--- title: "RCD — Recreational Craft Directive" description: "The Recreational Craft Directive sets design, construction, emission and conformity assessment requirements and the CE marking for recreational craft from 2,5 m to 24 m, personal watercraft, their engines and listed components, binding manufacturers, importers, distributors and private importers. It has applied since 18 January 2016, replacing Directive 94/25/EC, and has never been amended." type: "guide" url: "https://www.conphora.com/regulations/rcd/" markdown: "https://www.conphora.com/regulations/rcd.md" locale: "en" language: "en" published: "2014-01-17" updated: "2026-09-13" author: "Conphora compliance team" publisher: "Conphora" reference: "Directive 2013/53/EU" celex: "32013L0053" source: "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32013L0053" tags: ["RCD", "Maritime & Transport"] license: "Free to quote with attribution and a link to the page" --- # RCD — Recreational Craft Directive The Recreational Craft Directive sets design, construction, emission and conformity assessment requirements and the CE marking for recreational craft from 2,5 m to 24 m, personal watercraft, their engines and listed components, binding manufacturers, importers, distributors and private importers. It has applied since 18 January 2016, replacing Directive 94/25/EC, and has never been amended. ## Key facts - **Official title:** Directive 2013/53/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2013 on recreational craft and personal watercraft and repealing Directive 94/25/EC - **Reference:** Directive 2013/53/EU - **CELEX:** 32013L0053 - **Act type:** Directive - **In force:** 2014-01-17 - **Applies from:** 2016-01-18 - **Enforced by:** National market surveillance authorities enforce the national laws transposing the directive; Article 43 still cites Article 15(3) and Articles 16 to 29 of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, read as Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 since 16 July 2021, whose Annex I lists the directive as point 46 and whose Article 4 requires an economic operator established in the Union for every craft, engine and component placed on the market. Denmark splits the directive between two executive orders: executive order nr. 1548 of 3 December 2025 on recreational craft and personal watercraft (bekendtgørelse om fritidsfartøjer og personlige fartøjer), issued by Søfartsstyrelsen, the Danish Maritime Authority, under the maritime safety act and in force since 1 January 2026, carries everything except the emission limits and makes Erhvervsstyrelsen the market surveillance authority, the notifying authority for Danish notified bodies with DANAK carrying out the assessment, and the national authority that assigns the unique manufacturer code under Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1, while Søfartsstyrelsen keeps the supervision in Greenland; executive order nr. 1596 of 30 June 2021 on the regulation of noise and air emissions from recreational craft and personal watercraft, issued under the environmental protection act and the marine environment act, carries the exhaust and noise limits and gives the supervision to Sikkerhedsstyrelsen, since January 2026 the department Markedsovervågning of Erhvervsstyrelsen, assisted by Miljøstyrelsen, which can prohibit the marketing and the putting into service of a product that may endanger the environment or human health. The toolkit is corrective action, withdrawal or recall within a period commensurate with the risk, suspension of the putting into service or of the use of a craft imported by a private importer, provisional national measures notified to the Commission and the other Member States, orders to end formal non-compliance such as a missing or wrongly affixed CE marking, a missing declaration or incomplete technical documentation, and national penalties that must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive and may include criminal sanctions. Denmark sets them separately in the two orders: executive order nr. 1548/2025 punishes breaches with a fine or imprisonment of up to 1 year, rising to 2 years in aggravating circumstances, on the authority of section 32(10) of the maritime safety act, while executive order nr. 1596/2021 punishes breaches of the emission and noise rules with a fine only, unless a higher penalty is due under other legislation, rising to imprisonment of up to 2 years where the breach was intentional or grossly negligent and harmed or endangered the environment or produced an economic advantage. - **Category:** Maritime & Transport ## Who it applies to **Covered by the act:** Recreational craft and partly completed recreational craft: watercraft of any type, other than personal watercraft, intended for sports and leisure purposes of a hull length from 2,5 m to 24 m, regardless of the means of propulsion; Personal watercraft and partly completed personal watercraft: watercraft for sports and leisure of less than 4 m in hull length that use a propulsion engine with a water jet pump as the primary source of propulsion and are designed to be operated by a person sitting, standing or kneeling on rather than within the confines of a hull; The five components listed in Annex II when placed on the Union market separately: ignition-protected equipment for inboard and stern drive petrol engines and petrol tank spaces, start-in-gear protection devices for outboard engines, steering wheels, steering mechanisms and cable assemblies, fuel tanks intended for fixed installations and fuel hoses, and prefabricated hatches and port lights; Propulsion engines, meaning spark or compression ignition internal combustion engines used directly or indirectly for propulsion, that are installed or specifically intended for installation on or in watercraft, and engines already installed that undergo a major engine modification; Watercraft that undergo a major craft conversion, that is a conversion changing the means of propulsion, involving a major engine modification, or altering the craft so far that it may no longer meet the applicable essential requirements; The economic operators in the chain, manufacturers, authorised representatives, importers and distributors, plus the private importer who imports a product from a third country in a non-commercial activity to put it into service for personal use **Derived and downstream products:** The Article 2(2) exclusions are not blanket exemptions: thirteen categories are excluded only from the design and construction requirements of Annex I, Part A, a shorter list is excluded from the exhaust emission requirements of Part B, and Part C on noise excludes the same craft as Part B plus craft built for own use (Art. 2(2)(a), (b) and (c)); The fact that a craft could also be used for charter or for sports and leisure training does not take it out of the directive when it is placed on the Union market for recreational purposes (Art. 2(3)); Design categories A, B, C and D are defined only by wind force on the Beaufort scale and significant wave height, from exceeding 8 and exceeding 4 m for category A down to 4 and 0,3 m with occasional waves of 0,5 m for category D; the directive does not give them names (Annex I, Part A, point 1); A notified body is involved in every route except internal production control under module A, which is open to design category D craft, to design category C craft under 12 m that comply with the harmonised standards for stability, freeboard, buoyancy and flotation, to personal watercraft, and to noise assessed by the Froude number and power displacement ratio method; the option of using accredited in-house bodies in modules A1 and C1 is switched off (Art. 20, Art. 22 and Art. 24(3)); Post-construction assessment under Annex V is the route when the manufacturer has not taken responsibility, after a major modification or conversion, when a craft built for own use is placed on the market inside the five-year period, and when a craft not covered by the directive is given an intended purpose that brings it into scope; for imports it is restricted to non-commercial import by private importers (Art. 19(2) to (4), Annex V and recital 25); An importer or distributor that places a product on the market under its own name or trademark, or modifies a product already placed on the market in a way that may affect compliance, carries the manufacturer's obligations under Article 7 (Art. 11); Engines type-approved under Directive 97/68/EC at stage III A, III B or IV for applications other than inland waterway vessels, locomotives and railcars, or under Regulation (EC) No 595/2009, may be installed without meeting the Part B exhaust requirements, provided the person adapting the engine takes full account of the data available from the engine manufacturer and declares, in the declaration referred to in Article 15, that the engine will continue to meet the exhaust emission requirements of Directive 97/68/EC or of Regulation (EC) No 595/2009 respectively, as declared by the engine manufacturer, when installed in accordance with the installation instructions that person supplies; Directive 97/68/EC was repealed with effect from 1 January 2017 by Regulation (EU) 2016/1628, whose own scope excludes watercraft as defined in the directive (Art. 6(4); Regulation (EU) 2016/1628, Art. 2(2)(h) and Art. 64) **Roles under the act:** - **Manufacturer (boatbuilder, engine maker or brand owner)** — Any natural or legal person who manufactures a product or has such a product designed or manufactured, and markets that product under his name or trademark; an importer or distributor that places a product on the market under its own name or trademark, or modifies a product already placed on the market in a way that may affect compliance, is treated as the manufacturer. - **Authorised representative** — Any natural or legal person established within the Union who has received a written mandate from the manufacturer to act on his behalf in relation to specified tasks; the duty to design and manufacture to the essential requirements and the drawing up of the technical documentation cannot form part of the mandate. - **Importer** — Any natural or legal person established within the Union who places a product from a third country on the Union market. The commercial element is not in that definition but one step below it: making available on the market means any supply in the course of a commercial activity, and placing on the market is the first such making available. A person who brings a product in for his own use without supplying it to anyone is therefore not an importer but a private importer. - **Distributor (dealer, broker or chandler making craft, engines or components available)** — Any natural or legal person in the supply chain, other than the manufacturer or the importer, who makes a product available on the market. - **Private importer (person importing a craft or engine for their own use)** — Any natural or legal person established within the Union who imports in the course of a non-commercial activity a product from a third country into the Union with the intention of putting it into service for his own use; where the manufacturer has not fulfilled the responsibilities for conformity, the private importer takes over the manufacturer's duties on technical documentation, conformity assessment, the owner's manual and cooperation with the authorities. ## Key dates - 1994-06-16: Directive 94/25/EC on recreational craft adopted, covering craft of a hull length from 2,5 m to 24 m; Directive 2003/44/EC of 16 June 2003 later extended it to personal watercraft and added exhaust and noise emission limits for compression ignition and spark ignition propulsion engines - 2013-11-20: Directive 2013/53/EU adopted by the European Parliament and the Council as the New Legislative Framework replacement for Directive 94/25/EC, with stricter exhaust limits, harmonised obligations for private importers and a clarified list of exclusions - 2014-01-17: Entry into force, the twentieth day after publication in OJ L 354 of 28 December 2013; the Commission's delegated power under Article 47 runs from this date - 2015-11-13: Corrigendum published in OJ L 297 corrects the English text in Article 47, point (a)(i) and in Annex I, Part B, point 1.1(b); the four later corrigenda concern the Danish, Swedish, Dutch, Greek and German versions only - 2016-01-01: Danish executive order nr. 1689 of 15 December 2015 on recreational craft and personal watercraft in force, transposing the parts of the directive that are not emission limits and naming Søfartsstyrelsen as the notifying authority - 2016-01-18: Member States apply their transposing measures and Directive 94/25/EC is repealed; the exhaust emission limits of Annex I, Part B, point 2.2 apply from this date - 2017-01-18: End of the transitional period: products covered by Directive 94/25/EC, in conformity with it and placed on the market or put into service before this date may still be made available and put into service - 2017-01-24: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1 on watercraft identification enters into force, the twentieth day after publication in OJ L 1 of 4 January 2017; it fixes the five elements of the watercraft identification number and the procedure by which a national authority assigns a manufacturer its single unique code - 2020-01-18: End of the extra transition for outboard spark