The Swedish Transport Agency, under the Ship Safety Act and the 2017 national shipping regulations.
At twelve passengers
No certificate is required under 15 m. You report the operation, document your limitations, run your own safety management and put a class VIII skipper aboard. Nothing falls on the boat at all.
At twenty passengers
A passenger ship certificate. There is a dedicated track for vessels between five and fifteen metres: you notify the agency, you meet, and the requirements are set case by case. That cuts both ways, because there is no published standard to work towards in advance.
Who may drive it
A class VIII deck officer's certificate or an equivalent skipper's examination, plus a valid seafarer's medical certificate. Above twelve passengers you also need a practical handling test with an agency ship inspector, recorded in the vessel's safe manning decision.
Hiring it out without a crew
Not a distinct lighter route in Sweden. A vessel hired out without a crew is a leisure craft, which the regulations exclude at 24 m or less, so the CE marking governs. That is the ordinary recreational position rather than a special commercial regime.
Where the engine matters
We found no national Swedish engine restriction.
We researched these rules for the LR9 Safari, a river and lake boat.
What the marks mean
Easy
The boat's own papers qualify it. This country accepts the CE certificate, the IMCI notified body file behind it and the builder's plate, and asks for no national survey of the boat before you start. What remains is yours as operator: registration, a skipper's ticket, insurance. Some of these countries then inspect the boat periodically, which is upkeep rather than a gate.
Moderate
An individual survey against a published national standard. Weeks to months, real documentation work, and occasionally a change to the layout.
30 of the 31 European countries here were read against an official source or the statute itself, current at 16 August 2026. Cyprus was not, and says so in its own row. The countries under Beyond Europe are market research and are not confirmed with their own authorities. Where only one passenger count is established (Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta), the missing half says so too. None of this is legal advice and the final word is your own authority's, so do your own research beyond what is listed here — or ask us and we will confirm your country before you commit to anything.
