CE design categories and older boats
Read the design category with its applicable documentation.
In plain language
The European Recreational Craft Directive defines design categories. A documented category relates to design conditions and loading; it must not be invented from length, a ratio or marketing language.
How to interpret it
An absent category on a historic boat does not itself establish a problem. Dates, placing on the market, modifications and documents may matter to the applicable assessment.
Why it matters
Recording the declared category and documentary reference helps avoid false equivalences.
Limitations
CE does not replace a survey of an individual boat. Import and conformity rules need separate verification; this page does not determine a purchase’s legal position.
In practice
If documentation is unavailable, the platform shows the category as undocumented.
Sources & reading
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