ignition propulsion engines with a power of 15 kW or less that meet the stage I exhaust limits of Annex I, Part B, point 2.1 and were manufactured by small and medium-sized enterprises - 2021-07-16: Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 applies: it replaces the market surveillance articles of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 that Article 43 cites, lists the directive as point 46 of its Annex I and, under Article 4, requires an economic operator established in the Union for every craft, engine and component placed on the market - 2021-07-16: Danish executive order nr. 1596 of 30 June 2021 on the regulation of noise and air emissions from recreational craft and personal watercraft in force, replacing order nr. 1100 of 31 October 2019 and carrying the exhaust and noise limits, the durability hours and the marking of engines - 2022-10-12: Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/1954 lists the harmonised standards for recreational craft and personal watercraft drafted in support of the directive in one act, published in OJ L 269 of 17 October 2022 - 2026-01-01: Danish executive order nr. 1548 of 3 December 2025 in force, repealing order nr. 1689 of 15 December 2015: Erhvervsstyrelsen becomes the Danish market surveillance authority for recreational craft, the notifying authority for notified bodies and the national authority under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1, Søfartsstyrelsen keeps the supervision in Greenland, and the penalty article now also covers Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 - 2026-03-13: Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/550 of 12 March 2026 adds EN ISO 8665-2:2024 on power measurements and declarations for electric marine propulsion and EN ISO 15085:2024 on protection from falling overboard and means of reboarding to the harmonised standards list, and enters into force on the day of its publication - 2027-08-13: The reference to EN ISO 15085:2003 as amended in 2009 and 2018 is withdrawn from the harmonised standards list, so only EN ISO 15085:2024 then confers the presumption of conformity for protection from falling overboard and means of reboarding ## What you must do ### Manufacturer (boatbuilder, engine maker or brand owner) - Design and manufacture craft, engines and components to the applicable essential requirements of Annex I: for craft the design category set by wind force and significant wave height, the watercraft identification, the builder's plate, protection from falling overboard and means of reboarding, visibility from the main steering position, the owner's manual, structure, stability and freeboard, buoyancy and flotation, openings, flooding, the manufacturer's maximum recommended load, life raft stowage for categories A and B and for categories C and D longer than 6 m, escape, anchoring, handling characteristics and the installation rules for engines, fuel, electrical, steering, gas, fire protection, navigation lights and discharge prevention. - Design and build propulsion engines so that exhaust emissions stay within the Annex I, Part B limits, mark each engine with your name and contact address, the engine type and engine family, a unique serial number and the CE marking in a way that lasts the normal life of the engine, and supply installation and maintenance instructions that keep the engine within the limits over its normal life of 480 hours or 10 years for compression ignition engines, 480 hours or 10 years, 150 hours or 3 years or 50 hours or 1 year for spark ignition inboard and stern drive engines by power category, 350 hours or 5 years for personal watercraft engines and 350 hours or 10 years for outboard engines. - Design and build propulsion engines so that exhaust emissions stay within the Annex I, Part B limits over the normal engine life set for the engine type (480 hours or 10 years for compression ignition engines, 350 hours or 10 years for outboard engines, and so on). - Mark each propulsion engine, in a way that lasts its normal life, with your name and contact address, the engine type and engine family and a unique serial number. - Supply installation and maintenance instructions that keep the engine within the exhaust emission limits over its normal life. - Keep recreational craft with inboard or stern drive engines without integral exhaust, personal watercraft, outboard engines and stern drive engines with integral exhaust within the Annex I, Part C noise limits of 67, 72 and 75 dB maximum sound pressure level by rated power of a single engine, with an allowance of 3 dB for twin and multiple engine units, or use the alternative for inboard and stern drive configurations without integral exhaust with a Froude number of 1,1 or less and a power to displacement ratio of 40 or less. - Draw up the technical documentation in accordance with Article 25 and Annex IX so that the design, construction, operation and conformity assessment can be clearly understood, and carry out or have carried out the conformity assessment procedure that Articles 19 to 22 and Article 24 allow for the product, its hull length and its design category. - Draw up the technical documentation in accordance with Article 25 and Annex IX so that the design, construction, operation and conformity assessment of the product can be clearly understood. - Carry out or have carried out the conformity assessment procedure that Articles 19 to 22 and Article 24 allow for the product, its hull length and its design category. - Draw up the EU declaration of conformity in the Annex IV model with the elements of the modules used and of Annex V, keep it continuously updated, translate it into the languages the Member State requires and let it accompany every watercraft, every component placed on the market separately and every propulsion engine; for a partly completed craft supply the Annex III declaration instead. - Affix the CE marking visibly, legibly and indelibly before the product is placed on the market or put into service, on the builder's plate of a watercraft mounted separately from the watercraft identification number, on the engine itself for a propulsion engine, and on the packaging and accompanying documents for a component too small to carry it, followed by the identification number of the notified body where that body is involved in production control or post-construction assessment. - Mark each craft with the watercraft identification number made up of your country code, the unique manufacturer code the national authority assigned you, a unique serial number, the month and year of production and the model year, applying for that single code from the national authority of the Member State where you are established, or, if you are established outside the Union, from the authority of one Member State only, before placing a craft on the Union market. - Mark each craft with the watercraft identification number: country code, your unique manufacturer code, a unique serial number, the month and year of production and the model year. - Apply for a single unique manufacturer code from the national authority of the Member State where you are established or, if established outside the Union, from the authority of one Member State only, before placing a craft on the Union market. - Keep the technical documentation and a copy of the declaration for 10 years after the product was placed on the market, keep series production in conformity, taking account of changes in design and in the harmonised standards referenced, sample-test where the risks warrant it, keep a register of complaints, non-conforming products and recalls and inform distributors, mark a type, batch or serial number and your name and contact address, supply the owner's manual in the language the Member State determines, take corrective action, inform the authorities where a product presents a risk, and identify your suppliers and customers for 10 years. - Keep the technical documentation and a copy of the declaration of conformity for 10 years after the product was placed on the market. - Keep procedures in place for series production to remain in conformity, taking account of changes in product design and in the harmonised standards referenced. - Where the risks warrant it, sample-test products made available, investigate, keep a register of complaints, non-conforming products and recalls, and keep distributors informed. - Mark the product with a type, batch or serial number and with your name, registered trade name or trade mark and contact address. - Supply the owner's manual and safety information in a language easily understood by consumers and other end users, as the Member State concerned determines. - Where a product you placed on the market does not conform, take corrective measures, withdraw or recall it, and where it presents a risk immediately inform the competent national authorities. - Be able to identify to the market surveillance authorities the economic operators that supplied you and that you supplied, for 10 years. ### Authorised representative - Act under a written mandate that at least lets you keep a copy of the declaration and the technical documentation at the disposal of the national surveillance authorities for 10 years after the product was placed on the market. - On a reasoned request from a competent national authority, provide all the information and documentation necessary to demonstrate the conformity of a product, and cooperate with the authorities on any action taken to eliminate the risks posed by the products covered by your mandate. - Do not take over the manufacturer's duty to design and manufacture to the essential requirements or the drawing up of the technical documentation; neither can form part of the mandate. - Where the manufacturer is outside the Union and no importer exists, you may be the economic operator established in the Union that Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 requires for every craft, engine and component placed on the market, verifying the declaration and documentation, informing the market surveillance authorities of risks and cooperating on corrective action, with your name and contact details on the product, its packaging, the parcel or an accompanying document. - Where the manufacturer is outside the Union and no importer exists, you may be the economic operator established in the Union that Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 requires for every craft, engine and component placed on the market. - As that economic operator, verify that the declaration of conformity and the technical documentation have been drawn up and keep the declaration available to the authorities. - As that economic operator, provide information on reasoned request, inform the market surveillance authorities of risks and cooperate on corrective action. - As that economic operator, have your name and contact details indicated on the product, its packaging, the parcel or an accompanying document. - Where a notified body instructs it, affix its identification number after the CE marking on the manufacturer's behalf, and be able to identify the economic operators that supplied you and that you supplied for 10 years. - Where a notified body instructs it, affix its identification number after the CE marking on the manufacturer's behalf. - Be able to identify the economic operators that supplied you and that you supplied, for 10 years. ### Importer - Place only compliant products on the Union market, and before placing a product on the market check that the manufacturer carried out the appropriate conformity assessment procedure, drew up the technical documentation, affixed the CE marking, and that the product is accompanied by the declaration, the owner's manual and the documents required by Annex I, Part A, point 2.5, Part B, point 4 and Part C, point 2, and that the manufacturer applied the identification and address markings. - Do not place a product on the market where you believe it does not meet the essential requirements until it has been brought into conformity, and where it presents a risk inform the manufacturer and the market surveillance authorities. - Indicate your name, registered trade name or trade mark and the address at which you can be contacted on the product or, for components where that is not possible, on the packaging or in an accompanying document, and ensure the product is accompanied by the owner's manual in a language easily understood by consumers and other end users as the Member State determines. - Indicate your name, registered trade name or trade mark and the address at which you can be contacted on the product or, for components where that is not possible, on the packaging or in an accompanying document. - Ensure the product is accompanied by the owner's manual in a language easily understood by consumers and other end users, as the Member State determines. - Keep storage and transport conditions from jeopardising compliance with the essential requirements while the product is under your responsibility, and where the risks warrant it sample-test products made available, investigate, keep a register of complaints, non-conforming products and recalls and keep distributors informed. - Keep storage and transport conditions from jeopardising compliance with the essential requirements while the product is under your responsibility. - Where the risks warrant it, sample-test products made