§ Mrs. BrintonTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the implications of EC Directive 94/25/EC on small businesses engaged in the modification, upgrading and conversion to LPG of recreational craft engines. [137294]
§ Mr. Alan JohnsonNo specific assessment has been made at present. EC Directive 94/25/EC on recreational craft (RCD) is principally concerned with the design and construction (in terms of safety) of such craft, as well as certain specified components for incorporation into craft (including fuel tanks and fuel hoses), when they are placed on the market or put into service for the first time in the European Economic Area (EEA). The RCD became mandatory on 16 June 1998. The object of the RCD is to allow the free trade in recreational craft and the specified components, while maintaining a high level of product safety. Any person placing those products on the EEA market, or putting them into use, since that date is obliged to meet the essential safety requirements covering for example hull strength, stability and buoyancy, as well as safety requirements concerned with the installation of the engine, fuel systems and fuel tanks. Meeting the requirements of the RCD and properly applying the CE 497W marking confers the right to sell the craft anywhere in the EEA. Any subsequent modification, upgrading and conversion of a craft, concerned with the engine installation, is not currently within the scope of the RCD unless that modification, upgrading or conversion of the craft was so extensive that it amounted (in effect) to a "new" craft being produced for the purposes of the RCD. However it may be the case that, depending on where the craft is used, local "in use" safety regulations would need to be met as part of or following an engine modification.
The Commission has recently issued a proposal for the modification of the RCD which would (if adopted) include, in particular, requirements related to engine exhaust and noise emissions: the former would include propulsion engines subject to a "major engine modification" and the latter to recreational craft with engines that are subject to a "major craft conversion". Businesses are aware of this proposal but will be consulted as negotiations progress: A regulatory impact assessment is being commissioned. A public meeting has been arranged at the DTI on 15 January 2001, to which interested parties will be invited.