Italy sets the safety equipment for pleasure craft in Annex V of the implementing regulation of its pleasure boating code, DM 146/2008, updated by DM 133/2024. Equipment follows the distance from the coast. Confindustria Nautica, the industry association, publishes the full table for private use.
Equipment by distance band
From Confindustria Nautica's table for private pleasure craft:
| Item | Unlimited | 50 miles | 12 miles | 6 miles | 3 miles | 1 mile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Floating smoke signals | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Red hand flares | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Red parachute rockets | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| Lifejackets | 150 N | 150 N | 150 N | 100 N | 100 N | 100 N |
| Automatic lifejacket lights | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
| VHF with DSC | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
| EPIRB or satellite phone | Yes | Yes |
Lifebuoy with line, navigation lights, bilge pump and extinguishers apply in every band. Further out the table adds GPS, barometer, binoculars, charts, first aid kit and radar reflector.
Liferafts
- Beyond 12 miles, an offshore liferaft. Inside the Italian SAR area it may be a coastal liferaft if the boat carries an EPIRB or a satellite phone with distress messaging.
- Within 12 miles, a coastal liferaft. It may be replaced by the service tender only if the tender is CE marked, of design category A, B or C, built to ISO 6185, carries the coastal liferaft survival kit, is ready to use and approved for everyone aboard.
- Within 6 miles, no liferaft.
Inflatable boats and RIBs to ISO 6185 parts 3 and 4 may go without a liferaft if they stay within 12 miles, carry the coastal survival kit and one extra extinguisher.
What the latest amendment changed
Confindustria Nautica's summary:
- Lifejackets "vanno identificati con il numero di iscrizione dell'unità, dotati di luce ad attivazione automatica": marked with the boat's registration number, fitted with an automatic light, and worn when sailing alone at night. Their life is set by the maker and printed on them.
- EPIRB may be replaced by a satellite phone that sends a distress message to the Italian rescue centre.
- Hand flares may be replaced by LED devices meeting SOLAS MED.
- Magnetic compass may be replaced by an electronic one.
- New items: a table of day and night signals, a depth sounder, and for sailing boats a deck harness with an umbilical safety line.
The Ministry's circular adds that service and expiry times "hanno decorrenza dalla data di produzione", run from the production date on the product, and the owner must keep the maker's recommendations aboard.
Citing it in a finding
"Lifejackets not marked with the registration number and without automatic lights, required beyond 6 miles under DM 146/2008 Annex V as amended." Record the distance band in the report particulars.