Contrary to belief, there are laws about dive certifications

[Divin'Papaw]

I wonder if ignorance of the law is not an excuse applies over there. In a country where from all reports takes their laws seriously when it come to foreigners, don't think I would be taking any chances.

He did say he saw locals doing it regularly. He didn't mention seeing foreigners doing it.

 

[ScubaSteve1962]

He did say he saw locals doing it regularly. He didn't mention seeing foreigners doing it.

From the OP "To all those who say "there's no law that says you have to be certified". don't come here to dive" and you were giving your interpretation on the law. ​

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Hi Simon, interesting post.

51-e Does this refer to the person in charge of the boat? I doubt any boat driver has a licence for navigation.

52-4 What if you have a Solo diving licence?

52-5 Locals frequently do this, saw some getting ready last month at Car Cemetery after we surfaced.

52-6 I think the latter part got lost in translation

From the OP "To all those who say "there's no law that says you have to be certified". don't come here to dive" and you were giving your interpretation on the law. ​

See above. I was replying to Searcaigh's post about seeing locals spearing. I'm not sure I understand your point?

 

[Phil_C]

Pretty sure France has some fairly restrictive laws on diving too - and only recognises CMAS qualifications not le PADI or any others - it has even been suggested to me that they only recognise French issued CMAS qualifications at that. I'm not sure if their laws cover diving by yourself (not from a centre or club), but if you dive with a centre or organised group you have to have a CMAS guide with you unless you are CMAS qualified yourself. - talk about over reaction - P

 

[Simon-]

These laws (which until today I didn't even know were in existence) are certainly not enforced.

Like many of the laws here, they seem to be there in name only.

The only people that I have seen with spear guns are either UAE locals (especially the police) or from other arab states. I'm not saying others don't do it, but I haven't seen any.

 

[Phil_C]

These laws (which until today I didn't even know were in existence) are certainly not enforced.

I've worked in about 18 countries over the last few years advising on enforcement issues, including many that would be considered third world - in my experience in many of these countries the laws were only enforced when it suited some other purpose - if you were a local then nobody cared unless you seriously p####d off some important local big wig, but if you were foreign or perceived to have money then you could expect an on the spot fine - which probably would find it's way into somones back pocket - in my experience it was never worth saying it's ok the locals do it all the time, that was risking trouble - P

 

[knotical]

Pretty sure France has some fairly restrictive laws on diving too - and only recognises CMAS qualifications not le PADI or any others - it has even been suggested to me that they only recognise French issued CMAS qualifications at that. I'm not sure if their laws cover diving by yourself (not from a centre or club), but if you dive with a centre or organised group you have to have a CMAS guide with you unless you are CMAS qualified yourself. - talk about over reaction - P

I’ve heard similar things too. This site gives some info:
Règlementation
Note that it seems geared toward “establishments that organize the practice and teaching of recreational SCUBA diving” as opposed to individual divers.

As for agency restrictions, here are (for example) just a few of the several PADI shops in France:
Pretaplonger.com | Page d'accueil | Pretaplonger.com | Cours de plongée à Paris | Brevets de plongée PADI à Paris | Cours de plongée à Paris | Plongée à Paris
Plongée Services - ÉCOLE DE PLONGÉE
Développer des actions de sensibilisation à la protection de l'environnement marin
L’école de plongée | Alizés Plongée : boutique de plongée à lyon, plongée sous marine, formation plongée
Accueil

 

[CT-Rich]

I don't recall ever seeing a post that stated "there's no law that says you have to be certified". Perhaps they're out there, but I haven't seen them. I thought it was common knowledge that some countries do regulate by law certain aspects of diving. UAE is clearly one of those.

Okay, I am going to own it... I have said both "there are no laws" and there are no "SCUBA police." I will say that I was mostly addressing issues related to PADI and whether or not a particular dive could be done with or without their blessing. In the wider world there are other regulations, some are probably pretty good/loigical. Protecting marine antiquities, game regulation, and the licensing of dive boats or regulations about the safety of compressed gases come to mind as not being unreasonable. I have heard that in some tourist areas, they regulate availability of tanks to certain vendors. This would certainly be a pain in the backside, but if you have people dragging in tanks from other countries with varying standards, you might have safety issues involved in trying to maintain reasonable standards and practices. Dead tourist are also a business killer, so I could see some countries regulating instruction and certification in someway. Fortunately, I think most of the dive world is self regulating the industry. Won't all be good, won't all be bad...

 

[CT-Rich]

Although I think SCUBA Cops starring Jessica Alba would be a cool addition to the fall line-up.

 

[TMHeimer]

I read a while back on SB that France actually HAS the Scuba Police--that they check out diver's cert. cards to see if they are going beyond their recommended depth--if so, a fine. As far as Quebec goes, some interesting laws also--easy to google this. To my knowledge there are no other provinces/territories in Canada with such regulations, other than the stuff mentioned about the U.S.--dive flags, etc. Fellow Canadians correct me if I'm wrong.