The Boat Safety Scheme (BSS) has announced that all Boat Safety Certificates will be extended until 31st July 2020 due to the coronavirus lockdown. This applies to all navigation authorities where a Boat Safety certificate is required.
The Boat Safety Scheme says: “It is our firm intention to re-start BSS examinations as soon as possible, and we will be reviewing the position in light of the Government announcements about the next phase of the lockdown, expected on Sunday 10th May. In the meantime, we have agreed with participating Navigation Authorities to further extend the current waiver on boat safety scheme examinations. As BSS examinations have been suspended since 23rd March, there is now a considerable backlog of boats needing to renew their certificates; and in recognition of this, the waiver will now be extended until 31st July 2020 to provide all boaters awaiting their examinations with sufficient time to arrange this, once restrictions are eased.
We strongly urge those who can to book their examinations for as soon as their circumstances allow, to ensure that our examiners can resume working once it is safe to do, to start to address the backlog of examinations, and keep the waterways safe for all to enjoy”.