3.1 General
3.1.1 This Code is intended to apply to vessels operating in the UK which do not go to sea and carry no more than 12 passengers. In determining the number of passengers, a passenger is "any person carried on a ship except:
- a person employed or engaged in any capacity of the vessel's business;
- a person on board the vessel, either in pursuance of the obligation laid upon the master to carry shipwrecked, distressed or other persons, or by reason of any circumstance that neither the master nor the owner nor the charterer (if any) could have prevented or forestalled;
- a child under one year of age"
3.2 Type of Operation
3.2.1 This Code is intended to apply to vessels operating commercially with a skipper or crew, and which only carry passengers. For the purposes of this Code, any vessel that is not a pleasure vessel is deemed to be operating commercially (refer to Annex 2 for a definition). Examples of relevant vessels include, but are not limited to, an angling or dive vessel operating in estuarial waters, a skippered sailing vessel taking passengers out on a lake, a water taxi, a hotel boat and a narrow boat on a canal doing trips in aid of a restoration project.
3.2.2 Vessels operated by proprietor's clubs and associations, whether the operator is corporate, private or of a charitable nature, should comply with the Code.
3.2.3 The Code is not intended to apply to:
- Self-drive hire craft or bareboat charters (where there is no work activity being carried out by those hiring the vessel);
- Pleasure vessels, as defined in Annex 2 and the Merchant Shipping (Small Commercial Vessels and Pilot Boats) Regulations 2004;
- Vessels operated by establishments licensed by the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA);
- Vessels operating as part of Royal Yachting Association recognised training establishments;
- canoes, kayaks, white water rafts, bell boats, dragon boats or similar, which are covered by guidance issued by the national sports governing bodies.
- Beach craft - There are guidelines for beach craft at Annex 5.
3.2.4 For sports bodies, the Government encourages the principle of self-determination to the extent that when it has been necessary to impose some form of control, the policy has been to encourage the bodies to adopt voluntary codes or procedures which would have the same effect as a regulation. A review of safety in water sports in 1990 concluded that the current system of self-regulation developed by the governing bodies of sport was sufficient to meet their responsibility for the safety of sports participants.
To see the original version and the full MCA/AINA SPBC visit the MCA website