Anyone travelling on Italian coastal or inland waters in their own boat from 11 June 2012 onwards should check their liability insurance beforehand with regard to the agreed cover amounts. This is pointed out by the Grünwald near Munich-based Boat insurance broker Bavaria there.
Unlike in Germany, liability insurance is required by law in Italy - as in many other countries - for motorboats and sailing boats that have a built-in engine or outboard motor. This applies even if they are only transported or stored within the country's borders. The length of the boat is irrelevant.
Specifically, the minimum cover will be increased from the current 2.5 to 5 million euros for personal injury and from 0.5 to 1 million euros for damage to property. The background to the new liability sums is the adoption of an EU directive by the Italian legislator.
Insurance broker Bavaria would also like to point out that the Italian authorities only recognise the Italian or bilingual German-Italian version of the so-called liability certificate as proof. Bavaria therefore automatically sends its customers the Italian certificate in addition to the international certificate before the start of the season.
The regulation also affects sailors who only take a short trip to Italian waters with their own boat - for example, a day trip from Corsica to Sardinia or sailing from the Croatian to the Italian coast. Only sailing boats that do not have an auxiliary motor, usually dinghies, are not subject to compulsory insurance.
Pascal Schürmann
Editor YACHT
Pascal Schürmann joined YACHT in Hamburg in 2001. As head of copywriting and head of the editorial team, he makes sure that all articles make it into the magazine on time and that they are both informative and entertaining to read. He was born in the Bergisches Land region near Cologne. He learned how to handle the tiller and sheet as a teenager in a touring dinghy on the Sneeker Meer and on a tall ship on the IJsselmeer. During and after his studies, he sailed on the Baltic Sea and in the Mediterranean. As a trained business journalist, he is also responsible for boat financing and yacht insurance reports at YACHT, but also has a soft spot for blue water topics.
