The RYA monitors and campaigns on a wide range of issues that affect boating
Our aim is to keep the activities we enjoy free from unnecessary legislation, unwarranted regulation, and wasteful, expensive bureaucracy.
RYA Agenda summarises our current and recent campaigns and lobbying activities. Copies of the current leaflet are available to RYA affiliated clubs and personal members for further distribution. Please email your requirements and contact details to agenda@rya.org.uk .
Some campaigns are far-reaching in scale and content, with the potential to affect every boater. Others have more limited scope. While some campaigns attract headlines, others receive little or no media coverage.
All, though, demand action, as small problems can escalate quickly into large ones or be seized on by legislators as ‘proof’ that new laws are needed.
Light dues
RYA campaigning helped secure government assurances earlier this year that proposals to extend light dues to recreational craft would not be pursued. The proposed charges would have led to the introduction of a compulsory register of vessels and a costly administration bill that boat owners would have been forced to meet.
Unwanted navigation bureaucracy
The RYA has fought off proposals to outlaw non-official publications as aids to navigation and passage planning. This would have included local notes, small craft editions and ‘harbour eye’ magazine articles – all of which, when used with regard to their limitations, have a part to play in ensuring a safe and successful voyage.
Accident reporting
An RYA threat of legal action forced changes to recent legislation that would have made it an offence for small craft skippers not to report minor incidents like a racing capsize or a minor bump in a marina. The UK legislation went far beyond the intentions of the original EU directive, which had specifically excluded craft under 45 metres.
Drink boating
The RYA’s stance on alcohol legislation afloat – that existing laws are already adequate without the need for additional legislation – has been vindicated by the successful prosecutions of two commercial craft skippers following recent accidents in the Solent
Radio licensing
The RYA is supporting proposals to reform the ships’ radio licence system, to reduce the regulatory burden on radio users. Licences would be offered free of charge to applications made online. Objectors in some quarters claim that allowing free licences will degrade the current user database and create a safety of life issue. The RYA rejects this view and believes that the arguments for a simple, free to the user system will prevail.
Still seeing red
The RYA’s joint campaign with the British Marine Federation and Inland Waterways Association to preserve the derogation on red diesel has gathered pace.
Inland issues
The RYA is working hard to ensure that the framework of legislation and regulation surrounding inland waters takes full account of boating’s interests and does not unreasonable restrict or prejudice boating activities.
Beating the VAT blues
The law requires that vessels used in EU water should be VAT paid or ‘deemed’ paid. This puts at risk the owner or prospective owner of a second-hand boat for which no VAT invoice can be produced.
HM Revenue and Customs are no longer willing to state categorically that a vessel is deemd VAT paid on the basis of documentary evidence that does not include the original VAT invoice. Clearly, this is an unsatisfactory situation and the RYA is negotiating with government officials to find a solution.
Explosive outcomes
Not for the first time, legislation on a topic entirely divorced from boating is threatening to introduce future problems for owners of recreational craft.
Education versus legislation
The RYA’s ethic of “education, not legislation” is well-known and often referred to in the boating press. It is based on three main platforms.
· Firstly, the UK’s boating safety record is a good one in comparison to other countries where a compulsory regime is in place. There is no evidence that introducing a test and licence system in the UK would reduce incidents further.
· Secondly, the evidence is that introducing a minimum standard would encourage many people to meet that standard but then progress no further. The present, voluntary system encourages people to take further training as and when they feel the need. It also fosters pride in acquiring, maintaining and developing personal knowledge and experience. All of this contributes to greater safety afloat.
· Finally, the introduction of a compulsory system would require a massive amount of administration, the cost of which would fall on the boating public. So, too, would the cost of policing the system. The effect would be to inconvenience and penalise law-abiding, conscientious boaters while doing very little to discourage the ‘cowboys’ who would easily escape detection.
Fishing Gear – We Need To Know
The campaign to push for better marking of fishing nets and pots, in which the RYA has played an active part, continues to need your support.
Brighter later?
We`re pushing for a major re-think over the presentation of weather information via public service channels including BBC Television.
Alternative energy
The RYA raised early concerns over the planned building of large scale windfarms in popular sailing waters.
Help us help you
Agenda highlights some of the current projects and issues on which the RYA is working. There are many others, most of which never make headlines in the boating press. All demand time and resources, if we are to maintain our commitment to promote and protect boating.
If you value boating’s traditional freedoms, please help us to preserve them by becoming an RYA personal member. As well as a selection of membership benefits, you will have the satisfaction of knowing you are helping us to be a more influential and effective organisation on boating’s behalf.
If you are already a member, please accept our sincere thanks for your support. We hope that Agenda gives you an insight into the range and variety of activities your commitment enables us to undertake.