importing a moth to Europe a.k.a. fucking customs (updated)

I just went through a horrible nightmare, shipping a moth from Melbourne to Germany. Allmost everything went wrong, the boat was delayed, delivered to the wrong address and didn’t get clearance from German customs.

The problem was that a sports boat needs to be CE certified by the European Union. Unfortunately a moth, wether it is a Bladerider, a Mach2 or an Assassin, is never CE certified. What is this certification for? It says that the boat can carry x people plus y kg additional weight. As this stupid certificate wasn’t among the papers that customs checked they stopped the boat at Berlin airport for three days.
During these three days I was calling numerous people in Australia and Germany till I found out that all boats with wings do not fall under these rule as their buoyancy is not determined by their hull but by the hydrofoils.
For all of you who have to go through this process here is the official document that Bladerider moths do not need a CE certificate.

After I have sent this doc the Landesamt für Arbeitsschutz, Gesundheitsschutz und technische Sicherheit Berlin (LAGetSi) finally cleared my boat.

Update: Doug just send me some additional information from Marco. He has given me a link to a website that shows exclusions to the CE norm. See here

2 Responses to “importing a moth to Europe a.k.a. fucking customs (updated)”

  1. Doug Culnane says:

    I think small racing sail boats are exempt too. I remember something about this a long time ago. You just need a lawyer and a whole load of patience.

  2. Fred says:

    Klasse Beitrag Felix, vielen Dank.Viel Erfolg auf Deiner Tour!

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