EPIRB country of registration

[Pete Carr]

I am dual citizen and hold both UK and Australian passports, if I were to purchase and register a boat in Australia (for tax reasons), would the EPIRB have to be registered there too?
I have no intention of living in Australia (not yet at least)

Many Thanks

Pete

 

[Munz]

The EPIRB should normally be registered with whichever authority issues your ships radio license which as far as I know is normally that of the country were the boat is registered (so yes, Australia in your case)...

However paying tax on a boat generally has little to do with where it is registered and more to do with were it is physically located. eg.: A UK flagged boat that never enters the UK/EU generally doesn't need to be tax paid, but any boat, regardless of where it is flagged that spends enough time (18 months?) in the EU (for example) will normally need to pay VAT(GST), so in the end it depends a lot where the boat is located, and were you intend to sail it.....

But in the end it might be easier just to be a good socialist and pay your taxes ;-) Then you won't have to worry about it (or be mistaken for an Ozzie......)

 

[Pete Carr]

The EPIRB should normally be registered with whichever authority issues your ships radio license which as far as I know is normally that of the country were the boat is registered (so yes, Australia in your case)...

However paying tax on a boat generally has little to do with where it is registered and more to do with were it is physically located. eg.: A UK flagged boat that never enters the UK/EU generally doesn't need to be tax paid, but any boat, regardless of where it is flagged that spends enough time (18 months?) in the EU (for example) will normally need to pay VAT(GST), so in the end it depends a lot where the boat is located, and were you intend to sail it.....

But in the end it might be easier just to be a good socialist and pay your taxes ;-) Then you won't have to worry about it (or be mistaken for an Ozzie......)

Ah! I forgot all about the radio licence.

I was under the impression (probably wrongly) that under the current rules, a Brit could not take a VAT not paid boat into the EU except for a 30 transit.
Are you saying that I could buy the boat as a UK citizen in Turkey, VAT not paid, register it on the UK SSR and still be able to get an 18 month transit log, that would make life so much easier.
I have no intention of bringing back to UK and spending a large lump of time outside the Shengen area isnt an issue as long as I could enter the Shengen area for at least a few months.

The thought of being mistaken for an Aussie again is worrying, it took me about ten years to lose the bit of accent I picked up before.

 

[dansaskip]

I recently (well about a year ago) bought a new EPIRB . My boat is registered in UK and my ship's radio licence was issued by British Authority.
However since I bought the EPIRB in New Zealand where I was at the time I had to register it with the New Zealand authorities. I did try to register it with British Authorities as as I had an existing registration with them so thought I could just modify the existing registration. However that was not possible because when I entered the Hex ID I was informed that it was for the wrong country or some such - sorry the details bit foggy now. There is a country code embedded in the Hex ID. End result I had to register it with RCCNZ even though the beacon is used on a British registered yacht. I believe I have other posts elsewhere about people being unable to register their EPIRB's in country of use because of the Hex ID.

 

[wwalsh]

Interesting about the Hex ID issue.
One client he had delaware registration and someone told him he could register with Ofcom for call sign and MMSI but according to their guidance notes :

Ofcom may only license UK and crown dependencies (isle of man, jersey, guernsey) flagged ships

In case of reflagging to another country it is required to surrender the radio license.

 

[Graham376]

Most epirbs can be reprogrammed by service stations, to change country ID.

 

[rogerthebodger]

I recently (well about a year ago) bought a new EPIRB . My boat is registered in UK and my ship's radio licence was issued by British Authority.
However since I bought the EPIRB in New Zealand where I was at the time I had to register it with the New Zealand authorities. I did try to register it with British Authorities as as I had an existing registration with them so thought I could just modify the existing registration. However that was not possible because when I entered the Hex ID I was informed that it was for the wrong country or some such - sorry the details bit foggy now. There is a country code embedded in the Hex ID. End result I had to register it with RCCNZ even though the beacon is used on a British registered yacht. I believe I have other posts elsewhere about people being unable to register their EPIRB's in country of use because of the Hex ID.

My boat is registered in South Africa and I have a South African radio station licence.

I purchased an EPIRB in the UK and had it programmed with the South African 3 digit code then registered it in South Africa.

You can do the same.

What make EPIRB do you have. Mine was made in Australia purchased from MikeCC who posts on the forum.

 

[Pete Carr]

My boat is registered in South Africa and I have a South African radio station licence.

I purchased an EPIRB in the UK and had it programmed with the South African 3 digit code then registered it in South Africa.

You can do the same.

What make EPIRB do you have. Mine was made in Australia purchased from MikeCC who posts on the forum.

I dont have an EPIRB yet (or even a boat for that matter) just hypothetical questions for when I do, and what hoops I need to jump through if everything is Australian registered

 

[Ningaloo]

I bought my ships epirb in Australia as it was much less expensive than in the UK. The dealer was an accredited agent for the epirb (can't remember the brand) and supplied to the unit ready for UK registration for an additional AU$10.
I have a PLB which is also registered in UK but used in Australia.

 

[dansaskip]

My boat is registered in South Africa and I have a South African radio station licence.

I purchased an EPIRB in the UK and had it programmed with the South African 3 digit code then registered it in South Africa.

You can do the same.

What make EPIRB do you have. Mine was made in Australia purchased from MikeCC who posts on the forum.

Thanks for that Info - My EPIRB is an Ocean Signal. At the time I made sense anyway to register in NZ as I was sailing there and in S Pacific islands but now I am back in UK I will look into having it reprogrammed.

 

[duncan99210]

There’s an additional little wrinkle to consider. The UK (OFCOM) doesn‘t require the EPIRB to be programmed with the users MMSI whereas a number of other nations do require it (IIRC France being one of them), so when you buy the beacon you need to know your MMSI.
To answer the OPs question about an EU transit log for a non VAT paid boat, that possible provided you can prove you live outside the EU. For a UK resident post 31 Dec, that’s easy.....

 

[Koeketiene]

There’s an additional little wrinkle to consider. The UK (OFCOM) doesn‘t require the EPIRB to be programmed with the users MMSI whereas a number of other nations do require it (IIRC France being one of them), so when you buy the beacon you need to know your MMSI.
To answer the OPs question about an EU transit log for a non VAT paid boat, that possible provided you can prove you live outside the EU. For a UK resident post 31 Dec, that’s easy.....

You will find that this is the case for most European countries.
The UK situation is the exception rather than the rule.

 

[Bilgediver]

Most epirbs can be reprogrammed by service stations, to change country ID.

These were my thoughts also and a dissuasion with Falmouth MRCC would clear this up. They were always very helpful when I used to contact them about such issues from work. There maybe a problem if its a mickey mouse Epirb with no accredited service engineers in this area with programming info however should be no problem with well known units.