available, investigate, keep a register of complaints, non-conforming products and recalls, and keep distributors informed. - If a product you placed on the market does not conform, immediately take the corrective measures needed to bring it into conformity, withdraw it or recall it, and where it presents a risk immediately inform the competent national authorities of the Member States in which you made it available, giving details of the non-compliance and of the corrective measures taken. - Keep a copy of the declaration at the disposal of the market surveillance authorities for 10 years after the product was placed on the market, ensure the technical documentation can be made available on request, provide conformity information in a language the authority easily understands, cooperate on risk elimination and identify your suppliers and customers for 10 years; if you place a product on the market under your own name or trademark, or modify one already placed on the market so that compliance may be affected, you carry the manufacturer's obligations under Article 7. - Keep a copy of the declaration of conformity at the disposal of the market surveillance authorities for 10 years after placing on the market, and ensure the technical documentation can be made available on request. - On reasoned request provide conformity information and documentation in a language the authority easily understands, and cooperate on action to eliminate risks. - Be able to identify the economic operators that supplied you and that you supplied, for 10 years. - If you place a product on the market under your own name or trademark, or modify one already placed on the market so that compliance may be affected, you carry the manufacturer's obligations under Article 7. ### Distributor (dealer, broker or chandler making craft, engines or components available) - Act with due care in relation to the requirements of the directive when making a product available on the market. - Before making a product available, verify that it bears the CE marking, that it is accompanied by the owner's manual, the declaration and the documents required by Annex I, Part A, point 2.5, Part B, point 4 and Part C, point 2, and by instructions and safety information in a language easily understood by consumers and other end users in the Member State concerned, and that the manufacturer and the importer applied their identification and address markings. - Do not make a product available where you believe it does not meet the essential requirements until it has been brought into conformity, and where it presents a risk inform the manufacturer or the importer and the market surveillance authorities; keep storage and transport conditions from jeopardising compliance while the product is under your responsibility. - Do not make a product available where you believe it does not meet the essential requirements until it has been brought into conformity, and where it presents a risk inform the manufacturer or the importer and the market surveillance authorities. - Keep storage and transport conditions from jeopardising compliance with the essential requirements while the product is under your responsibility. - If a product you made available does not conform, make sure the corrective measures needed to bring it into conformity, withdraw it or recall it are taken, and where it presents a risk immediately inform the competent national authorities of the Member States in which you made it available. - On a reasoned request, provide the information and documentation demonstrating conformity, cooperate on action to eliminate risks, and identify the economic operators that supplied you and that you supplied for 10 years; selling under your own name or trademark, or modifying a product so that compliance may be affected, makes you the manufacturer. - On a reasoned request, provide the information and documentation demonstrating conformity, and cooperate on action to eliminate risks. - Be able to identify the economic operators that supplied you and that you supplied, for 10 years. - Selling under your own name or trademark, or modifying a product so that compliance may be affected, makes you the manufacturer with the obligations of Article 7. ### Private importer (person importing a craft or engine for their own use) - Where the manufacturer has not fulfilled the responsibilities for conformity, ensure before putting the product into service that it was designed and manufactured to the essential requirements of Article 4(1) and Annex I, and carry out or have carried out the manufacturer's duties on technical documentation and conformity assessment, on keeping the documentation and a copy of the declaration for 10 years, on the owner's manual and on providing information to a competent national authority on reasoned request. - If the manufacturer cannot supply the required technical documentation, have it drawn up using appropriate expertise. - Lodge an application for post-construction assessment with a notified body, provide it with the documents, the technical file and any information on the use of the product after its first putting into service, and keep those documents at the disposal of the national authorities for 10 years after the assessment. - Ensure the name and address of the notified body that carried out the conformity assessment is marked on the product, affix the CE marking with the body's identification number, and for a craft fit the builder's plate carrying the words post-construction assessment and the watercraft identification number the body assigns, in which the country code field shows the country where the body is established and the manufacturer code field the body's post-construction assessment identification code followed by the certificate serial number. - Draw up an EU declaration of conformity identifying the product, keep it at the disposal of the national authorities for 10 years after the post-construction assessment certificate was issued, make a copy available to the authorities on request, and be able to identify the economic operator that supplied you for 10 years after the supply. ## Requirements Each duty above as an identified requirement (46); ids are permanent and shared with the compliance engine. ### evidence - `rcd-mfr-design-manufacture-craft` (Manufacturer (boatbuilder, engine maker or brand owner), product, before-market) — Design and manufacture craft, engines and components to the applicable essential requirements of Annex I: for craft the design category set by wind force and significant wave height, the watercraft identification, the builder's plate, protection from falling overboard and means of reboarding, visibility from the main steering position, the owner's manual, structure, stability and freeboard, buoyancy and flotation, openings, flooding, the manufacturer's maximum recommended load, life raft stowage for categories A and B and for categories C and D longer than 6 m, escape, anchoring, handling characteristics and the installation rules for engines, fuel, electrical, steering, gas, fire protection, navigation lights and discharge prevention. [Art. 4(1), Art. 7(1) and Annex I, Part A, points 1 to 5] - `rcd-mfr-design-engine-exhaust-limits` (Manufacturer (boatbuilder, engine maker or brand owner), product, before-market) — Design and build propulsion engines so that exhaust emissions stay within the Annex I, Part B limits over the normal engine life set for the engine type (480 hours or 10 years for compression ignition engines, 350 hours or 10 years for outboard engines, and so on). [Annex I, Part B, points 2 and 3] - `rcd-mfr-supply-engine-instructions` (Manufacturer (boatbuilder, engine maker or brand owner), product-market, before-market) — Supply installation and maintenance instructions that keep the engine within the exhaust emission limits over its normal life. [Annex I, Part B, point 3; https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2021/1596 · § 6 and § 11, stk. 3] - `rcd-mfr-keep-recreational-craft` (Manufacturer (boatbuilder, engine maker or brand owner), product, before-market) — Keep recreational craft with inboard or stern drive engines without integral exhaust, personal watercraft, outboard engines and stern drive engines with integral exhaust within the Annex I, Part C noise limits of 67, 72 and 75 dB maximum sound pressure level by rated power of a single engine, with an allowance of 3 dB for twin and multiple engine units, or use the alternative for inboard and stern drive configurations without integral exhaust with a Froude number of 1,1 or less and a power to displacement ratio of 40 or less. [Annex I, Part C, points 1.1 to 1.3; https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2021/1596 · § 12 and annex 5] - `rcd-mfr-draw-annex-ix-documentation` (Manufacturer (boatbuilder, engine maker or brand owner), product, before-market) — Draw up the technical documentation in accordance with Article 25 and Annex IX so that the design, construction, operation and conformity assessment of the product can be clearly understood. [Art. 7(2) and Art. 25] - `rcd-mfr-draw-declaration-conformity` (Manufacturer (boatbuilder, engine maker or brand owner), product-market, before-market) — Draw up the EU declaration of conformity in the Annex IV model with the elements of the modules used and of Annex V, keep it continuously updated, translate it into the languages the Member State requires and let it accompany every watercraft, every component placed on the market separately and every propulsion engine; for a partly completed craft supply the Annex III declaration instead. [Art. 15 and Annexes III and IV] - `rcd-mfr-supply-owners-manual` (Manufacturer (boatbuilder, engine maker or brand owner), product-market, before-market) — Supply the owner's manual and safety information in a language easily understood by consumers and other end users, as the Member State concerned determines. [Art. 7(7)] - `rcd-oth-act-written-mandate` (Authorised representative, company, before-market) — Act under a written mandate that at least lets you keep a copy of the declaration and the technical documentation at the disposal of the national surveillance authorities for 10 years after the product was placed on the market. [Art. 8(3)(a)] ### mark - `rcd-mfr-mark-engine-identification` (Manufacturer (boatbuilder, engine maker or brand owner), product, before-market) — Mark each propulsion engine, in a way that lasts its normal life, with your name and contact address, the engine type and engine family and a unique serial number. [Annex I, Part B, point 1] - `rcd-mfr-affix-marking-visibly` (Manufacturer (boatbuilder, engine maker or brand owner), product, before-market) — Affix the CE marking visibly, legibly and indelibly before the product is placed on the market or put into service, on the builder's plate of a watercraft mounted separately from the watercraft identification number, on the engine itself for a propulsion engine, and on the packaging and accompanying documents for a component too small to carry it, followed by the identification number of the notified body where that body is involved in production control or post-construction assessment. [Art. 16, Art. 17 and Art. 18] - `rcd-mfr-mark-watercraft-identification-number` (Manufacturer (boatbuilder, engine maker or brand owner), unit, before-market) — Mark each craft with the watercraft identification number: country code, your unique manufacturer code, a unique serial number, the month and year of production and the model year. [Annex I, Part A, point 2.1] - `rcd-mfr-mark-type-name-address` (Manufacturer (boatbuilder, engine maker or brand owner), product, before-market) — Mark the product with a type, batch or serial number and with your name, registered trade name or trade mark and contact address. [Art. 7(5) and Art. 7(6)] - `rcd-oth-indicate-name-contact` (Authorised representative, product, before-market) — As that economic operator, have your name and contact details indicated on the product, its packaging, the parcel or an accompanying document. [Art. 4(4)] - `rcd-oth-affix-notified-body-number` (Authorised representative, product, before-market) — Where a notified body instructs it, affix its identification number after the CE marking on the manufacturer's behalf. [Art. 18(3)] - `rcd-imp-indicate-name-address` (Importer, product, before-market) — Indicate your name, registered trade name or trade mark and the address at which you can be contacted on the product or, for components where that is not possible, on the packaging or in an accompanying document. [Art. 9(3)] ### decision - `rcd-imp-place-product-market` (Importer, product, on-event) — Do not place a product on the market where you believe it does not meet the essential requirements until it has been brought into conformity, and where it presents a risk inform the manufacturer and the market surveillance authorities. [Art. 9(2), second subparagraph] - `rcd-dist-withhold-non-conforming-product` (Distributor (dealer, broker or chandler making craft, engines or components available), product, on-event) — Do not make a product available where you believe it does not meet the essential requirements until it has been brought into conformity, and where it presents a risk inform the manufacturer or the importer and the market surveillance authorities. [Art. 10(2), second subparagraph] ### procedure - `rcd-mfr-carry-out-conformity-assessment` (Manufacturer (boatbuilder, engine maker or brand owner), product, before-market) — Carry out or have carried out the conformity assessment procedure that Articles 19 to 22 and Article 24 allow for the product, its hull length and its design category. [Art. 7(2), Art. 19 to Art. 22 and Art. 24] - `rcd-mfr-keep-series-production-conformity` (Manufacturer (boatbuilder, engine maker or brand owner), company, ongoing) — Keep procedures in place for series production to remain in conformity, taking account of changes in product design and in the harmonised standards referenced. [Art. 7(4)] - `rcd-mfr-sample-test-register-complaints` (Manufacturer (boatbuilder, engine maker or brand owner), product, on-event) — Where the risks warrant it, sample-test products made available, investigate, keep a register of complaints, non-conforming products and recalls, and keep distributors informed. [Art. 7(4)] - `rcd-imp-sample-test-register-complaints` (Importer, product, on-event) — Where the risks warrant it, sample-test products made available, investigate, keep a register of complaints, non-conforming products and recalls, and keep distributors informed. [Art. 9(6)] ### submission - `rcd-mfr-apply-manufacturer-code` (Manufacturer (boatbuilder, engine maker or brand owner), company, before-market) — Apply for a single unique manufacturer code from the national authority of the Member State where you are established or, if established outside the Union, from the authority of one Member State only, before placing a craft on the Union market. [Art. 3, Art. 4, Art. 6 and Art. 7] - `rcd-mfr-correct-withdraw-recall` (Manufacturer (boatbuilder, engine maker or brand owner), product, on-event) — Where a product you placed on the market does not conform, take corrective measures, withdraw or recall it, and where it presents a risk immediately inform the competent national authorities. [Art. 7(8)] - `rcd-imp-immediately-take-corrective` (Importer, product, on-event) — If a product you placed on the market does not conform, immediately take the corrective measures needed to bring it into conformity, withdraw it or recall it, and where it presents a risk immediately inform the competent national authorities of the Member States in which you made it available, giving details of the non-compliance and of the corrective measures taken. [Art. 9(7)] - `rcd-dist-make-sure-corrective` (Distributor (dealer, broker or chandler making craft, engines or components available), product, on-event) — If a product you made available does not conform, make sure the corrective measures needed to bring it into conformity, withdraw it or recall it are taken, and where it presents a risk immediately inform the competent national authorities of the Member States in which you made it available. [Art. 10(4)] ### verification - `rcd-oth-verify-declaration-documentation` (Authorised representative, product, before-market) — As that economic operator, verify that the declaration of conformity and the technical documentation have been drawn up and keep the declaration available to the authorities. [Art. 4(3)(a)] - `rcd-imp-place-compliant-products` (Importer, product, before-market) — Place only compliant products on the Union market, and before placing a product on the market check that the manufacturer carried out the appropriate conformity assessment procedure, drew up the technical documentation, affixed the CE marking, and that the product is accompanied by the declaration, the owner's manual and the documents required by Annex I, Part A, point 2.5, Part B, point 4 and Part C, point 2, and that the manufacturer applied the identification and address markings. [Art. 9(1) and Art. 9(2)] - `rcd-imp-ensure-owners-manual` (Importer, product-market, before-market) — Ensure the product is accompanied by the owner's manual in a language easily understood by consumers and other end users, as the Member State determines. [Art. 9(4)] - `rcd-dist-act-due-care` (Distributor (dealer, broker or chandler making craft, engines or components available), product, before-market) — Act with due care in relation to the requirements of the directive when making a product available on the market. [Art. 10(1)] - `rcd-dist-verify-bears-marking` (Distributor (dealer, broker or chandler making craft, engines or components available), product-market, before-market) — Before making a product available, verify that it bears the CE marking, that it is accompanied by the owner's manual, the declaration and the documents required by Annex I, Part A, point 2.5, Part B, point 4 and Part C, point 2, and by instructions and safety information in a language easily understood by consumers and other end users in the Member State concerned, and that the manufacturer and the importer applied their identification and address markings. [Art. 10(2)] ### standing - `rcd-mfr-keep-documentation-declaration` (Manufacturer (boatbuilder, engine maker or brand owner), product, ongoing) — Keep the technical documentation and a copy of the declaration of conformity for 10 years after the product was placed on the market. [Art. 7(3)] - `rcd-mfr-identify-suppliers-customers` (Manufacturer (boatbuilder, engine maker or brand owner), company, ongoing) — Be able to identify to the market surveillance authorities the economic operators that supplied you and that you supplied, for 10 years. [Art. 13(1)] - `rcd-oth-provide-information-documentation` (Authorised representative, company, ongoing) — On a reasoned request from a competent national authority, provide all the information and documentation necessary to demonstrate the conformity of a product, and cooperate with the authorities on any action taken to eliminate the risks posed by the products covered by your mandate. [Art. 8(3)(b) and (c)] - `rcd-oth-inform-cooperate-authorities` (Authorised representative, company, ongoing) — As that economic operator, provide information on reasoned request, inform the market surveillance authorities of risks and cooperate on corrective action. [Art. 4(3)(b) to (d)] - `rcd-oth-identify-suppliers-customers` (Authorised representative, company, ongoing) — Be able to identify the economic operators that supplied you and that you supplied, for 10 years. [Art. 13(1)] - `rcd-imp-keep-storage-transport-conditions` (Importer, company, ongoing) — Keep storage and transport conditions from jeopardising compliance with the essential requirements while the product is under your responsibility. [Art. 9(5)] - `rcd-imp-keep-declaration-copy` (Importer, product, ongoing) — Keep a copy of the declaration of conformity at the disposal of the market surveillance authorities for 10 years after placing on the market, and ensure the technical documentation can be made available on request. [Art. 9(8)] - `rcd-imp-provide-information-request` (Importer, company, ongoing) — On reasoned request provide conformity information and documentation in a language the authority easily understands, and cooperate on action to eliminate risks. [Art. 9(9)] - `rcd-imp-identify-suppliers-customers` (Importer, company, ongoing) — Be able to identify the economic operators that supplied you and that you supplied, for 10 years. [Art. 13(1)] - `rcd-dist-keep-storage-transport-conditions` (Distributor (dealer, broker or chandler making craft, engines or components available), company, ongoing) — Keep storage and transport conditions from jeopardising compliance with the essential requirements while the product is under your responsibility. [Art. 10(3)] - `rcd-dist-provide-information-request` (Distributor (dealer, broker or chandler making craft, engines or components available), company, ongoing) — On a reasoned request, provide the information and documentation demonstrating conformity, and cooperate on action to eliminate risks. [Art. 10(5)] - `rcd-dist-identify-suppliers-customers` (Distributor (dealer, broker or chandler making craft, engines or components available), company, ongoing) — Be able to identify the economic operators that supplied you and that you supplied, for 10 years. [Art. 13(1)] ## Penalties Member States lay down rules on penalties, which may include criminal sanctions for serious infringements, for infringements of the national provisions adopted under the directive; the penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive and may be increased where the economic operator or the private importer has previously committed a similar infringement. Market surveillance authorities that have sufficient reason to believe a product presents a risk to health or safety, to property or to the environment evaluate it, require the economic operator to take corrective action, withdraw or recall the product within a reasonable period commensurate with the risk, and inform a private importer of the corrective action, of the suspension of the putting into service or of the suspension of the use of the product; they inform the notified body, and if adequate action is not taken they adopt provisional measures prohibiting or restricting the making available, withdrawing or recalling the product, or prohibiting or restricting the putting into service or the use of a privately imported craft, and notify the Commission and the other Member States, a measure being deemed justified where no objection is raised within three months. The Commission decides disputed measures through the Union safeguard procedure. Formal non-compliance, a CE marking affixed in violation of Articles 16 to 18 or not affixed at all, a missing or incorrectly drawn up EU declaration of conformity or Annex III declaration, technical documentation that is unavailable or incomplete, missing, false or incomplete manufacturer or importer identification, or any other unfulfilled administrative requirement of Article 7 or Article 9, must be ended and otherwise leads to restriction, prohibition, recall or withdrawal, or to a ban or restriction on the use of a privately imported product. Since 16 July 2021 the surveillance powers come from Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, whose authorities can demand documents and supply-chain information, inspect and check products, buy test samples including under a cover identity, require corrective action, order the removal of online content and have products withdrawn, recalled or destroyed. In Denmark, executive order nr. 1548 of 3 December 2025 punishes infringements of the order with a fine or imprisonment of up to 1 year, adds the same penalty for failing the duties of Article 4(1), (3) or (4) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, for not appointing an authorised representative where one is required or not giving that representative the powers and means to do the job, and for a representative who fails to hand over a copy of the mandate, and raises the penalty to imprisonment of up to 2 years where the infringement harmed or endangered life or health, where a prohibition or order had already been issued for the same or a similar matter, or where an economic advantage was obtained or intended; executive order nr. 1596 of 30 June 2021 fines the marketing or putting into service of an engine or craft that breaches the exhaust or noise limits, the marking rules, the test cycles or test fuels, a marketing prohibition or an order of the supervisory authority, rising to imprisonment of up to 2 years where the breach was intentional or grossly negligent and harmed or endangered the environment or produced an economic advantage. Erhvervsstyrelsen carries out the market surveillance in Denmark, Søfartsstyrelsen in Greenland, and Sikkerhedsstyrelsen, since January 2026 the department Markedsovervågning of Erhvervsstyrelsen, supervises the emission rules assisted by Miljøstyrelsen, which can prohibit the marketing and putting into service of a product that may endanger the environment or human health even where it carries the CE marking. ## Checklist 1. Confirm the product is in scope: a recreational craft of 2,5 m to 24 m hull length, a personal watercraft of less than 4 m driven by a water jet pump, a partly completed craft, a propulsion engine, one of the five Annex II components, or a craft or engine undergoing a major conversion or modification (Article 2(1) and Article 3). 2. Work through the Article 2(2) exclusions part by part, remembering that the thirteen categories in point (a) are excluded only from the design and construction requirements of Annex I, Part A, and that charter or training use does not take a recreational craft out of the directive (Article 2(2) and Article 2(3)). 3. Decide your role for each product, remembering that selling under your own brand or modifying a product already on the market makes you the manufacturer, and that post-construction assessment is open only to genuinely non-commercial private imports (Article 11 and Article 19(2)). 4. Assign the design category A, B, C or D from the wind force and significant wave height the craft is designed for, and derive the manufacturer's maximum recommended load, the stability, freeboard and buoyancy targets and the life raft stowage requirement from it (Annex I, Part A, points 1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.6 and 3.7). 5. Apply the harmonised standards listed in Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/1954 as amended, or document the solutions used instead, and plan for EN ISO 15085:2024 replacing the 2003 edition from 13 August 2027 (Article 14 and Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/550). 