Spain simplifies charter clearance process

After several months of work between the General Directorate of the Merchant Marine (DGMM), ANEN (Spanish Association of Nautical Companies) and AEGY (Spanish Large Yachts Association), a new Service Instruction has been published in order to unify, clarify and simplify the criteria used by Spanish harbour masters offices. The news has been previously covered on SuperyachtNews.com here.

The instruction aims to streamline current clearance processes for yachts applying to charter in Spain. From now on, the Spanish maritime authorities will not request documents that are already in its possession, meaning less bureaucracy and more efficiency, will comprehensively specify the documents required, allow private translations of documents (instead of the provision of notarised translations) and accept copies of such documents. For yachts over 24m, a database has been created to log yachts that are allowed to carry out charter activity in or from Spanish ports, in order to expedite clearance.

"These [new] measures can undoubtedly help us to be leaders in the Mediterranean and, in this way, contribute to the growth of stable and qualified employment for Spanish society, as well as greater income and an economic activity that the [charter market] clearly generates,” says Carlos Sanlorenzo, secretary general of ANEN. “We thank the maritime authorities, specifically the DGMM, that has understood our arguments and been able to work together in improving our procedures.”

Miguel Angel Serra, tax and legal advisor of ANEN, previously commented to SuperyachtNews.com that it was essential for the Spanish authorities to standardise the documents required for the authorisation of charter activity in all Spanish harbour master offices, which until now have been disparate and caused unnecessary confusion. “It is also important that documents may be submitted online, saving operators some valuable time,” he adds. “Additionally, once yachts are registered in the database (BDMY) it will not be necessary to re-submit the documentation if clearance is requested in any other harbour master office.”

In relation to superyachts operated by non-resident entities, Serra adds; “We have managed to eliminate the requirement of providing the Spanish VAT number to the harbour master offices prior to obtaining the clearance, which will allow both processes to be managed in parallel and shorten the clearance time [to] about two weeks, without jeopardising any guarantee for the maritime authorities".

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