CE Marking (CE Mark) for Recreational Craft: EU Council Directive of 94/25/EC of 16 June 1994

Brief Introduction of
Directive 94/25/EC
Recreational Craft
& Annex I, II, ... XV

DIRECTIVE 94/25/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 16 June 1994
on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to recreational craft

CHAPTER I

Article 1

1. This Directive shall apply to recreational craft, partly completed boats and components referred to in Annex II when separate and when installed.
2. 'Recreational craft' shall mean any boat of any type, regardless of the means of propulsion, from 2,5 to 24 m hull length, measured according to the appropriate harmonized standards intended for sports and leisure purposes. The fact that the same boat could be used for charter or for recreational boating training shall not prevent it being covered by this Directive when it is placed on the market for recreational purposes.
3. The following shall be excluded from the scope of this Directive:
(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 Community market during a period of five years;
(h) craft specifically intended to be crewed and to carry passengers for commercial purposes, without prejudice to paragraph 2, in particular those defined in Directive 82/716/EEC of 4 October 1982 laying down technical requirements for inland waterway vessels (2), regardless of the number of passengers;
(i) submersibles;
(j) air cushion vehicles;
(k) hydrofoils.

Article 2

Placing on the market and putting into service
1. Member States shall take all necessary measures to ensure that the products referred to in Article 1 (1) may be placed on the market and put into service for use in accordance with their intended purpose only if they do not endanger the safety and health of persons, property or the environment when correctly constructed and maintained.
2. The provisions of this Directive shall not prevent Member States from adopting, in compliance with the Treaty, provisions concerning navigation on certain waters for the purpose of protection of the environment, the fabric of waterways, and ensuring safety of waterways, providing that this does not require modification to craft conforming to this Directive.

Article 3

Essential requirements
The products referred to in Article 1 (1) shall meet the essential safety, health, environmental protection and consumer protection requirements set out in Annex I.

Article 4

Free movement of the products referred to in Article 1 (1)
1. Member States shall not prohibit, restrict or impede the placing on the market and putting into service in their territory of the products referred to in Article 1 (1) bearing the CE marking referred to in Annex IV, which indicates their conformity with all provisions of this Directive, including the conformity procedures set out in Chapter II.
2. Member States shall not prohibit, restrict or impede the placing on the market of partly-completed boats where the builder or his authorized representative established in the Community or the person responsible for the placing on the market declares, in accordance with Annex IIIA, that they are intended to be completed by others.
3. Member States shall not prohibit, restrict or impede the placing on the market and putting into service of components referred to in Annex II and bearing the CE marking referred to in Annex IV which indicates their conformity with the relevant essential requirements where these components are intended to be incorporated into recreational craft, in accordance with the declaration, referred to in Annex IIIB, of the manufacturer, his authorized representative established in the Community or, in the case of imports from a third country, of any person who places those components on the Community market.
4. At trade fairs, exhibitions, demonstrations, etc., Member States shall not create any obstacles to the showing of the products referred to in Article 1 (1) which do not comply with this Directive, provided that a visible sign clearly indicates that such products may not be marketed or put into service until they have been made to comply.
5. Where the products referred to in Article 1 (1) are subject to other Directives concerning other aspects and which also provide for the affixing of the CE marking, the latter shall indicate that such products also fulfil the provisions of those other Directives. However, should one or more of those Directives allow the manufacturer, during a transitional period, to choose which arrangements to apply, the CE marking shall indicate that the product fulfils the provisions only of those Directives applied by the manufacturer. In this case, the particulars of those Directives, as published in the Official Journal of the European Communities, must be given in the documents, notices or instructions required by those Directives and accompanying such products.

Article 5

Member States shall presume compliance with the essential requirements referred to in Article 3 of products referred to in Article 1 (1) which meet the relevant national standards adopted pursuant to the harmonized standards the references of which have been published in the Official Journal of the European Communities; Member States shall publish the references of such national standards.

