The Role Of The BSS Technical Committee
Up to 31 March 2024, this committee was the specialist stakeholder committee that made recommendations to the BSS Advisory Committee concerning issues of a technical nature.
Most of the roles of the Technical Committee are now with the Technical Forum in its work advising the Directors of BSS Limited and the BSS Standards Setting Forum.
The work was directed by the BSS risk Management Process.
Customer-group interests, BSS Examiners and surveyors, British Marine were represented evenly on the BSS Technical Committee.
A sub-group of the BSSTC; the BSS Technical Equivalence Panel offered guidance on the equivalence of systems or components on CE-marked craft.
The panel sat when an item or component was initially considered as non-compliant a BSS examination and an appeal was presented by the owner or supplier.
Membership of the BSSTC
Chair
Boat User Representative Organisations
Assoc. Waterways Cruising Clubs - AWCC
Inland Waterways Association - IWA
National Assoc. of Boat Owners - NABO
Royal Yachting Association - RYA.
British Marine Federation (trade) representation
British Marine (1)
British Marine (2)
British Marine (3)
Practitioner Representative bodies (Examiners and surveyors)
Assoc. Boat Safety Examiners - ABSE
Surveyors Group Representative
Navigation Authorities Representative
Association of Inland Navigation Authorities (AINA) Representative
Boat Safety Scheme
Secretariat and BSS Quality & Technical Manager
Co-opted & Others:
BSS Manager
BSS Support Executive
BSS Lead Quality Assurance Assessor
BSS Quality Assurance Assessor
Notes of the BSSTC
The notes of BSSTC meetings were not published due matters of commercial sensitivity that may be relevant to committee dealings, including novel technology. Not publishing the notes also ensured that technical papers used to support the early development of recommendations were not taken out of context.
The decisions and advice arising from the work of the BSSTC will be clear from published BSSAC and BSSMC notes.