Dingbull
New member
I would hazard a guess it might have something to do with the amount of Spanish citizens who have their boats registered in other EU states such as Belgium.
Clearly an attempt to avoid the fairly strict regulations imposed here.
I feel you are right, but we should take two points into account:
- If the Spanish boating legislation was ever applied in the UK a lot of boat owners would for sure make themselves heard. AFAIK, the Spanish regulations are by far the toughest in the EU. Has this produced increased levels in boat safety in Spain compared to other EU countries? The answer seems to be no.
- If there have been Spaniards who have changed their boats' flag it is because two countries have allowed it. I would say that that they are not trying to evade taxes nor cutting costs in safety, but they seem to go for a more rational set of rules.
In any case, this phenomenon of massive flag changing is unheard of in other countries. Perhaps we should wonder why...