Article 6

1. Where a Member State or the Commission is of the opinion that the harmonized standards referred to in Article 5 do not fully meet the essential requirements referred to in Article 3, the Commission or the Member State shall notify the committee set up under Directive 83/189/CEE, setting out its reasons. The committee shall deliver an urgent opinion.
In the light of the opinion of the committee, the Commission shall inform Member States if the standards concerned should be withdrawn from the publications referred to in Article 5.
2. The Commission may adopt any appropriate measure with a view to ensuring that this Directive is applied practically in a uniform manner in pursuance of paragraph 3.
3. The Commission shall be assisted by a Standing Committee composed of representatives appointed by the Member States and chaired by a representative from the Commission.
The Standing Committee shall draw up its own rules of procedure.
The representative of the Commission shall submit to the Committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The Committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft within a time limit which the chairman may lay down according to the urgency of the matter, if necessary by taking a vote.
The opinion shall be recorded in the minutes; in addition, each Member State shall have the right to ask to have its position recorded in the minutes.
The Commission shall take the utmost account of the opinion delivered by the Committee. It shall inform the Committee of the manner in which its opinion has been taken into account.
4. The Standing Committee may, in addition, examine any question concerning the application of this Directive and raised by its chairman, either at the chairman's initiative or at the request of a Member State.

Article 7

Safeguard clause

CHAPTER II
Conformity assessment

Article 8

Before producing and placing on the market products referred to in Article 1 (1), the manufacturer or his authorized representative established in the Community shall apply the following procedures for boat design categories A, B, C and D as referred to in Section 1 of Annex I.
1. For categories A and B:
- for boats of less than 12 m hull length: the internal production control plus tests (module Aa) referred to in Annex VI,
- for boats from 12 m to 24 m hull length: 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: B + D, or B + F, or G or H.
2. For category C:
(a) for boats from 2,5 m to 12 m hull length:
- where the harmonized standards relating to sections 3.2 and 3.3 of Annex I are complied with: the internal production control (module A), referred to in Annex V,
- where the harmonized standards relating Sections 3.2 and 3.3 of Annex I are not complied with: the internal production control plus tests (module Aa) referred to in Annex VI.
(b) for boats from 12 m to 24 m hull length: the EC type-examination (module B) referred to in Annex VII followed by module C (type conformity) referred to in Annex VIII, or any of the following modules: B + D, or B + F, or G or H.
3. For category D:
For boats from 2,5 m to 24 m hull length: the internal production control (module A) referred to in Annex V.
4. For components referred to in Annex II: any of the following modules: B + C, or B + D, or B + F, or G or H.

Article 9

Notified bodies

CHAPTER III
CE Marking

Article 10

CHAPTER IV
Final provisions

ANNEX I
ESSENTIAL SAFETY REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF RECREATIONAL CRAFT

1. BOAT DESIGN CATEGORIES
2. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
3. INTEGRITY AND STRUCTURAL REQUIREMENTS
4. HANDLING CHARACTERISTICS
5. INSTALLATION REQUIREMENTS

ANNEX II
COMPONENTS

ANNEX III
DECLARATION BY THE BUILDER OR HIS AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE ESTABLISHED IN THE COMMUNITY OR THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR PLACING ON THE MARKET

ANNEX IV
CE MARKING

ANNEX V
INTERNAL PRODUCTION CONTROL (module A)

ANNEX VI
INTERNAL PRODUCTION CONTROL PLUS TESTS (module Aa, option 1)

ANNEX VII
EC TYPE-EXAMINATION (module B)

ANNEX VIII
CONFORMITY TO TYPE (module C)

ANNEX IX
PRODUCTION QUALITY ASSURANCE (module D)

ANNEX X
PRODUCT VERIFICATION (module F)

ANNEX XI
UNIT VERIFICATION (module G)

ANNEX XII
FULL QUALITY ASSURANCE (module H)

ANNEX XIII
TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION SUPPLIED BY THE MANUFACTURER

ANNEX XIV
MINIMUM CRITERIA TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT BY MEMBER STATES FOR THE NOTIFICATION OF BODIES

ANNEX XV
WRITTEN DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY

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