Technical file

The boat builder shall retain a technical file for the boat with sufficient information to demonstrate how the boat complies with the essential requirements of the Directive.

The documentation should include all specifications, drawings, calculations and information relating to compliance with standards (e.g. electrical wiring specifications and diagrams) and results of tests prescribed in standards. This is likely to be a large quantity of documentation altogether, and should be stored by the boat builder for 10 years. Copies of this information do not need to be supplied with the boats sold.

It is not sufficient to state, for example, that the boat complies with ISO 12217, a record of the tests of calculations undertaken to establish this compliance must be kept. A written and possibly photographic record of the stability test should be kept.

Note: The boat builder or person responsible for placing the boat on the market is required to keep the Technical Documents for each type of craft, or each individual craft if a one-off, for 10 years after completion of the last product. Where boats are being manufactured outside the EU and no authorized representative is established within the EU then the person or company placing the boat on the market must keep the Technical Documentation.