The RYA has announced that changes will be made to the issuing criteria of the International Certificate of Competence (ICC) to make it available to boaters other than British nationals.

Previously,
the RYA was only able to issue the ICC to British nationals and
residents, which meant that anyone who completed an RYA course and was
not a British national or resident wouldn’t be eligible to apply to the
RYA for an ICC. This new amendment to Resolution 40, which regulates
the issue of ICC including to whom it can be issued, syllabus
requirements and layout of the certificate, means the RYA will now be
able to issue it to the nationals of non-United Nations Economic Commission for
Europe (UNECE) countries and to USA and
Canadian nationals as well.

 “Some
restrictions do still apply and the eligibility criteria for issue of
an RYA ICC will become a little more complex”, explains Richard Falk,
RYA Training Manager. “The RYA will continue to not be able to issue
the ICC to nationals of most UNECE member countries, including the likes of Croatia,
France, Norway and Portugal, unless they are British nationals.

 There is no change to proof of competence needed to get an ICC or how it can be used.

 An
ICC allows the holder to voyage internationally but only where the
country being visited has chosen to accept it and subject to any
prescriptions made by the visited country, it does not work as the
boating equivalent of the EU driving licence as is often the
misconception. Pleasure boaters must remember to comply with the
regulations of both the country of registration (the Flag State) and the
requirements of the visited country (the Coastal State).

 More information about the ICC can be found on the RYA website at www.rya.org.uk/go/icc