Any instructors here who are in Spain?

[hugoboss]

Some of you may (or may not know) that it looks like sometime in the next year all dive pro's from all agencies will have to be registered with the Spanish federation.

Being Spain its obviously beurocratic crap designed to generate income as there is a charge for it and also to cause confusion which is the norm for this place (and not having it will probably result in a zillion euro fine and the cat placed before a firing squad), can anyone explain what the "Generalitat de Catalunya" is please,what it involves and in what class does a PADI OWSI have to register..

If anyone needs the form to register pm me and i will email it you.
thanks

[aquaholic]

can anyone explain what the "Generalitat de Catalunya" is please,what it involves

emm.. wikipedia says: "
The Generalitat de Catalunya ("Government of Catalonia" [1]) is the institution under which the Spanish Autonomous Community of Catalonia is politically organised. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Generalitat and the Executive Council or Government of Catalonia."

Link here

and in what class does a PADI OWSI have to register..

Sorry, can't help with that.

Good Luck!

[CotoChris]

You are making the mistake as placing Spain under one brush. Spain is probaly the most divided country in Europe and ready for a civil war! You are stating to local regional laws and in your case it is Catalunya.

I'd suggest to contact a dive center in Catalunya and ask specific questions to them. The laws from region to region are so different it is more so than from one country of the Eu to another. I dive off Galicia where diving regulations are more relaxed unless you are diving off a national park. A simple dive to a national park involves a large chunk of paperwork arragend and approved the day before. In Catalunya an example of this are the Medas Islands.

[hugoboss]

You are making the mistake as placing Spain under one brush. Spain is probaly the most divided country in Europe and ready for a civil war! You are stating to local regional laws and in your case it is Catalunya.

The official PADI Europe stance reads as though it is to be national, below is a reply i recieved from PADI Europe this morning

Thanks a lot for your inquiry.

The E-Mail from Jordi was referring to the new law, that probably will be implemented next year in Spain. It says, that all the Instructors have to be certified by the Spanish Federation. Although the law has not been confirmed yet, we recommend our members to apply for the official license of the “Generalitat de Catalunya”. You may use the attached form to apply for this license.

We are still in negotiation with the responsible department regarding this law.

as usual with Spanish beurocracy everything is as clear as mud.. and im not in Catalunya, im in Murcia

[hugoboss]

UPDATE....

I queried with Petra at PADI Europe whether this was a regional matter and this was her reply received a few moments ago....

On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 11:58 AM, Petra Gantenbein - PADI Europe <petra. > wrote:
Hey Martin

It concerns all our members, who are working and living in Spain.

Have a nice weekend.

Petra Gantenbein
Consultant
Training & Quality Management

[CotoChris]

As you stated it is as clear as mud. There are national laws and regional ones and often cross over and contradict each other. For example I have not had a clear answer for the following in Spain:

* Minimum age for diving
* Doctors health certificates requirements
* Your case the instructor certification

Some regions require minimum age to be 16 whilst others is less, some centers require health certificates stating requirements by law. You ask 20 different people you get 20 different answers!
I'm diving tommorrow off Galicia and I'll ask around. I presume you may have to be registered with the National authorities but your current certification is recognised (At least that is what should make sense).

After decades of weird laws in Portugal all divers residing here need to have a local card, fearing the worst beaurocracy I was suprised that I could apply on line, took 5min and €10. Pigs will fly!

[aquayle]

The first line of the 'infomail' says :-

This letter is intended for all professional levels of organizations that are members of ABRE:
So - I read that - if you are NOT a member of ABRE - you can ignore this decree??

[hugoboss]

Yeah i know all too well about the min age requirements in Spain, its a minefield, as i live in Murcia and Murcia has no regional dive laws, then i become governed by Spanish national law. Spanish national law states min age as 16 for "hyperbaric conditions" (tenerifescuba helped me out with that one).

I asked PADI to clear it up and their reply was absolute, no under 16's also no confined water bubblemaker seal programmes either

[hugoboss]

The first line of the 'infomail' says :-

This letter is intended for all professional levels of organizations that are members of ABRE:
So - I read that - if you are NOT a member of ABRE - you can ignore this decree??

Just recieved this email from Jordi Atienza of PADI Europe

This letter is intended for all professional levels of organizations that are members of ABRE:

Abre has received from the Consejo Superior de Deportes, the draft for external consultation regarding the future Royal Decree regarding “Técnicos Deportivos en Buceo Deportivo con Escafándra Autónoma” which is expected to be applied by the middle of next year.

Having reviewed the draft in ABRE we would like to strongly recommend that all those with professional qualifications who live and work in Spain should obtain the official qualification of Monitor or Instructor from the Generalitat de Catalunya; given that in the draft of this Decree it appears that the official qualifications of Monitor and Instructor may be directly accepted as equivalent in obtaining the qualification of Técnico Deportivo for the corresponding level.

Although in ABRE we do not agree with a large part of the Royal Decree, and we are still preparing, together with of legal counselors (Alberto López-Rodó and Javier Nart) actions to be taken in other ways, we believe that it is important to try and cover all the possibilities.

This draft is available in the download section of the ABRE web www.abrebuceo.org.
If you feel it appropriate, you can send comments or suggestions through the contact form on the same page.

If you wish to obtain the qualification of Monitor or Instructor previously mentioned, you can use this link to find more information or you can also contact your respective organizations.

Best regards
Jordi Atienza
E-Mail:

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[steve_kershaw]

lol welcome to spain

bsac instructors seam to be fine as we are a club not a professional organisation, all the rest need the cert, though i believe its only a few euros

only a few of out local dive shops have bothered with it

diving age is regional, here in Valencia you have to be 16 to learn, again bsac don't count (so I have been told) if you already hold a cert you can dive under it, so in theory if you qualified at age 14 under padi in England you can dive in Spain

In reality nobody follows the rules, they are there to crucify you if anything goes wrong, tomorrow my 11 year old is having a try dive under a paid school,

everywhere in Spain you need private insurance, bsac insurance will NOT cover you, most dive operators will provide this for you.