Can I have my boat’s ID on the Certificate?

This is an increasingly common question as insurance companies and registration authorities (outside Europe) sometimes demand that a boat’s unique (hull/craft/watercraft) identification number be shown on the certificate. The answer is that it depends upon the conformity assessment module being applied. Some boats are only ‘type approved’ by an Approved/Notified Body and thus the certificate relates to a model – ie the design of the boat, not to a specific unit of production. An Approved or Notified Body will not put the unique ID of a boat on such a certificate because they are not involved in checking on-going production and so cannot state whether or not any specific unit complies. This is the manufacturer’s responsibility, using the Declaration of Conformity which they must issue for each unit.

There are optional conformity assessment modules where the manufacturer can ask the Approved Body to witness the production of a single unit or a batch of production units. In this case, the Approved Body should print the ID numbers of the units concerned on the certificate. Note that the Approved Body will clearly charge money to make special visits to the manufacturer and assess specific units of production. Thus the boat buyer should expect to pay more money if this service is required. A list of the ‘conformity assessment modules’ is described below.