Greece: DEKPA for EU Boats to be Abolished
The Cruising Association (CA), Britain’s leading organisation for cruising sailors, has been campaigning since the advent of the E-TEPAI cruising tax, to abolish the DEKPA, and at last have been successful.
Published 5 years ago
This press release from the Cruising Association.
25 February, 2020
The CA applauds the scrapping of the DEKPA
Greece has announced the scrapping of the DEKPA cruising permit in a draft bill for which consultations close on 27 February 2020. The bill will be voted on shortly afterwards and becomes law within one month of being officially published.
The DEKPA was never a popular imposition with either the Greek authorities nor the visiting yachtsmen, putting regulations in place with requirements that were sometimes difficult to meet. For example, getting documents stamped on due dates when present in the country, and being subject to hefty fines.
The Cruising Association (CA), Britain’s leading organisation for cruising sailors, has been campaigning since the advent of the E-TEPAI cruising tax, which effectively duplicates the vessel’s information online, so making the DEKPA superfluous.
The decision to scrap DEKPA will also be welcomed by the Port Police.
Importantly though, there will be an obligation for all skippers to keep a detailed and signed log of all crew, logging all arrivals and departures and noting any visa details where required.
UK Yachts (and non-EU Yachts):
With the UK leaving the EU on 31 December 2020, UK vessels, even those which are VAT paid, will have to apply for a Transit Log (TL) from Customs. This performs a similar function to a DEKPA, but for non-EU flagged vessels.
The CA views the TL as also being somewhat superfluous, increasing the workload of Customs. The CA is therefore campaigning to have this scrapped too and for other facilities to be put in place in respect of immigration requirements.
Further details will be communicated as and when these become available.
Related Content:
Find out more about the DEKPA here.
Related to following destinations: Greece
