Inland Waters Small Passenger Boat Code

The Inland Waters Small Passenger Boat Code is a best practice guide for vessels carrying no more than 12 passengers which do not go to sea.  This includes trip boats, hotel boats and water taxis operating in harbour areas and estuaries (which are categorised waters), as well as lakes, rivers and canals.  

The Code lays down benchmark safety standards for a sector for which there were previously no national standards.  It is intended to be applied on the basis of risk and the operators’ experience, and provides advice to operators, licensing authorities and regulators.  

The Code was launched in February 2004 by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and the Association of Inland Navigation Authorities (AINA).  

Interactive

To access the searchable interactive version of the Inland Waters Small Passenger Boat Code, please click here: Inland Waters Small Passenger Boat Code

Printable version

To access the printable version of the Inland Waters Small Passenger Boat Code, please click here: Printable Inland Waters Small Passenger Boat Code (PDF 406KB)

Summary of Public Consultation Feedback

This table is a summary of all the feedback received during the public consultation exercise which ran from February to May 2003.  Please note that in some instances, several different organisations and/or individuals raised comments about the same sections of the Code.  These comments have been summarised, and every company name may not therefore be included each time.  However, all feedback on the development of this Code was thoroughly considered by the Working Group and the MCA.  To access the consultation feedback, please click here: Consultation Feedback