Recreational Craft Directive - EC Legislation

[Mike]

And just what is the alleged justification for this insanity, Mark? Presumably, it is so that Aussie boatbuilders can sell their products overseas. Frankly, I have no problem with that for so long as it's about safety. However, to impose the same rules on an amateur boatbuilder is way over the top. There is no justification for doing so, in my book.

Without labouring the subject - and repeating what's already been said here - the one point that remains is very simply that the real motivation behind this plethora of regulation is what is loosely termed 'globalisation'.

While I am not opposed to opening up markets overseas, it is a fact that legislation invariably favours a particular lobby group. With the RCD, the group were Brit professional boatbuilders trying to find a way to sell their products into formerly closed markets, particularly those in Italy and Spain. Again, if imposing regulations is the way to achieve that, fine. But why impose those commercially motivated rules on the non-commercial world in such a way that we backyardies are unable to realize our investment, both in money and time, in order to move on to new horizons?

Where safety is concerned, the sensible solution is to require either that a boat be designed by a suitably qualified individual, and then certified as built according to that designer's specifications, OR, if a home designed boat, that a suitably qualified individual inspects it to ensure it is 'safe'. We really don't need pollies or bureaucrats deciding what is best for the rest of us. This kind of legislation is being churned out willy nilly with nothing more than money-making behind it. I mean, how many people do you know of who have been killed in the past year due to an unsafe boat? Come to that, how many people have died in boating incidents aboard what were said to be safe boats? If this kind of legislation is truly about ensuring public safety, then why is it not imposed similarly with regard to road deaths? Let's make it against the law to build your own bike without ensuring it meets all the standards imposed on the commercial sector.

One other aspect is that if negligence is involved with regard to a backyard built boat then the law already affords the victim with an adequate remedy. So what would be new with regard to individual safety?

To me, these are the core issues with respect to the EU legislation - and they ought to be elsewhere too. Why? Because otherwise it is very likely to leave us with no alternative but to buy professionally made boats. The skills to self-build would thereafter be confined to just a few or in some circumstances even lost to our nation forever. That may be good for the professionals but it is certainly not good for the ordinary and reasonable man, he/she who is said to ride on the legendary Clapham omnibus. And it is not good for society as a whole, either, for it stifles a natural, and very human, instinct in us to create and to build what we want rather than merely buying it off a shelf somewhere - at a premium price so that professionals can cream off their profit.

Regards