6. Choose the conformity assessment route for the design and construction, for the exhaust emissions and for the noise emissions separately, and engage a notified body wherever the route is not plain internal production control under module A (Articles 20 to 22 and Article 24(3)). 7. Compile the Annex IX technical documentation so that the design, construction, operation and assessment can be clearly understood, and keep it with the declaration for 10 years (Article 7(3) and Article 25). 8. Apply for your single unique manufacturer code from the national authority of the Member State where you are established, or, if you are outside the Union, from one Member State only, and build the watercraft identification number from the country code, that code, a unique serial number, the month and year of production and the model year (Annex I, Part A, point 2.1, and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1, Articles 4, 6 and 7). 9. Fit the builder's plate with the manufacturer's name and contact address, the CE marking, the design category, the maximum recommended load and the recommended number of persons, affix the CE marking with the notified body number where one is involved, draw up the Annex IV declaration and supply the owner's manual in the required language (Annex I, Part A, points 2.2 and 2.5, and Articles 15, 17 and 18). 10. Set up the corrective action and notification procedure, the 10-year supplier and customer traceability and, where the risks warrant it, sample testing and a complaints register, and appoint the Union-established economic operator that Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 requires (Articles 7(4), 7(8), 9(6), 9(7), 10(4) and 13, and Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 4). ## Questions ### When did the Recreational Craft Directive 2013/53/EU start to apply? The directive was adopted on 20 November 2013, published in the Official Journal L 354 of 28 December 2013 and entered into force on 17 January 2014, the twentieth day after publication. Member States had to adopt and publish their transposing measures by 18 January 2016 and apply them from that date, when Directive 94/25/EC was repealed. Products covered by the old directive, in conformity with it and placed on the market or put into service before 18 January 2017 may still be made available and put into service, and outboard spark ignition engines of 15 kW or less from small and medium-sized manufacturers meeting the stage I limits could be placed on the market until 18 January 2020. The directive itself has never been amended; of the five corrigenda on EUR-Lex only the first, published in OJ L 297 of 13 November 2015, touches the English text. ### Which boats does the Recreational Craft Directive cover, and which are excluded? It covers recreational craft and partly completed recreational craft of a hull length from 2,5 m to 24 m intended for sports and leisure, personal watercraft of less than 4 m in hull length that use a water jet pump as their primary propulsion and are operated by a person sitting, standing or kneeling on rather than inside the hull, the five components listed in Annex II when sold separately, propulsion engines installed or intended for installation, engines undergoing a major modification and craft undergoing a major conversion. Thirteen categories are excluded from the design and construction requirements of Annex I, Part A: racing craft including rowing racing and training boats, human powered canoes and kayaks, gondolas and pedalos, sailboards, surfboards, original historical craft and replicas designed before 1950, experimental craft not placed on the market, craft built for own use and not placed on the market within five years, crewed commercial passenger craft, submersibles, air cushion vehicles, hydrofoils, external combustion steam powered craft and amphibious vehicles. Shorter lists are excluded from the exhaust requirements of Part B and the noise requirements of Part C, and charter or sports and leisure training use does not take a craft out of the directive when it is placed on the market for recreational purposes. ### What are design categories A, B, C and D? Annex I, Part A, point 1 defines four design categories by the wind force on the Beaufort scale and the significant wave height a craft is designed to withstand: category A for winds exceeding force 8 and significant wave heights exceeding 4 m, excluding abnormal conditions such as storm, violent storm, hurricane, tornado and rogue waves; category B up to and including force 8 and 4 m; category C up to and including force 6 and 2 m; and category D up to and including force 4 and 0,3 m, with occasional waves of 0,5 m maximum height. Craft in each category must be designed and built to withstand those parameters for stability, buoyancy and the other essential requirements and to have good handling characteristics. The category drives the structure, stability and freeboard, buoyancy and flotation and maximum recommended load requirements, the life raft stowage rule and the conformity assessment route, and it appears on the builder's plate. ### Do I need a notified body for my boat? It depends on the design category, the hull length and the product. For design categories A and B, craft from 2,5 m to less than 12 m may use module A1 with supervised product testing, module B EU type-examination with C, D, E or F, module G unit verification or module H full quality assurance, and craft from 12 m to 24 m must use B with C, D, E or F, G or H. For design category C, craft under 12 m may use plain internal production control under module A only where the harmonised standards on stability and freeboard and on buoyancy and flotation are complied with, otherwise A1 or one of the notified body routes; craft from 12 m to 24 m again use B with C, D, E or F, G or H. Design category D craft from 2,5 m to 24 m and personal watercraft may use module A. Components always go through B with C, D, E or F, G or H. Because the directive switches off the option of using accredited in-house bodies in modules A1 and C1, every route except plain module A involves a notified body chosen by the manufacturer. ### What are the exhaust and noise emission limits for marine engines? Since 18 January 2016, compression ignition engines follow Annex I, Part B, point 2.2, Table 2, which sets particulate limits falling from 0,30 g/kWh for engines of 37 kW and above but under 75 kW with a swept volume under 0,9 L per cylinder to 0,11 g/kWh for engines with a swept volume from 3,5 to 7,0 L per cylinder, with a combined hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides limit of 4,7 g/kWh for the first band and 5,8 g/kWh for the rest; an alternative for engines from 37 kW to under 75 kW with a swept volume under 0,9 L per cylinder allows 0,20 g/kWh particulates with the same combined limit, and no compression ignition engine may exceed 5,0 g/kWh carbon monoxide, except that compression ignition engines below 37 kW with a swept volume below 0,9 L per cylinder keep the Table 1 values, to which Table 2 expressly refers. Table 3 sets spark ignition limits: stern drive and inboard engines of 373 kW or less at 75 g/kWh carbon monoxide and 5 g/kWh combined, from over 373 kW to 485 kW at 350 and 16, and above 485 kW at 350 and 22; outboard and personal watercraft engines follow power dependent formulas with a carbon monoxide floor of 300 g/kWh above 40 kW. Noise is capped by Annex I, Part C at 67 dB maximum sound pressure level for a single engine of 10 kW or less, 72 dB from over 10 kW to 40 kW and 75 dB above 40 kW, with an allowance of 3 dB for twin and multiple engine units. ### How do I get a watercraft identification number and a manufacturer code? Every craft must be marked with an identification number that contains, in order, the country code of the manufacturer, the unique manufacturer code assigned by a national authority, a unique serial number, the month and year of production and the model year, with the detailed layout set by the harmonised standard. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1 adds the procedure: each Member State designates a national authority or body that assigns the code, a manufacturer established in the Union applies to the authority of the Member State where it is established, and a manufacturer established in a third country, or its authorised representative, applies to the authority of one Member State only, in both cases before placing a craft on the Union market and with proof of establishment. A manufacturer receives only one code for use across the Union market, recorded in the national, Member States or third country register, and Member States may charge a fee. In Denmark the national authority under that regulation is Erhvervsstyrelsen. ### I want to import a boat from outside the EU for my own use. What do I have to do? If the manufacturer has not taken responsibility for the craft's conformity, you are a private importer and must, before putting the craft into service, ensure it was designed and manufactured to the essential requirements, have the technical documentation drawn up with appropriate expertise where the manufacturer cannot supply it, and apply the post-construction assessment of Annex V. You lodge an application with a notified body and give it the documents, the technical file and any information on the use of the craft since it was first put into service; the body examines the individual craft, carries out the calculations, tests and assessments needed, issues a certificate and report, and affixes or has affixed its identification number next to the CE marking and the watercraft identification number, in which the country code field shows where the body is established. You then affix the CE marking, fit a builder's plate carrying the words post-construction assessment, mark the body's name and address on the craft, draw up the EU declaration of conformity and keep the documents at the disposal of the national authorities for 10 years. The route is reserved for genuinely non-commercial imports; a business importing the same craft is an importer and must meet Article 9 in full. ### Who enforces the Recreational Craft Directive in Denmark? Denmark splits the directive between two executive orders. Executive order nr. 1548 of 3 December 2025 on recreational craft and personal watercraft, issued by Søfartsstyrelsen under the maritime safety act and in force since 1 January 2026, transposes everything except the emission limits; it makes Erhvervsstyrelsen the market surveillance authority for these products, the notifying authority for Danish notified bodies with DANAK assessing and monitoring them, the body that decides complaints about notified bodies, and the national authority under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1, while Søfartsstyrelsen keeps the supervision in Greenland. Executive order nr. 1596 of 30 June 2021 on the regulation of noise and air emissions from recreational craft and personal watercraft, issued under the environmental protection act and the marine environment act, carries the exhaust and noise limits and gives the supervision to Sikkerhedsstyrelsen, which has been the department Markedsovervågning of Erhvervsstyrelsen since January 2026, assisted by Miljøstyrelsen; Miljøstyrelsen can prohibit marketing and putting into service where a product may endanger the environment or human health, even when it carries the CE marking, and can act on a marketing ban notified by another Member State. ## What changed - 2026-09-13 (guidance): **Guide rebuilt on the SPEC-62 model from the directive text** — The guide was rewritten from Directive 2013/53/EU, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1, Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/550, Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 and the two Danish executive orders. Four statements in the earlier text are corrected: personal watercraft are defined as craft of less than 4 m hull length, not as craft of any length; the design categories are defined only by wind force and significant wave height and are not named ocean, offshore, inshore and sheltered waters in this directive; the exclusions are per part of Annex I rather than blanket exemptions; and the Danish authority is no longer Sikkerhedsstyrelsen alone, since executive order nr. 1548 of 3 December 2025 made Erhvervsstyrelsen the market surveillance and notifying authority from 1 January 2026 with Søfartsstyrelsen as the rule-maker and the supervisor in Greenland. The module routes per design category and hull length, the exhaust, noise and durability values, the watercraft identification procedure and the post-construction assessment steps are now stated from the text with a source per field. - 2026-03-13 (guidance): **Two harmonised standards added, EN ISO 15085:2003 withdrawn from 13 August 2027** — Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/550 of 12 March 2026 amends Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/1954 by adding EN ISO 8665-2:2024 on power measurements and declarations for electric marine propulsion and EN ISO 15085:2024 on protection from falling overboard and means of reboarding, and deletes the reference to EN ISO 15085:2003 as amended in 2009 and 2018; the deletion applies from 13 August 2027 so that manufacturers have time to move to the 2024 edition. The