Advancement of harmonized global regulations on small craft based on ISO standards
Work carried out during the ISO plenary for its technical committee ISO/TC 188, Small craft, enabled the group to advance towards its goal of harmonizing global regulations on small craft, based on ISO standards.
At the meeting held in May in Maryland, USA, which was hosted by the American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC), work for the European recreational craft directive (RCD) progressed well and is expected to be completed in 2007.
Other countries attending the plenary expressed their interest to adopt rules similar to those of the European Union (EU), and refer to relevant standards produced by ISO/TC 188 as the EU does.
The plenary coincided with the first International Marine Standards Summit, sponsored also by the ABYC, which was attended by more than 70 participants representing standards developers and industry from Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Sweden, South Africa, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the USA.
In his presentation, the Chair of ISO/TC 188, Bjorn Lagerqvist highlighted that the main focus of the technical committee's work is on the European RCDs, for which 52 EU/ISO standards have been mandated, of which 11 are currently under development.
Other prominent marine professionals and government representatives spoke about key issues surrounding boating safety, co-recognition as well as harmonization of marine standards and the import and export of marine products were discussed.
The summit enabled users and writers of standards worldwide to get a better understanding of the current challenges they experience.
As a result of discussions, several groups were created to look at practical steps needed to:
- establish a single marine standards information source to more effectively communicate global standards issues; and
- conduct a gap analysis of two significant areas of standards: capacity and fuel, which will focus on the 33 code of federal regulations, ABYC and ISO standards and incorporate those relevant from other countries such as Australia and Canada.
For more information contact: François Abram at abram@iso.org