TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

Use of official navigational charts and publications for boats and yachts in Internal Waters, Territorial Sea and Protected Ecological and Fishing Zone of the Republic of Croatia

Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Croatia hereby informs you that Ordinance on boats and yachts („Official gazette“ No. 13/20, from January 31, 2020) has been amended implementing obligations for use of the official navigational charts and publications on yachts and boats.

In accordance with Ordinance Annex 9 - Technical requirements for statutory certification of yachts “updated official navigational charts and publications should be provided on yachts as follows:

• official navigational charts and publications must comply with the requirements laid down by the Hydrographic Activity Act for the Area of navigation III and IV
• official navigational charts and publications for the Area of navigation I and II has to be issued by the authorized hydrographic office for the area they navigate. 

If the yacht, regardless of its Area of navigation, has (or is equipped with) an electronic chart display or other information system displaying electronic navigational charts, such display shall include updated official electronic navigational charts (ENCs) that meet the conditions prescribed by the Hydrographic Activity Act.”

In accordance with Ordinance Annex 10 - Technical requirements for statutory certification of boats “updated official navigational charts and charting equipment should be provided on boats as follows:

• personal and pleasure boats in the Area of navigation I, II, III
• commercial and public boats operating in the Area of navigation I, II, III and IIIa. 

Official navigational charts must comply with the requirements laid down by the Hydrographic Activity Act. If, regardless of the Area of navigation, the boat has (or is equipped with) an electronic chart display or other information system displaying electronic navigational charts, such display shall include an updated official navigational electronic navigational chart (ENC).”

In terms of the Ordinance, following definitions are applied:

• “yacht means seacraft for sport and recreation, regardless if it is for commercial use or private purposes, with length greater than 15 m and designed for longer period at sea, entitled to carry not more than 12 passengers, excluding crew.
• boat means seacraft for navigation entitled to carry up to 12 passengers, with length greater than 2,5m and less or equal to 15 m, or with total propulsion power greater than 5kW. Term “boat“ does not include:
  • specialized seacrafts belonging other vessel for rescuing, collecting or work performing
  • seacrafts intended solely for competition
  • canoes, kayaks, gondolas and paddle boats
  • windsurfing and surfing boards.”

In terms of the Ordinance, following definitions are applied on Areas of navigation:

• “Area of navigation I includes international navigation on all seas and waters accessible from seas
• Area of navigation II includes international navigation on all seas and waters accessible form the sea limited to the 20 NM from the closest shore or island
• Area of navigation III includes international navigation on all seas and waters accessible form the sea limited to the 12 NM from the closest shore or island. For fishing vessels greater than 7 m in length includes navigation in Territorial Sea and Protected Ecological and Fishing Zone of the Republic of Croatia 
• Area of navigation IIIa refers to Area of navigation III navigating not more than 6 NM from the closest shore or island
• Area of navigation IV includes navigation in ports, bays, estuaries and rivers to the limits to which they are navigable from the seas.”

In accordance with the Hydrographic Activity Act, Croatian Hydrographic Institute represents a national legal authority authorized for designing, producing, issuing and maintaining official navigation charts and publications for the Internal Waters, Territorial Sea and Protected Ecological and Fishing Zone of the Republic of Croatia.

Under the Hydrographic Activity Act, the Croatian Hydrographic Institute official charts and publications are subject to copyright restrictions. No part of the nautical charts or publications may be reproduced, distributed, scanned or copied in any form or by any means without the prior written permission from the Croatian Hydrographic Institute as copyright owner.

Re-using (licensing) of the data owned by the Croatian Hydrographic Institute in third persons’ products and services is subject to licence agreement with the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office according to Licensing Policy and the Custodianship Agreement between Croatian Hydrographic Institute and United Kingdom Hydrographic Office. Following an application for re-use of the Croatian Hydrographic Institute data to the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office Intellectual Property Section, the latter shall assess the application and specify the type of licence and the licence fee if any, and users will be invited to conclude a licence agreement. The licence shall be granted for commercial and/or non-commercial purposes or low-value commercial purposes, depending on whether the products are intended for navigational or non-navigational purposes and subject to the specification of their intended purpose. More details are available at http://www.hhi.hr/en/staticpages/index/copyright and http://www.ukho.gov.uk/copyright/ and for further informations you are kindly invited to contact Croatian Hydrographic Institute office@hhi.hr or United Kingdom Hydrographic Office Intellectual Property Section intellectual.property@ukho.gov.uk.

Furthermore, we take this opportunity to highlight the provision of Article 7 of the Hydrographic Activity Act, which stipulates that official hydrographic survey in Internal Waters, Territorial Sea and Protected Ecological and Fishing Zone of the Republic of Croatia for the purpose of production and issuance of official navigational charts and publications may be performed only by Croatian Hydrographic Institute and authorized legal entities under the endorsement of the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure.

Herby is to inform whom it may concern that violation of the Hydrographic Activity Act provisions in terms of intellectual property and official hydrographic survey represents legal offense.

In order to ensure satisfactory level of safety at sea, we kindly inform all non-SOLAS maritime community, yacht masters, boat skippers and sailors to use exclusively official navigational charts and publications on board, as well as producers and distributers of electronic navigational charts and publications on aforementioned provisions emanating from Hydrographic Activity Act and Ordinance on boats and yachts.

Republic of Croatia - Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure