The Government and the Guardia Civil launch a campaign of control and inspection of charters

The General Directorate of Ports and Maritime Transport of the Ministry of the Sea and Water Cycle, in collaboration with the Maritime Service of the Guardia Civil and the Unidad Regional Aeronaval of the Balearic Islands, has launched a device to control vessels that may be performing the activity of nautical rental without complying with the legal requirements to do so or in breach of other regulations.

This operation is carried out jointly by the Guardia Civil with a patrol of the ‘Grupo Especial de Actividades Subacuáticas’ (GEAS) and the ‘Patrulla Fiscal y Fronteras’ (PAFIF).

The objective of this third edition of the campaign is to control and inspect irregular activities related to the commercial activity of renting passenger transport boats, as well as anchoring in illegal areas or the collection of people in unauthorized points. Controls of documentation and permits are also carried out, as well as of the titles of the skippers. 

The Government will continue with these controls in the different islands with the aim of intensifying controls on irregular activities related to the nautical charter and thus avoid unfair competition and improper use of the coast. This action reinforces the lines of control of the yacht charter sector throughout the year by the Directorate General of Ports and Maritime Transport of the Balearic Government. 

These inspection mechanisms are conducting inspections "in situ" to companies in the sector in order to verify compliance with the legality of their activity and a random checks of the documentation submitted to the General Directorate of Ports and Maritime Transport of the responsible statements for vessels for charter service.

The General Directorate has a unit dedicated to this matter, made up of a maritime technician, two legal technicians and an administrative assistant. Since its creation, the number of sanctioning proceedings initiated by the General Directorate  has increased exponentially. In 2021, 64 sanctioning files were initiated and in 2022 there were 100 in matters of nautical rentals. So far, inspections have been carried out in the ports of Palma, Soller, Ibiza and La Savina.