decision entered into force on the day of its publication. - 2026-01-01 (applies): **Danish executive order nr. 1548/2025 in force; Erhvervsstyrelsen takes over the market surveillance** — Executive order nr. 1548 of 3 December 2025 on recreational craft and personal watercraft replaces order nr. 1689 of 15 December 2015. Erhvervsstyrelsen becomes the market surveillance authority for craft, engines and components covered by the order, the notifying authority that designates Danish notified bodies with DANAK carrying out their assessment and monitoring, the body that decides complaints about notified bodies, and the national authority under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1 that assigns the unique manufacturer code; Søfartsstyrelsen supervises in Greenland. The penalty article now also punishes breaches of Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 and the failure to appoint or empower an authorised representative. In the same month Sikkerhedsstyrelsen became the department Markedsovervågning of Erhvervsstyrelsen. - 2022-10-12 (guidance): **Harmonised standards for recreational craft gathered in one act** — Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/1954 of 12 October 2022, published in OJ L 269 of 17 October 2022, lists in a single act the harmonised standards drafted in support of Directive 2013/53/EU whose references confer the presumption of conformity under Article 14; it has since been amended three times, most recently by Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/550. - 2021-07-16 (applies): **Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 replaces the market surveillance articles Article 43 cites** — Articles 15(3) and 16 to 29 of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, which Article 43 of the directive applies to products it covers, were replaced from 16 July 2021; the directive is point 46 of Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 and Article 4 of that regulation requires an economic operator established in the Union for every craft, engine and component placed on the market. The Danish emission order nr. 1596 of 30 June 2021 entered into force on the same day, replacing order nr. 1100 of 31 October 2019 and adding the regulation's investigation powers, including test purchases under a cover identity and orders to change or remove online content. - 2020-01-18 (applies): **Transition ends for small-manufacturer outboard engines of 15 kW or less** — Outboard spark ignition propulsion engines with a power of 15 kW or less that comply with the stage I exhaust emission limits of Annex I, Part B, point 2.1 and were manufactured by small and medium-sized enterprises as defined in Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC could be placed on the market until 18 January 2020; engines already placed on the market may still be made available and put into service, and a declaration of conformity for such an engine had to indicate the transitional period. - 2017-01-24 (applies): **Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1 on watercraft identification enters into force** — The regulation fixes the order of the five elements of the watercraft identification number and the procedure for assigning and administering the unique manufacturer code: every Member State designates a national authority or body, a Union manufacturer applies where it is established, a third-country manufacturer or its authorised representative applies in one Member State only, each manufacturer receives a single code for the whole Union market, the codes are recorded in the national, Member States, third country and notified bodies registers, and Member States may charge a fee. - 2017-01-18 (applies): **End of the transitional period for products conforming to Directive 94/25/EC** — Products covered by Directive 94/25/EC, in conformity with that directive and placed on the market or put into service before 18 January 2017, may still be made available and put into service; from that date new products must meet Directive 2013/53/EU. - 2016-01-18 (applies): **Directive 2013/53/EU applies; Directive 94/25/EC repealed** — Member States apply their transposing measures from 18 January 2016 and Directive 94/25/EC is repealed with effect from the same date, with references to it construed as references to the new directive; the stricter exhaust emission limits of Annex I, Part B, point 2.2 apply from this date. In Denmark executive order nr. 1689 of 15 December 2015 had already entered into force on 1 January 2016. - 2015-11-13 (amendment): **Corrigendum in OJ L 297 corrects the English text** — The first of five corrigenda, published in OJ L 297 of 13 November 2015, corrects the English text in Article 47, point (a)(i), which lists the parts of Annex I the Commission may amend by delegated act, and in Annex I, Part B, point 1.1(b) on the engine type and engine family marking; it is a corrigendum, not an amending act, and the directive has never been amended. The four later corrigenda concern the Danish and Swedish, the Dutch, the Greek and the German versions. - 2014-01-17 (in-force): **Directive 2013/53/EU enters into force** — Adopted on 20 November 2013 to replace Directive 94/25/EC with a New Legislative Framework text, published in OJ L 354 on 28 December 2013, the directive entered into force on the twentieth day after publication; Member States had until 18 January 2016 to transpose and apply it, and the Commission's delegated power under Article 47 runs from this date. ## RCD in plain terms The Recreational Craft Directive (RCD), formally Directive 2013/53/EU, is the EU's law for pleasure boats and personal watercraft. It lays down requirements for the design and manufacture of the products listed in Article 2(1) and rules on their free movement in the Union (Art. 1). Those products are recreational craft and partly completed recreational craft, personal watercraft and partly completed personal watercraft, the components listed in Annex II when placed on the market separately, propulsion engines installed or specifically intended for installation on or in watercraft, engines subject to a major engine modification and watercraft subject to a major craft conversion (Art. 2(1)). A recreational craft is any watercraft other than a personal watercraft intended for sports and leisure with a hull length from 2,5 m to 24 m, whatever its means of propulsion; a personal watercraft is a craft of less than 4 m hull length for sports and leisure that uses a propulsion engine with a water jet pump as its primary source of propulsion and is designed to be operated by a person sitting, standing or kneeling on rather than within the confines of a hull (Art. 3, points (2) and (3)). Products may be made available or put into service only if they do not endanger health, safety, property or the environment when correctly maintained and used as intended, and only if they meet the applicable essential requirements of Annex I (Art. 4). A conforming craft moves freely: Member States may not impede its making available or putting into service, although they keep the power to regulate navigation on certain waters as long as that does not require modifications to conforming craft (Art. 5 and Art. 6). The 2013 text replaced Directive 94/25/EC, which had covered recreational craft from 2,5 m to 24 m and which Directive 2003/44/EC had already extended to personal watercraft and given exhaust and noise limits (recitals 1 and 2). The recast aligned the regime with the New Legislative Framework, tightened the exhaust limits, harmonised the duties of private importers and clarified the exclusions (recitals 4, 6, 20 and 32). It entered into force on 17 January 2014, Member States had to adopt, publish and apply their transposing measures by 18 January 2016, and Directive 94/25/EC was repealed with effect from that date (Art. 54, Art. 56 and Art. 57). The directive has never been amended. Five corrigenda are recorded on EUR-Lex; only the first, in OJ L 297 of 13 November 2015, touches the English text, at Article 47, point (a)(i) and Annex I, Part B, point 1.1(b). > **Official text** > Read the directive on EUR-Lex: [Directive 2013/53/EU (CELEX 32013L0053)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32013L0053). The [consolidated version](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02013L0053-20131228) carries the 2015 corrigendum and is otherwise identical to the original text, because the directive has not been amended; the [document information page](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32013L0053) lists the five corrigenda and the repeal of Directive 94/25/EC. ## Scope The exclusions in Article 2(2) are the part most often read too broadly. They are organised per part of Annex I, not as blanket exemptions. Thirteen categories are excluded from the design and construction requirements of Part A: craft intended solely for racing, including rowing racing boats and training rowing boats, labelled as such; canoes and kayaks designed to be propelled solely by human power, gondolas and pedalos; sailboards, described in the text as surfboards designed solely to be propelled by wind and operated by persons standing; surfboards; original historical watercraft and individual replicas designed before 1950, built predominantly with the original materials and labelled as such; experimental watercraft not placed on the Union market; watercraft built for own use, provided they are not placed on the Union market within five years from putting into service; watercraft specifically intended to be crewed and to carry passengers for commercial purposes, regardless of the number of passengers; submersibles; air cushion vehicles; hydrofoils; external combustion steam powered watercraft fuelled by coal, coke, wood, oil or gas; and amphibious vehicles (Art. 2(2)(a)). A shorter list is excluded from the exhaust emission requirements of Part B: engines installed or intended for installation on racing craft, experimental craft, commercial passenger craft, submersibles, air cushion vehicles, hydrofoils and amphibious vehicles; original and individual replicas of historical engines based on a pre-1950 design, not produced in series and fitted on historical or own-use craft; and engines built for own use and not placed on the market within five years (Art. 2(2)(b)). Part C on noise excludes the craft listed in point (b) and craft built for own use (Art. 2(2)(c)). Steam powered craft are therefore excluded only from Part A, but a propulsion engine is defined as a spark or compression ignition internal combustion engine, so an external combustion steam plant falls outside Part B in any case (Art. 3, point (5)). Historical craft are excluded from Part A but not from Part C, so a pre-1950 craft with an inboard engine without integral exhaust still meets the noise limits. And Article 2(3) keeps a craft inside the directive where it could also be used for charter or for sports and leisure training, as long as it is placed on the Union market for recreational purposes. The duties fall on the economic operators, the manufacturer, the authorised representative, the importer and the distributor (Art. 3, point (19)), plus one actor the directive singles out: the private importer, a person established in the Union who imports a product from a third country in a non-commercial activity to put it into service for his own use (Art. 3, point (17)). An importer or distributor that sells under its own name or trademark, or modifies a product already placed on the market in a way that may affect compliance, takes on the manufacturer's obligations (Art. 11). In Denmark, executive order nr. 1548 of 3 December 2025 transposes the scope and exclusions word for word and lists the same thirteen exclusions as points (a) to (m) of § 2, stk. 2, nr. 1. ## What you must do ### Design categories and the essential requirements Annex I, Part A, point 1 assigns each craft one of four design categories, defined only by the wind force on the Beaufort scale and the significant wave height it is designed to withstand: category A for winds that may exceed force 8 and wave heights exceeding 4 m, excluding abnormal conditions such as storm, violent storm, hurricane, tornado and rogue waves; category B up to and including force 8 and 4 m; category C up to and including force 6 and 2 m; and category D up to and including force 4 and 0,3 m, with occasional waves of 0,5 m maximum height. Craft in each category must be designed and built to withstand those parameters for stability, buoyancy and the other essential requirements and to have good handling characteristics. The directive does not name the categories. The general requirements cover the watercraft identification number (point 2.1), the builder's plate (point 2.2), protection from falling overboard and means of reboarding that a person in the water can reach or deploy unaided (point 2.3), all-round visibility from the main steering position under normal speed and load (point 2.4) and the owner's manual (point 2.5). The integrity and structural requirements cover the structure, stability and freeboard, buoyancy and flotation, with habitable multihulls susceptible of inversion having to remain afloat inverted and craft of less than 6 m susceptible to swamping needing flotation means; openings in hull, deck and superstructure; flooding; the manufacturer's maximum recommended load; life raft