This regulation will substantially improve the nautical charter management, especially for the superyachts and megayachts industry.

Madrid, July 15, 2019.- After several months of work between the DGMM, ANEN (Spanish Association of Nautical Companies) and AEGY (Spanish Large Yachts Association), a new Service Instruction has been published in order to unify, clarify and simplify the criteria used by the Spanish Harbor Masters Offices. This regulation implies a substantial improvement in the streamline of the charter processes, seeking for competitiveness and improvement of this sector in Spain which, thanks to measures of this type, can be converted in a more attractive jurisdiction, especially for superyachts and megayachts business. This economic activity is the industry’s main engine for certain areas such as the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and the Spanish East Cost.

From now on, the Maritime Administration will not request documents that are already in its possession, which means a bureaucracy and time saving that results in an improvement of the processes, exhaustively specifying the documents to be contributed and allowing private translations of documents (before it was necessary the provision of sworn translations) and accepting copies of such documents.

In terms of megayachts (longer than 24 meters LOA), a database «BDMY» have been created including yachts that are allowed to carry out the activity of nautical charter in or from Spanish ports, in order to expedite its clearance.

All those measures have been demanded by the yachting industry to the Maritime Authorities in order to make work easier for the charter operators in our country and thus, improving the competitiveness of this industry. According to Carlos Sanlorenzo, Secretary General of ANEN, «this type of measures can undoubtedly help us to be leaders in the Mediterranean and, in this way, contribute to the growth of stable and qualified employment for Spanish society as well as greater income and an economic activity that the nautical charter clearly generates. We thank the Maritime Authorities, specifically the DGMM, that has understood our arguments and we’ve been able to work together in improving our procedures«.

In relation to the aforesaid Instruction, Miguel Angel Serra, tax and legal advisor of ANEN, points out that «it was a necessary and expected Instruction, insofar as it was essential to standardize the documents required for the authorization of the charter activity in all the Spanish Harbor Master offices, which to date was very disparate and leaded to confusion to national and international operators«. He also adds that “It is also important that documents may be submitted online, saving operators some valuable time. Additionally, once yachts are registered in the database (BDMY) it will not be necessary to resubmit the documentation if clearance is is requested in any other Harbor Master Office”.

Finally, in relation to the non-resident entities that operate superyachts and megayachts, a subsector of high added value within the yachting industry, he points out as an essential aspect the fact that «we have managed to eliminate the requirement of providing the Spanish VAT number to the Harbor Master Offices prior to obtaining the clearance, which will allow both processes to be managed in parallel and shorten the clearance time in about two weeks, without jeopardizing any guarantee for the Maritime Authorities«.

It is also important that documents can be submitted by telematics, saving operators valuable time. In addition, once the yacht is registered in the database (BDMY) it will not be necessary to resubmit the documentation if dispatch is requested in any other maritime captaincy.