We take the CE seriously and all our customers can rest assured that their boat will be CE certified exactly by the book. The certificate comes from an official Notified Body in Europe. Only a Notified Body can certify that the boat meets the demands of the RCD. Even though one might accidently “sneak in” a boat without the CE, the problems are still ahead. Insuring a boat without the CE might be impossible, not to mention what happens if the boat ends up in an accident and it is not CE certified. This is a very easy escape for the insurance company to walk away without covering the accident. There comes a time to re-sell the boat and by then the “grey import” boat with no CE becomes the problem child nobody wants to buy and the brokers refuse to list. Some call it protectionism making importing boats difficult, we call it rules we need to live by.

The cost of the CE certification in relation to the purchase price of the boat and the other costs involved while importing a boat really isn’t so much that it would make sense not to CE certify a boat if it can be done. Some of the older boats with original engines cannot be CE certified due to the emissions but does it really make sense to pay all that money to bring in something that is mechanically old, not conforming to the rules and especially something that Europe is already full of? There are very desirable older boats like classic Bertram, Grand Banks and Cigarette that are attractive boats to import, but with original engines it is impossible. For an additional investment, these boats can be repowered with modern engines (additional value alone) in the USA (where the engines and parts are affordable) and after repowering, they can be CE certified and imported to any European country, legally and by the rules. We are happy to provide more information about the CE and how to get your dream boat certified.