UK Yacht Registration for Swiss Yacht Owners

Following the exit of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) the UK Ship Register is set to become an even more attractive flag state for Swiss yacht owners

The reason for this is that whilst the UK Ship Register already allowed Swiss citizens and companies the option of registering a yacht directly onto the register prior to Brexit, the flag would have been considered an EU flag meaning that a Swiss citizen living in Switzerland could not qualify to use the EU ’18 month’ ex. VAT Temporary Admission relief rules if they registered in the UK.

The good news is that a UK flag is no longer an EU flag following the end of the Brexit transition period on the 31stDecember, 2020 meaning a UK flag will now work for EU Temporary Admission relief provided all the usual requirements are met by the client.

The UK Register of Ships also has an extremely wide qualification criteria meaning that a UK flag will help qualify for Temporary Admission the citizens of many other countries who are living in Switzerland (or any other client not living in the EU).

The wide qualification criteria of the UK Register of Ships means that Swiss citizens or companies (and the citizens or companies from many other nations) no longer need to set up or use a company to own their yacht in a British jurisdiction to access the British register of ships resulting in significant cost savings and far less bureaucracy.

We have an online guide to the benefits of the UK Register of Ships including a full list of the countries whose citizens and companies qualify directly for the UK flag on our website here

The guide provides further information about the UK flag in general and providing a full list of countries whose citizens and companies are eligible to register directly on to the UK Register of Ships without needing to live in the UK or needing to set up a qualifying company.

We also have an online guide to EU Temporary Admission relief here on our website providing further information on how this customs relief works for non-EU owners here

Unlike the Swiss flag there are also no flag state prescribed minimum licensing requirements to be able to navigate UK registered yachts or flag state prescribed restrictions on insurance providers.

Our standard UK yacht registration package for a private yacht lying anywhere in Europe under 24 metres in registered length costs GBP £2,500.00.

The package includes a fast provisional registration valid for three months, tonnage survey of vessel in UK or EU, provision of the final Certificate of British Registry valid for five years, lifetime radio licence allocating call sign and MMSI number.

The package is great value as there are no additional or annual costs to maintain the registration or radio licence for the five year life of the Certificate of British Registry making it comparatively attractive in terms of costings to the Swiss flag.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for further information.