Boat Building Industry Regulations Desk
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Recreational Boat Building Industry
Regulations Desk |
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California Considers Banning Outboards
Historic Coverage of the Bowen Bill
The Bowen Bill AB2439 restricts the use of two-stroke outboards
on reservoirs and lakes used to supply drinking water. It also bans the sale of two-stroke outboards.
Some areas encountering regulations at the manufacturing level are:
- European Union CE mark (Recreational Craft Directive)
- Engine Noise
- Engine Emissions
- Fiberglass Emissions
- Factory Ground Pollution
- Factory Hazardous Waste Disposal
- Factory Air Pollution
- OSHA
The business side of the industry faces regulations in the way dealers are handled, areas are divided up among dealers, how dealers are terminated, etc.
Some of the areas encountering regulations at the end user level are:
- Continuing compliance with emission regs
- Operating Speed Limits
- Discharges into the water
- No Wake Zones
- No Boating Zones
- Noise Level Limits
- Operator Registration
- No alcohol
- Requirements to have on board (pfd, fire extinguisher, etc.)
- Age limits
- PWC Rental Requirements (age, instruction)
Discussion of Links
We suggest you become familiar with the EPA, EPA Mobile Sources (it leads to non-road and on to marine sources), the TTN2000 site, Right To Know, CARB, and Federal Clean Air Act web sites in the Environment / EPA Segment of our Other Useful Links page.
We would also encourage you to browse the Bookstores, Laws, and Libraries segments of our Other Useful Links page. You may need to utilize some of the tools they provide to find copies of regulations.
Other Areas of This Site
Coast Guard Requests Input on Boating Regs
Effective 13 June 1997
The Coast Guard is requesting input on several recreational boating regulations for use in a review of them later this year. A copy of the press release announcing the request is available.
Europe's CE marking Program (Recreational Craft Directive)
16 June 1997
The European Commission's directive for boats sold in Europe goes into effect 16 June 1998. RBBI has created a large folder of information about the CE Mark Program and the Recreational Craft Directive. If you do business there and have not yet complied with the CE mark program, it is critical that you take immediate action to comply with the new Recreational Craft Directive.
The June 1996 EPA Standards for New Nonroad Spark Ignition Marine Engines are available in our FTP Section.
The NTDB (National Trade Data Bank) published a report a few years ago on the Marine Engine Emission regulation situation in Europe. A copy of the report is on our NTDB page in the International Section of the Marketing Desk.
One growing area of concern has been styrene emissions during the forming of boat hulls. We have some information on some patents in this area in the our Patents Folder. Also the NMMA (National Marine Manufacturers Assn. is closely following the issues. The August 19, 1993 issue of their "Inter/port" newsletter describes the regulation tracking system they have in place.
We copied a page from the CARB site that shows their 1980's plans and methodology to attack the emissions problems. It also includes some good early references and data.
For actual methods of reducing emissions, be sure to check out our Patent and Technology Folders.
Miscellaneous Thoughts and Ideas
Two Stroke Engines
Currently the industry is heavily focused on the 2-stroke engine emission problems and most manufacturers are expending a great deal of money and effort to bring that portion of the market into compliance with pending federal regulations. Most U.S. Environmental Regulations pertaining to marine engines can be found on-line. Foreign countries are beginning to use the net to a greater extent. It seems logical that the internet will have an increasing importance in the development of environmental regulations. It allows world wide posting of the pending regulations and can allow everyone the opportunity to post comments. It would be nice if the EPA or some government agency would set up a single reference desk with pointers to the engine emissions regulations in other countries.
TTN and TTN2000
Before the World Wide Web portion of the internet was available, EPA information was being passed around on a telnet site called TTN (Technical Transfer Network). That site still exists, but all of the old info can now be reached on the web at the TTN2000 site. At the TTN2000 site, select TTN BBSWeb, and then select Gateway to TTN Technical Areas. Most of what you will be looking for will probably be in the OMS (Office of Mobile Sources). If you are looking for some older info that is not available on the EPA web site, give TTN2000 a try. If you want to take a ride back to "how it was" try the telnet link on the TTN2000 site and go to the old TTN BBS.
Printed Reference Works
Some printed resources that may be of interest to you are:
- "Worldwide Engine Emission Standards and How to Meet Them" a collection of 24 technical papers presented at an Institution of Mechanical Engineers Seminar (An England Association). This document is in the Oklahoma State University Library and its call number is 029.2500218 W927
- "Access EPA" information for accessing all the various areas of the EPA and many of their on-line databases. A page of information about "Access EPA" is available at the Fedworld Web site. Oklahoma State University has a copy at call # FE211 A165 EP35.
Regulation Path
For those who may not understand all the terminology and references, here is a quick explanation of how a regulation proceeds after it is passed.
Regulations that are passed are printed in the Federal Register, then they are codified (put into a legal format) and are printed in the CRF (Code of Federal Regulations). The CFR is divided into 50 sections by topic.
The United States Code (USC) is a compilation of current federal laws of a general and permanent nature. It is also divided into 50 sections by topic (but they are different than the 50 sections used by the CFR).
Links to all of these sources are provided in the Law Links segment of the "Other Useful Links page".
