DTI appoints RYA to RCD Notified Body status

The Department of Trade and Industry has confirmed the appointment of the Royal Yachting Association as a Recreational Craft Directive (RCD) Notified Body for the UK. Authorised to assess recreational craft to the requirements of the amended RCD, the RYA will now complete the verification process and issue CE certificates.

Previously working as a UK assessment agent, the RYA is now able to carry out all RCD assessment work and, if appropriate, issue CE certificates enabling new and imported recreational boats to be sold in the EU.

Ken Kershaw, RYA Technical Manager, states that gaining RCD notified body status will deliver many benefits to the boating community: “As the prime UK Notified Body for the EU, we are keen to offer the best possible route to RCD compliance. Our facility is structured to ensure that UK boat builders and their customers benefit from simple, inexpensive, assessment which keeps the additional costs imposed by the RCD to an absolute minimum”

The RCD ensures that the design and manufacture of recreational craft confirm to an agreed level of safety throughout the European Union. All recreational boats between 2.5m and 24m in length, with few exceptions, which are placed on the market or imported into the EU for the first time must comply with the essential requirements of the RCD and be CE marked to show this compliance. The same requirements also apply to home built boats which are placed on the market within five years of completion. The Directive, which becomes mandatory on 1January 2006 was amended at the beginning of this year, and now incorporates personal water-craft, engine emissions and choices of assessment, including post construction assessment.

The official notification process has taken six months of hard work, as Ken Kershaw explains: “To achieve Notified Body status, the RYA has to comply with criteria, set by the DTI which uses the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to screen suitability. UKAS, working with the ISO 17020 quality system, checked internal systems here at RYA Headquarters as well as our work out on boat builder sites. The DTI then ‘notified’ the EU of the appointment and we received our Notification. Gaining Notified Body status is a major achievement for the RYA, which enables us to operate in areas of technical competence - arguably at the same level as the approval departments of Lloyds Register and other classification societies.”

For further details of this service, please contact Tricia Grady, RYA Technical Department on 02380 604201, www.rya.org.uk/Technical/rcd or email tricia.grady@rya.org.uk