stowage for categories A and B and for categories C and D longer than 6 m; escape in the event of inversion and of fire; and anchoring, mooring and towing points (points 3.1 to 3.9). Handling characteristics must be satisfactory with the most powerful engine the craft is designed for, and the maximum rated engine power is declared in the owner's manual (point 4). The installation requirements cover inboard engines and their compartments, ventilation, exposed parts, start-in-gear prevention for outboards above 500 N of static thrust, the automatic cut-off or reduced-speed device on a personal watercraft running without its driver, the emergency stopping device on tiller-controlled outboards, fuel systems, electrical systems, steering with emergency steering for sailing and single-engine remote-steered craft, gas systems, fire protection, navigation lights and sound signals to the 1972 COLREG or CEVNI, and discharge prevention with toilets connected only to a holding tank or treatment system (point 5). ### Exhaust and noise emissions Propulsion engines must be marked with the engine manufacturer's name and contact address, the engine type and where applicable the engine family, a unique serial number and the CE marking, durably and legibly for the normal life of the engine, on a part that is not normally replaced and readily visible once the engine is assembled (Annex I, Part B, point 1). Emissions must stay within the limit values obtained from point 2.1, Table 1 and point 2.2, Tables 2 and 3. Table 2 covers compression ignition engines and Table 3 spark ignition engines from 18 January 2016, but Table 1 is not purely historical: Table 2 sends compression ignition engines with a swept volume below 0,9 L per cylinder and a rated power below 37 kW back to the values of Table 1, which are expressed as the formulas CO ≤ A + B/PN^n and HC ≤ A + B/PN^n with the constants of that table. Table 1 is also the yardstick for the Article 55(2) transition for small-manufacturer outboard engines (Annex I, Part B, point 2). Testing follows ISO 8178-4:2007 cycles E1, E3, E4 or E5 with the weighting factors given, and the specified reference petrol and diesel fuels, unless a notified body accepts a fuel specified in a harmonised standard (points 2.3 and 2.4). The engine manufacturer must supply installation and maintenance instructions that keep the engine within the limits over its normal life, established by prior endurance testing and component fatigue calculation: 480 hours or 10 years for compression ignition engines, 480 hours or 10 years, 150 hours or 3 years and 50 hours or 1 year for the three power categories of spark ignition inboard and stern drive engines, 350 hours or 5 years for personal watercraft engines and 350 hours or 10 years for outboard engines (point 3). Every engine gets an owner's manual with the installation, use and maintenance instructions and the engine power measured to the harmonised standard (point 4). Noise applies to recreational craft with inboard or stern drive engines without integral exhaust, to personal watercraft, and to outboard engines and stern drive engines with integral exhaust (Annex I, Part C). The maximum sound pressure level is capped by rated power of a single engine at 67, 72 and 75 dB, with an allowance of 3 dB for twin and multiple engine units (point 1.1). As an alternative to sound measurement, a recreational craft with an inboard or stern drive configuration without integral exhaust is deemed to comply where it has a Froude number of 1,1 or less and a power to displacement ratio of 40 or less and the engine and exhaust system are installed to the engine manufacturer's specifications; the Froude number is the maximum speed divided by the square root of the waterline length times 9,8 m/s squared, and the power to displacement ratio is the rated power in kW divided by the displacement in tonnes (points 1.2 and 1.3). The owner's manual must carry the information needed to keep the craft, exhaust system or engine in a condition that maintains compliance, and the durability rules of Part B apply to noise as well (points 2 and 3). ### Harmonised standards Products conforming to harmonised standards, or parts of them, whose references are published in the Official Journal are presumed to conform to the requirements those standards cover (Art. 14). The Commission gathered the references in Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/1954 of 12 October 2022 and has amended it three times, most recently by Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/550 of 12 March 2026, which added EN ISO 8665-2:2024 on power measurements and declarations for electric marine propulsion and EN ISO 15085:2024 on protection from falling overboard and means of reboarding, and deleted the reference to EN ISO 15085:2003 as amended in 2009 and 2018 with effect from 13 August 2027. The Commission also runs the Recreational Craft Sectoral Group, which works on the uniform application and interpretation of the directive by notified bodies and other interested parties, and publishes an application guide to the directive. ### Conformity assessment The manufacturer applies the modules of Annex II to Decision No 768/2008/EC that Articles 20 to 22 allow, before placing the product on the market (Art. 19(1)). For design and construction of recreational craft in categories A and B, craft from 2,5 m to less than 12 m may use module A1 with supervised product testing, module B EU type-examination together with C, D, E or F, module G unit verification or module H full quality assurance, and craft from 12 m to 24 m must use B with C, D, E or F, G or H (Art. 20(1)(a)). For category C, craft from 2,5 m to less than 12 m may use plain module A internal production control where the harmonised standards relating to stability and freeboard and to buoyancy and flotation are complied with, and otherwise start at A1; craft from 12 m to 24 m again use B with C, D, E or F, G or H (Art. 20(1)(b)). For category D, craft from 2,5 m to 24 m may use A, A1, B with C, D, E or F, G or H (Art. 20(1)(c)). Personal watercraft may use A, A1, B with C, D, E or F, G or H (Art. 20(2)), and components use B with C, D, E or F, G or H (Art. 20(3)). Exhaust emissions follow B with C, D, E or F, G or H where tests use the harmonised standard, and B with C1 or G where they do not (Art. 21). Noise follows A1, G or H where the harmonised standard for noise measurement is used, G where it is not, and A, G or H where the Froude number and power displacement method is used; personal watercraft, outboard engines and stern drive engines with integral exhaust use A1, G or H, or G without the standard (Art. 22). Article 24 adds the supplementary rules: an EU type-examination under module B is carried out as a production type, which may cover several versions where the differences do not affect safety or performance and the versions are named in the certificate; module A1 checks are carried out on one or more craft representing the production and follow Annex VI, which requires a stability test and a buoyancy test and the noise tests under the responsibility of a notified body; the option of using accredited in-house bodies in modules A1 and C1 is switched off; module F for exhaust emissions follows Annex VII; and under module C a notified body carries out random product checks unless the manufacturer works under a module H quality system. Because of Article 24(3), every route except plain module A involves a notified body. The technical documentation must contain all relevant data and details of the means used to ensure conformity, including the documents listed in Annex IX, and must let the design, construction, operation and conformity assessment be clearly understood (Art. 25). ### Identification, builder's plate, CE marking and the owner's manual Each craft carries an identification number containing the manufacturer's country code, the unique manufacturer code assigned by the national authority of a Member State, a unique serial number, the month and year of production and the model year, laid out as the relevant harmonised standard sets out (Annex I, Part A, point 2.1). Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1 supplies the procedure: each Member State designates the national authority or body that assigns the code and tells the Commission which it is; a manufacturer established in the Union applies to the authority of its own Member State with proof of establishment before placing a craft on the market; a manufacturer established in a third country, or its authorised representative, applies in one Member State only, which first checks the third country register to make sure no other Member State has already assigned a code; each manufacturer receives one code for the whole Union market; and Member States may charge a fee. Where a notified body carries out a post-construction assessment, the manufacturer code field carries the body's post-construction assessment identification code, recorded in the notified bodies' register. Each craft also carries a permanently affixed builder's plate, mounted separately from the identification number, with the manufacturer's name, registered trade name or trade mark and contact address, the CE marking, the design category, the manufacturer's maximum recommended load excluding the contents of full fixed tanks, and the number of persons the craft was designed for; after a post-construction assessment the contact details include those of the notified body (Annex I, Part A, point 2.2). The CE marking is affixed to watercraft, components and propulsion engines visibly, legibly and indelibly before placing on the market or putting into service, on the builder's plate for a craft, on the engine for a propulsion engine, and on the packaging and accompanying documents for a component too small or unsuitable to carry it, followed by the notified body's identification number where that body is involved in production control or post-construction assessment (Art. 17 and Art. 18). The EU declaration of conformity follows the Annex IV model, carries the elements of the modules used and of Annex V, is continuously updated and translated into the languages the Member State requires, and accompanies every craft, every separately marketed component and every propulsion engine; a partly completed craft travels with the Annex III declaration instead (Art. 15). Every product is supplied with an owner's manual containing the instructions and safety information needed for safe use, with attention to set up, maintenance, regular operation, prevention of risks and risk management, in a language the Member State determines (Art. 7(7) and Annex I, Part A, point 2.5). ### Post-construction assessment and private imports Post-construction assessment under Annex V is the equivalent conformity route for a product whose manufacturer has not assumed responsibility for its conformity. It applies in four situations: a private importer putting a product into service where the manufacturer did not carry out the conformity assessment; anyone placing on the market or putting into service an engine or craft after a major engine modification or major craft conversion; anyone changing the intended purpose of a craft not covered by the directive so that it comes into scope; and anyone placing a craft built for own use on the market before the end of the five-year period (Art. 19(2) to (4)). Recital 25 restricts its use for imports to non-commercial import by private importers, to prevent abuse for commercial purposes. The person taking responsibility lodges an application with a notified body and supplies the documents, the technical file and any information on the use of the product since its first putting into service, keeping them at the disposal of the national authorities for 10 years. The body examines the individual product and carries out the calculations, tests and other assessments needed to demonstrate equivalent conformity, issues a certificate and a report and keeps a copy for 10 years, and affixes or has affixed its identification number next to the CE marking. For a craft, the body also has the identification number affixed, using the country code field for the country where the body is established and the manufacturer code fields for its post-construction assessment identification code followed by the certificate serial number, with the month and year fields showing when the assessment took place. The responsible person then affixes the CE marking, fits the builder's plate carrying the words post-construction assessment, marks the body's name and address on the product, draws up the EU declaration of conformity and keeps it for 10 years after the certificate was issued (Art. 12, Annex V). ### Obligations by role Manufacturers design and manufacture to Annex I, draw up the technical documentation and carry out the conformity assessment, draw up the declaration and affix the CE marking, keep the documentation and declaration for 10 years, keep series production in conformity, sample-test and keep a complaints register where the risks warrant it, mark a type, batch or serial number and their name and contact address, supply the owner's manual in the required language, take corrective action, inform the authorities of risks and cooperate on request (Art. 7). Authorised representatives act under a mandate that must at least let them keep the declaration and