nature of that product, it can alternatively be affixed to the packaging and to the accompanying documents.
In order to enforce the monitoring and the efficiency of this Directive, a new obligation is foreseen for the Member States to send every 5 years a report on the application of the Directive to the Commission. The report must in particular contain information on the situation of the safety and environmental performance of the products covered by the Directive and of the effectiveness of the Directive as well as presentation of the market surveillance activities performed by the Member States.
3.8. Aligning the Recreational Craft Directive with the New Legislative Framework (NLF) and the applicable conformity assessment procedures
On 9 the July 2008, the European Parliament and the Council adopted two legal instruments applying the marketing of products. Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 setting out the requirements for accreditation and market surveillance relating to the marketing of products i and Decision No 768/2008/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 on a common framework for the marketing of products i .
The Regulation lays down horizontal provisions on the accreditation of conformity assessment bodies, on the CE marking and on the Community market surveillance framework for, and controls of, products entering the Community market which also apply to products covered by this Directive. For clarity, the application of the Regulation is explicitly mentioned in this Directive.
The Decision provides common principles and reference provisions for the purposes of legislation based on the New Approach principles. In order to ensure consistency with other sectoral product legislation, it is appropriate to align certain provisions of this Directive to that Decision, in so far as sectoral specificities do not require a different solution. Therefore, certain definitions, the general obligations of economic operators, the presumption of conformity, formal objections against harmonised standards, rules for the CE marking, requirements for conformity assessment bodies and notification procedures as well as the provisions concerning procedures dealing with products presenting a risk are aligned to that Decision. Sector specific deviations are necessary in particular in order to take into account the particular situation of private import of watercraft into EU.
The conformity assessment procedures available to the manufacturer are also be set by reference to the horizontal Decision. However, certain supplementary requirements are laid down in Article 25 in order to take into account the specific needs of the sector as regards performing the conformity assessment and which are included in the conformity assessment modules of Directive 94/25/EC. Furthermore, the possibility to use accredited in-house bodies instead of Notified bodies in certain modules referred to in the horizontal Decision is not taken up in this Directive since it is not suitable for the sector.
Experience has shown that in order to take into account of manufacturing needs, it is appropriate to allow a greater choice of certification procedures than before in the following cases:
· for recreational craft of category C from 12 m to 24 m hull length where harmonised standards have been used (also internal product control + supervised tests possible);
· for components (also module B + E possible).
· As regards conformity assessment of exhaust emission and noise requirements, a distinction is referred to between the cases where the harmonised standards have been used, on the one hand, and the cases where they have not been used. In the latter cases, it is justified to require a more stringent conformity assessment procedure than in the former cases. Furthermore, the possibility of using the reference boat data for noise emissions testing is deleted as superfluous, since it has not been used in practice.
In order to take into account the Lisbon Treaty provisions on delegated acts, the rules on adopting delegated acts are inserted in the Directive.
The proposal is based on Article 95 of the EC-Treaty.
Directive 94/25/EEC is a total harmonisation directive adopted on the basis of Article 95 of the Treaty with the objective of the establishment and functioning of the internal market for watercraft. National legislation cannot impose additional provisions on the construction of watercraft or on exhaust and noise emissions of watercraft which would require the modification of the product or affect the conditions for its placing on the market. Therefore, the revision of provisions of Directive 94/25/EEC is, as far as the constructional requirements and exhaust emissions are concerned, within the exclusive competence of the Union. Therefore, the application of the principle of subsidiarity within the meaning of Article 5, second paragraph, of the EC-Treaty does not arise.
It is important to note that the revision aims at clarifying the scope of products covered by the Directive, but not at extending or changing it otherwise. Therefore the issue of subsidiarity within the meaning of Article 5, second paragraph, of the EC-Treaty does not arise in this respect either.
The respect of the subsidiarity principle could arise with regard to the provisions aiming at the improvement of effective enforcement of the Directive stemming mainly from the New Legal Framework (see also 3.7.). Experience has shown that coherent and effective enforcement and market surveillance has not been sufficiently achieved by Member States acting alone. As a consequence, the issue of setting some mandatory common minimum requirements arises. As a result of the proposal, this activity would remain within the authority of the national authorities but some general EU-wide requirements would be introduced to ensure equal treatment, a level playing field for economic operators, and a similar level of protection for the citizens in all the Member States.
In accordance with the principle of proportionality, the proposed modifications do not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the objectives set. In order to protect the benefits of the single market in the watercraft sector, any changes to the existing Directive have to be dealt with at Union level. If Member States acted on their own, there would be a proliferation of requirements which would hamper and undermine the achievements of the single market, and very likely lead to confusion for consumers and producers alike. The consequences could be higher prices for consumers, as producers would have to revert to abiding by member state specific requirements.
The modifications of the Directive do not impose unnecessary burden and costs on industry, especially on small and medium sized enterprises, or administrations. A number of options concern the improvement of clarity of the existing Directive without introducing significant new requirements with cost implication. Where modifications have more significant impacts, the analysis of the impacts of the option serves to provide the most proportionate response to the problems identified.
There are no implications to the Community budget of this proposal.
Repeal of existing legislation
The adoption of the proposal will lead to repeal of Directive 94/25/EC relating to recreational craft.
The proposal concerns the EEA and should therefore be extended to the European Economic Area.