Dutch citizen wanting to register a boat in the Netherlands - HOW?

[marcok]

Question on Dutch 🇳🇱 ICP (Dutch boat registration) - advice is very welcome!

Many Dutch and non Dutch residents have their boat registered by means of the 'light Dutch boat registration' called "ICP". Now that Italy and France (and possibly other countries) don't seem to acknowledge the ICP as a valid boat registration anymore; what should we do? Note; our Dutch insurance company only insures Dutch registered boats so we don't want to register the boat in Poland/Malta etc.

We bought a new boat which will be built and delivered in France (Les Sables-d'Olonne, Atlantic side of France) in April 2021. We're Dutch residents and therefore like to register it under the Dutch flag. However it seems the only way is to go for a Cadastre registration which means either a Dutch government official from the cadastre needs to come to the boat (not likely to to travel restriction of civil servants) to place the registration number OR we should bring the boat to the Netherlands so this person can do the same thing... In case of the latter; would we even be allowed to sail (and have stopovers in harbors) from France to the Netherlands?

What to do??? We'd love to hear from others that either currently hold an ICP or are looking to register their boat in the Cadastre as well.

Advice from anyone dealing with issue is very, very welcome!

[goboatingnow]

Re register on the full Dutch register, ( through Kadaster ) I believe you need a tonnage surveyor. ( my last boat came from the Dutch register )

However I suspect at the moment the light registration will do for the moment during Covid.

( my friends have light registration )

These people advertise the Dutch registration , why not contact them.

https://www.yachtregistration.company

[HeinSdL]

I looked into this too, my boat is registered in the UK due to having had some finance against it for a while in the UK, and it is insured there too. With Brexit I considered moving to the Cadastre but needing someone to go to the boat (in Italy) I found a bit too much of an expense. Furthermore, EU VAT paid remains valid since the boat is in the EU at present (and was during the key Brexit dates) so my initial Brexit related concern I think was overblown.


If it is only an insurance question, can you not change insurance company?

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by HeinSdL

I looked into this too, my boat is registered in the UK due to having had some finance against it for a while in the UK, and it is insured there too. With Brexit I considered moving to the Cadastre but needing someone to go to the boat (in Italy) I found a bit too much of an expense. Furthermore, EU VAT paid remains valid since the boat is in the EU at present (and was during the key Brexit dates) so my initial Brexit related concern I think was overblown.


If it is only an insurance question, can you not change insurance company?

Clearly don’t sail it out of eu territorial waters while it’s U.K. registered

[HeinSdL]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Clearly don’t sail it out of eu territorial waters while it’s U.K. registered

I obtained some advice on this previously - I have proof of EU VAT Paid from years ago and have proof of the location of the boat (Italy) during the moment of UK exit from the EU. So the boat will remain EU VAT paid like all other EU VAT paid boats regardless of flag. So that is my understanding, with which I am quite comfortable, but should I have this wrong then happy to be corrected, in which case I will need to take some action.

Sorry this is a bit off-topic but also, those EU registered and EU VAT Paid boats which were present in the UK during the UK exit from the EU will also only be considered VAT paid in the UK and no longer in the EU. It's all a bit of a pain really.

[greenlantern]

One option is to register in Poland and buy Polish insurance. PZU has insurance policies for Polish flagged yachts. More information here.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by HeinSdL

I obtained some advice on this previously - I have proof of EU VAT Paid from years ago and have proof of the location of the boat (Italy) during the moment of UK exit from the EU. So the boat will remain EU VAT paid like all other EU VAT paid boats regardless of flag. So that is my understanding, with which I am quite comfortable, but should I have this wrong then happy to be corrected, in which case I will need to take some action.

Sorry this is a bit off-topic but also, those EU registered and EU VAT Paid boats which were present in the UK during the UK exit from the EU will also only be considered VAT paid in the UK and no longer in the EU. It's all a bit of a pain really.

The issue is complicated by where you are tax established

If you are EU tax established and have a pre-Brexit vat paid boat, then you can avail of EU RGR provisions to sail in and out of EU waters as you wish loosing and regaining the vat status each time. No problem

If you are uk ( or non EU ) tax established with a U.K. pre-Brexit vat paid boat in the eu. You can’t avail of eu RGR, and if you leave the EU waters , your boat will loose it’s vat paid status and will be readmitted under TAP provisions ( 18 month vat clock ) however none of this is easily detected by the authorities certainly on the typical cursory inspection that’s common place

[calin1967]

I don't know if it is a general rule in EU, but for new boats it should be possible to obtain a temporary registration, valid for 60 days (or 90, not sure), from a consulate of Netherlands in France, without survey/inspection. Worth a phone call to Cadastre in order to check.

[Horus]

@marcok; Your best option is to Contact the dutch sailing association (KNWV); they are responsible for the subscription of the Dutch ICP. They have decided for specific changes getting the ICP; starting at about april. If they can't give you an advice, no one can!
Have fun with your new boat in april!

[marcok]

For those interested (I guess mostly Dutch ICP holders or future boat owners) here's what I learned today after several calls with involved parties.

Civil servants from the Cadastra will not be allowed to travel for a while (months). Therefor they can not do the survey and attach a registration number to the boat on locations outside the Netherlands. Without it you can't apply for a 'Zeebrief'.

The IL&T (Dutch transportation authority) can give out a temporary "Zeebrief". It's valid for 6 months and costs €180. This was something normally reserved for commercial vessels but due to Covid they will now issue it fairly quickly to those in a situation like we are.

I expect that within 6 months civil servants can travel (we would only apply for one in April when the boat is finished so we have until end of 2021).

I don't expect much from the 2.0 version of the ICP as I think it will take a very long time for the Italians/French/Portugese etc to come to an agreement.

So our route will be: apply for the official temporary Zeebrief and once civil servants can travel again, apply for the regular "Zeebrief".

All in all quite a hassle but in all fairness with everything going on in the world we shouldn't complain too much.