Lapsed Boating Licence? A New Decree Will Let Skippers Renew Without Resitting the Exam, and Promises Faster Boat Registration
The Council of Ministers has approved a decree that drops the exam for renewing an expired recreational navigator's licence and speeds up boat registration. What changes, what the rules say until it is published, and who gains.
People who let their recreational boating licence lapse will be able to renew it without sitting the exam again, under a decree-law approved by the Conselho de Ministros (Council of Ministers) on Wednesday 11 November. The same decree promises quicker registration of leisure boats and simpler issue and renewal of licences, and lets training done through school sport count towards a licence, according to the government's communiqué (in Portuguese).
The decree has not yet been published. It still has to be promulgated by the President and printed in the Diário da República (the official gazette) before it takes effect, and the communiqué gives no start date, no new deadlines and no fees. Until then, the current rules apply.
What the rules say now
Recreational boating is governed by Decreto-Lei n.º 93/2018 (PDF, in Portuguese), which created the current regime from 2019. Under the decree as published in 2018:
- Licences do not need renewing until 70. The 2018 law extended the validity of every carta de navegador de recreio (recreational navigator's licence). Renewal is required from the holder's 70th birthday, every five years, and from 80, every two years.
- Renewal needs a medical certificate. The request goes to the Direção-Geral de Recursos Naturais, Segurança e Serviços Marítimos (DGRM, the maritime services authority) through its online counter, the Balcão Eletrónico do Mar (BMar), at least 30 days before the licence expires.
- Miss the date and you resit the exam. A licence can be renewed after it has expired only if the holder passes an exam, requested from the DGRM. This is the rule the new decree removes.
- School sport already helps a little. Pupils who took nautical sports through the school sport programme can already be excused the training for the two entry-level licences, marinheiro júnior and marinheiro. The communiqué says the new decree will let more of that training be used, without giving details.
Who gains
The main winners are older skippers who missed a renewal at 70 or later, and anyone whose licence lapsed while they were away from boating, who until now faced going back to the examination stage. The promise of faster registration matters to anyone buying a boat: ownership is registered by the Autoridade Marítima Nacional (National Maritime Authority), while the DGRM issues and renews licences.
For immigrants, the 2018 decree already allows a licence issued by a country outside the EU to be swapped for a Portuguese one without an exam, as long as it is still valid and was issued on terms similar to Portugal's. The communiqué does not say whether that changes. Our guide to getting a recreational boating licence explains the five licence categories and the steps, and the DGRM's recreational boating page (in Portuguese) carries the official procedures.
The same Council of Ministers meeting created the Rei Dom Carlos marine reserve between the mainland and Madeira and approved the bill bringing in the EU's digital VAT rules. We will report the boating decree's detail when it is published.
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