Mixed financing for the deconstruction of pleasure boats
APER, Association pour une Plaisance Eco-Responsable, created at the initiative of the French Nautical Industries Federation (FIN), has just obtained its approval as an eco-organization in charge of the dismantling of pleasure boats. Like all extended producer responsibility (EPR) channels, its financing is based on an eco-tax paid by boat builders for each unit put on the market. In order to absorb the existing pool of wrecks and end-of-life pleasure boats (ELWBs) and to enable the launch of the sector, the State must also pay a share of the annual registration and navigation fee (DAFN) to APER. The organization has set a target of 20,000 to 25,000 boats per year.
Concern about state support for APER
On the occasion of the 2017 Inter-ministerial Committee of the Sea, the State had committed to pay an increasing share of the DAFN for deconstruction. This percentage was to increase by 1% per year until 2022 to reach 5%. But the 2020 budget already calls for a stagnation at 2% instead of the 3% initially planned. Finistère MP Didier Le Gac, a member of the majority, expressed concern about this setback in a written question to the Minister of Ecological Transition, François de Rugy. "Respect for this balance conditions the sustainability and proper functioning of the sector, which has built its budget and its rise to power on the basis of these commitments. This is why he (editor's note: the deputy) would like to know, in order to guarantee for the sector that this percentage is indeed 3% for 2020 and to respect the commitments made by the Prime Minister in the context of the CIMer 2017, what measures the Government intends to take concretely on this subject, particularly on the occasion of the rectifying finance bill."
Contacted by BoatIndustry, the elected official confirmed his determination on the subject. "Out-of-use pleasure boats are a real issue on the Finisterian coast and elsewhere. We have in Brest a leading deconstructor with the Recycleurs Bretons. The sector will not be set up without means. With the written question, the government will be obliged to answer. I will see what further action I will take depending on its response."
