Following consultations held as part of the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 regulatory reform process, Marine Safety has concluded that the Single Vessel Label Program will be discontinued. In order to prevent causing any inconvenience to pleasure craft owners, it has been decided to discontinue the program before the regulations repealing the program come into effect.

As part of the phasing out process, pleasure craft that are built or imported for personal use will no longer be required to have a Compliance Notice. As a result, if you are in the process of building or importing your own pleasure craft, you are no longer required to obtain a Single Vessel Label from Transport Canada. Nevertheless, if you build or import a pleasure craft, you must ensure that it meets or exceeds the Construction Standards for Small Vessels - TP 1332.

If you have bought a pleasure craft from a manufacturer or importer in Canada and it does not have a Compliance Notice, you should request one from the original manufacturer or importer. If you are unable to obtain a Compliance Notice in this manner, you need take no further action but should be able to demonstrate that you have made reasonable attempts to obtain one.

Pleasure craft built or imported after August 1, 1981 are required to have a Hull Serial Number (HIN). If your pleasure craft does not have one, you should request one from the original manufacturer or importer. If you are unable to obtain a HIN in this manner, you need take no further action but should be able to demonstrate that you have made reasonable attempts to obtain one.

It is important to note that nothing in this bulletin relieves a manufacturer or importer of the obligation to ensure, before the initial transfer of ownership, that the applicable Compliance Notice is attached to the pleasure craft and that it is marked with a HIN.

If you have attempted to obtain a Compliance Notice or HIN and were unable to do so, keep a record of the efforts you have made (e.g. letter, fax, e-mail or, in the case of requests by telephone, the dates and times and the names of persons with whom you have spoken) and Contact Us with this information.