documentation for 10 years, answer reasoned requests and cooperate with the authorities, and cannot take over the design or documentation duties (Art. 8). Importers place only compliant products on the market, verify the assessment, documentation, CE marking, accompanying documents and identification, add their own name and contact address, ensure the owner's manual, protect the product in storage and transport, sample-test where warranted, take corrective action and keep the declaration for 10 years (Art. 9). Distributors act with due care, verify the CE marking, documents, owner's manual and identification before making a product available, protect it in storage and transport and see that corrective action is taken (Art. 10). Private importers take over the manufacturer's duties on documentation, assessment, the owner's manual and information to the authorities where the manufacturer has not (Art. 12). Every economic operator identifies its suppliers and customers for 10 years, and a private importer identifies the operator that supplied it for the same period (Art. 13). Since 16 July 2021, Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 also requires an economic operator established in the Union, a manufacturer, importer, authorised representative or fulfilment service provider, for every product covered by the directive that is placed on the market (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Art. 4). ### Denmark: who does what Denmark splits the directive between two executive orders. Executive order nr. 1548 of 3 December 2025 on recreational craft and personal watercraft (bekendtgørelse om fritidsfartøjer og personlige fartøjer), issued by Søfartsstyrelsen, the Danish Maritime Authority, under the maritime safety act, entered into force on 1 January 2026 and repealed executive order nr. 1689 of 15 December 2015. It transposes everything except the emission limits and moves the administrative roles that the 2015 order gave Søfartsstyrelsen to Erhvervsstyrelsen: Erhvervsstyrelsen is the notifying authority that designates Danish notified bodies, with DANAK carrying out their assessment and monitoring, the body that decides complaints against notified body decisions, the national authority under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1 that assigns the unique manufacturer code, and the market surveillance authority for the products the order covers, while Søfartsstyrelsen keeps the supervision in Greenland (executive order nr. 1548/2025, § 27, stk. 5 and stk. 8, § 39 and § 43, stk. 2). Executive order nr. 1596 of 30 June 2021 on the regulation of noise and air emissions from recreational craft and personal watercraft, made under the environmental protection act and the marine environment act, carries the exhaust and noise limits, the engine marking and the durability rules, and gives the supervision to Sikkerhedsstyrelsen, since January 2026 the department Markedsovervågning of Erhvervsstyrelsen, assisted by Miljøstyrelsen (executive order nr. 1596/2021, § 1, § 6, § 11, § 12 and § 17). ## Enforcement and penalties Article 43 applies Article 15(3) and Articles 16 to 29 of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 to the products the directive covers; those articles were replaced by Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 from 16 July 2021, which lists the directive as point 46 of its Annex I, so the reference is read as that regulation. Where an authority has sufficient reason to believe a product presents a risk to health or safety, to property or to the environment, it evaluates the product, requires the economic operator to take corrective action, withdraw or recall it within a reasonable period commensurate with the risk, and informs a private importer of the corrective action, of the suspension of the putting into service or of the suspension of the use of the product; it informs the notified body, and where adequate action is not taken it adopts provisional measures prohibiting or restricting the making available, withdrawing or recalling the product, or prohibiting or restricting the use of a privately imported craft, and notifies the Commission and the other Member States. A measure is deemed justified where neither a Member State nor the Commission objects within three months (Art. 44). Disputed measures go to the Union safeguard procedure, in which the Commission consults and adopts an implementing act deciding whether the national measure is justified (Art. 45). Formal non-compliance, a CE marking affixed in violation of Articles 16 to 18 or not affixed, a missing or incorrectly drawn up EU declaration of conformity or Annex III declaration, unavailable or incomplete technical documentation, absent, false or incomplete manufacturer or importer identification, or any other unfulfilled administrative requirement of Article 7 or Article 9, must be ended and otherwise leads to restriction, prohibition, recall or withdrawal, or to a prohibition or restriction on the use of a privately imported product (Art. 46). Penalties are set nationally: Member States lay down rules on penalties, which may include criminal sanctions for serious infringements, that are effective, proportionate and dissuasive and may be increased where the operator or private importer has previously committed a similar infringement (Art. 53). In Denmark, executive order nr. 1548 of 3 December 2025 punishes infringements of the order with a fine or imprisonment of up to 1 year, extends the same penalty to breaches of Article 4(1), (3) or (4) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, to failing to appoint an authorised representative where one is required or to appointing one without the powers or means to do the job, and to a representative who does not hand over a copy of the mandate, and raises the penalty to imprisonment of up to 2 years where the infringement harmed or endangered life or health, where a prohibition or order had already been issued for the same or a similar matter, or where an economic advantage was obtained or intended; companies can be held criminally liable (executive order nr. 1548/2025, § 56). Executive order nr. 1596 of 30 June 2021 fines the marketing or putting into service of a product that breaches the emission limits, the engine marking, the test cycles or test fuels, a prohibition under its § 18 or an order of the supervisory authority, rising to imprisonment of up to 2 years where the breach was intentional or grossly negligent and harmed or endangered the environment or produced an economic advantage; the supervisory authority can demand documents, data and supply-chain information, buy samples including under a cover identity and reverse-engineer them, and order an online interface owner to change or remove content referring to a non-compliant product (executive order nr. 1596/2021, § 18 to § 21 and § 24). ## Related guides - [Marine Equipment Directive (MED)](/regulations/med) - [Transportable Pressure Equipment Directive (TPED)](/regulations/tped) - [Pressure Equipment Directive (PED)](/regulations/ped) ## How Conphora helps Conphora monitors the Recreational Craft Directive, its harmonised standards list and the Danish executive orders, and maps your craft, engines and components against the scope and the Article 2(2) exclusions, the design category, the module routes, the exhaust, noise and durability requirements and the identification, plate, marking and manual rules, flagging gaps in the technical documentation, the EU declaration of conformity and the watercraft identification number before they become enforcement problems. The platform helps you build and keep the documentation and the 10-year records, combines the RCD declaration with the other declarations the same craft or engine needs, and alerts you when a harmonised standard, a Danish executive order or the enforcement setup changes. [See how Conphora works](/how-it-works) · [See plans and pricing](/pricing) ## Sources - [Directive 2013/53/EU on recreational craft and personal watercraft as published in OJ L 354, 28 December 2013 (EUR-Lex)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32013L0053) - [Consolidated text of Directive 2013/53/EU as at 28 December 2013 (EUR-Lex)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02013L0053-20131228) - [Document information, dates, corrigenda and relationships for CELEX 32013L0053 (EUR-Lex)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32013L0053) - [Directive 94/25/EC on recreational craft, repealed with effect from 18 January 2016 (EUR-Lex)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:31994L0025) - [Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1 on procedures for watercraft identification (EUR-Lex)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32017R0001) - [Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/550 amending the harmonised standards list for recreational craft (EUR-Lex)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32026D0550) - [Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance and compliance of products (EUR-Lex)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019R1020) - [Regulation (EU) 2016/1628 on non-road mobile machinery engines (EUR-Lex)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32016R1628) - [Harmonised standards for recreational craft under Directive 2013/53/EU (European Commission, DG GROW)](https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/single-market/goods/european-standards/harmonised-standards/recreational-craft_en) - [Recreational craft sector, the Recreational Craft Sectoral Group and the application guide (European Commission, DG GROW)](https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/sectors/maritime-industries/recreational-craft-sector/what-commission-doing_en) - [Bekendtgørelse nr. 1548 af 3. december 2025 om fritidsfartøjer og personlige fartøjer (Retsinformation)](https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2025/1548) - [Bekendtgørelse nr. 1596 af 30. juni 2021 om regulering af støj- og luftemissioner fra fritidsfartøjer og personlige fartøjer (Retsinformation)](https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2021/1596) - [Bekendtgørelse nr. 1689 af 15. december 2015 om fritidsfartøjer og personlige fartøjer, repealed on 1 January 2026 (Retsinformation)](https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2015/1689) - [Sikkerhedsstyrelsen, a part of Erhvervsstyrelsen from January 2026 (Erhvervsstyrelsen)](https://erhvervsstyrelsen.dk/sikkerhedsstyrelsen-en-del-af-erhvervsstyrelsen) *This guide is for general information and is not legal advice.* ## Sources - [Directive 2013/53/EU on recreational craft and personal watercraft as published in OJ L 354, 28 December 2013 (EUR-Lex)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32013L0053) - [Consolidated text of Directive 2013/53/EU as at 28 December 2013, incorporating the corrigendum of OJ L 297, 13 November 2015 (EUR-Lex)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02013L0053-20131228) - [Document information, dates, corrigenda and relationships for CELEX 32013L0053 (EUR-Lex)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32013L0053) - [Directive 94/25/EC on recreational craft, repealed with effect from 18 January 2016 (EUR-Lex)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:31994L0025) - [Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1 on procedures for watercraft identification (EUR-Lex)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32017R0001) - [Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/550 amending the harmonised standards list for recreational craft (EUR-Lex)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32026D0550) - [Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance and compliance of products (EUR-Lex)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019R1020) - [Regulation (EU) 2016/1628 on non-road mobile machinery engines, which repealed Directive 97/68/EC from 1 January 2017 and excludes watercraft from its own scope (EUR-Lex)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32016R1628) - [Harmonised standards for recreational craft under Directive 2013/53/EU (European Commission, DG GROW)](https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/single-market/goods/european-standards/harmonised-standards/recreational-craft_en) - [Recreational craft sector, the Recreational Craft Sectoral Group and the application guide (European Commission, DG GROW)](https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/sectors/maritime-industries/recreational-craft-sector/what-commission-doing_en) - [Bekendtgørelse nr. 1548 af 3. december 2025 om fritidsfartøjer og personlige fartøjer (Retsinformation)](https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2025/1548) - [Bekendtgørelse nr. 1596 af 30. juni 2021 om regulering af støj- og luftemissioner fra fritidsfartøjer og personlige fartøjer (Retsinformation)](https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2021/1596) - [Bekendtgørelse nr. 1689 af 15. december 2015 om fritidsfartøjer og personlige fartøjer, repealed on 1 January 2026 (Retsinformation)](https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2015/1689) - [Sikkerhedsstyrelsen, a part of Erhvervsstyrelsen from January 2026 (Erhvervsstyrelsen)](https://erhvervsstyrelsen.dk/sikkerhedsstyrelsen-en-del-af-erhvervsstyrelsen) _Reviewed 2026-09-24 by Conphora compliance team_