The Italian Chamber of Deputies has recently approved the “Made in Italy” Draft Law on Yachting, resulting from the discussion between “Confindustria Nautica”, the Minister of Business and Made in Italy, the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transports and the draft law’s rapporteurs. The draft law will have to be approved by the Senate.
The novelties, introduced by the draft law, are the following:
- The establishment of a fund for the engines’ scrapping aimed at the purchase of electric thrusters;
- The introduction of a deadline of 7 days for the registration of pleasure vessels in order to make the Italian flag more competitive;
- The introduction of a list of documents needed in order to allow vessels of less than 10 meters (for which registration is not needed) to sail in the territorial waters of other EU Member States, specifically Croatia, Slovenia and Greece, that, otherwise, would have required the registration of such vessels from next summer. In particular, the owners shall submit the Construction or Import Declaration and a declaration of the owner with signatures authenticated from the National Car Testing Service Centre (Sportelli Telematici dell’Automobilista – STA), certifying the vessel’s ownership, flag and characteristics, to the competent authorities of the EU Member State. Such provision aims at avoiding the registration of such vessels with those countries and the consequential payment of VAT to them. Therefore, the amounts paid in relation to issuance fees will be allocated to the Telematic Registry of Pleasure Vessels in order to contribute to its efficiency;
- The introduction of a declaration in lieu of affidavit, with signatures authenticated from the National Car Testing Service Centre, certifying the exclusive ownership of the pleasure vessel of less than 10 meters, indicating the date and place of completion of sale and the name of the seller. This proposal aims at solving the issue regarding the owners of such vessels, who voluntarily intend to register them under the Italian flag to sail beyond 12 miles from the coast, but have lost or do not have a title of ownership.
Above all, the objective of such draft law is to highlight the yachting industry, which is one of the flagships of Made in Italy, to increase its competitiveness and to revalue the Italian flag, which is not very often chosen by owners, because of its disadvantageousness compared to other flags. In fact, the yachting industry has always been affected by the excessive Italian bureaucracy. It should be mentioned that the provisions regarding the sailing in Croatia, Slovenia and Greece are extremely helpful in terms of the competitiveness of the Italian flag, because they avoid the risk of a change of Flag Registry by the yacht owners, who intended to sail to those countries. Such provision certainly represents a great achievement for the yachting industry, however, the national trade associations wish that a simplified registry for vessels of less than 10 meters will soon be established in order to guarantee the free movement, a minimal bureaucracy and the abolition of insurance problems in case of damage and theft.
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