Legislation in Effect concerning Diving Parks

 

Α. Basic Legislation

Diving Parks are established by article 13 of law 3409/2005 (GG Α/273/2005), as replaced by article 10 of law 4296/2014 (GG Α/214/2014) and more recently by article 13 of law 4688/2020 (GG A/101/2020).

The term and institution of parks intended exclusively as Diving Parks appears to be utilized for the first time in the aforementioned Greek legislation, which sets out the ability to characterize and make concessions of stand-alone marine expanses, independent of the National Marine Protected Areas, to create Diving Parks and in fact ones that can be established by State, municipal, private or mixed-format agencies, as well as by NGOs.

This allows for the formation of a broader National System / Network of effectively and sustainably protected and manageable small marine areas, in the form of independent and sustainable Diving Parks, which allow for flexible experimentation with every form of Public, private or mixed initiative and administration, in other words, they allow us to mobilize the full spectrum of social and economic forces in the local economy where these are established.

One important innovation of the Greek Law on Diving Parks is, that the provision for their establishment by a State concession of the marine area, differentiates both the form and the effectiveness of the protection these afford the environment as, besides the introduction of legal bans and policing by the competent State bodies (the Hellenic Coast Guard for Greece), which, as we all know, is never enough, the concession agreement creates private rights, which can be protected by the concessionaires both judicially, but also, mainly, directly and independently, in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Code.

Amongst the basic authors of law 3409/2005, as well as of article 10 of law 4296/2014 and of law 4688/2020 was the “Athens Law Firm D. Markatos & Partners” in collaboration with marine biologist Kostas Koutsis and other executives in our association.

Despite their contrary proposal, article 13 included a regulation that diving parks must maintain a distance of 3 nautical miles from established underwater archaeological sites.

This regulation created a major problem and impediment to the development of diving parks in Greece.

As documented in a recent scientific article in legal journal “Perivallon kai Dikaio” (Environment and Law), which is reproduced in a separate page of the Tridentstar website, this was an irrational and useless prohibition. Already, in February 2016, our association put together and submitted to the Ministry of Culture a draft bill with its preamble, to eliminate this particular limitation. The draft bill submitted, which was also prepared by the “Athens Law Firm D. Markatos & Partners”, is included verbatim in a separate part of the Tridentstar website.

The foregoing proposal by Tridentstar was finally accepted by the government, so that, with the provisions of law 4688/2020, not only was the mandatory distance of Diving Parks from underwater antiquities abolished, but provisions are now in place so that Diving Parks may enclose underwater antiquities, whether or not these are visitor-accessible.

 

Β. Spatial Planning legislation

The Spatial Planning Legislation which governs Diving Parks is the Hellenic General Framework for Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development (Decision of the Ministry of the Environment, Spatial Planning and Public Works for Tourism 6876/4871/2008, GG Α/128/2008), in combination with the Specific Framework for Spatial Planning for Tourism (Decision of the Ministry of the Environment, Spatial Planning and Public Works 24208/2009,  GG Β/1138/2009), wherein article 6 sub-chapter E.1.3 establishes diving tourism and its development through the use of Theme Diving Parks with universal spatial planning and provision made for perimeter zones allowing only limited fishing, in order to offer the potential for offset measures for professional fishermen.

Amongst the basic authors of the Specific Spatial Plan for Diving Tourism was the “Athens Law Firm D. Markatos & Partners” in collaboration with marine biologist Kostas Koutsis and other executives in our association.

 

C.Legislation for the establishment of Underwater Visitor-Accessible Archaeological Sites (Archaeological Diving Parks).

Provisions were initially made for visitor-accessible underwater archaeological sites under article 11 par. 1 sentence 2 of law 3409/2005, which are hence regulated by article 6 of law 4688/2020 for the development of diving tourism.

They are established by Joint Ministerial Decision of the Ministers of Culture and Maritime Affairs while the same decision may also provide the capacity to draw up programme agreements for cultural development in implementation of paragraph 5 of article 100 of L. 3852/2010 (KALLIKRATES) (GG A/287/2010), which shall define the projects, programmes and services of a cultural nature within the visitor-accessible underwater archaeological sites, as well as issues concerning the organization, management, supervision and exploitation of the activities permitted in these sites, as well as any other necessary detail.

On the basis of the initial aforementioned legislation the following Joint Ministerial Decisions of the Ministers of Culture and Shipping have been issued:

• ΥΠΠΟ/ΓΔΑΠΚ/ΔΙΠΚΑ/Φ41/176862/94489/11963/5535/2013, and
• ΥΠΠΑΙΘΠΑ/ΓΔΑΠ/ΔΙΠΚΑ/ΤΑΧ/Φ41/2013,

which established the first two designated archaeological diving parks in the archaeological sites of Methoni and Navarino (GG Β/2489/2013). The programme agreement under article 100 of law 3852/2010 (KALLIKRATES) provided the concession for the visitor-accessible underwater archaeological sites of Pylos and Methoni from the Ministry of Culture to the Municipality of Pylos – Nestoros, in order to implement the two archaeological diving parks there.

• ΥΠΠΟΑ/ΓΔΑΠΚ/ΔΙΠΚΑ/ΤΠΚΑΧΜΑΕ/Φ53/12387/6960/772/240 (GG Β/119/2015),

for the establishment of Underwater Visitor-Accessible Archaeological Sites – terms, prerequisites for operation and activities permitted within, in the marine areas of the Sporades Islands and the western Pagasitikos Gulf, in the Region of Magnisia, Thessaly.

• YΠΠΟΑ/ΓΔΑΠΚ/ΔΙΠΚΑ/ΤΠΚΑΧΜΑΕ/Φ17/344762/203211/16908/4712/2015 (GG Β/2655/2015),

with which 6 visitor-accessible archaeological sites were established in the marine areas of Lavreotiki/Makronisos, in the Region of Attica.

The initial draft for the first of the above Ministerial Decisions and the corresponding Decision for the Concession of the marine areas by the Ministry of Culture to the Municipality of Pylos – Nestoros, which set out the basic format for all that followed, was carried out by the “Athens Law Firm D. Markatos & Partners” in collaboration with the competent members of staff of the Ministry of Culture, commissioned by the Municipality of Pylos – Nestoros in accordance with the commissioning decision no. 14480/6-7-2012.

Despite the existence of the above Ministerial decisions founding them, today only the Alonissos Underwater Museum, in Peristera islet appears to be operational, during the summer months.

 

D.Law 4582/2018: the risk of regressing, thankfully overcome

An attempt was made, obviously rooted in ignorance of the special legislation in effect, to regulate and redefine diving tourism with paragraph 5 of article 12 of law 4582/2018 (GG/A/208/2018) concerning special forms of tourism, which set out that this would only be permitted at Diving Parks and Archaeological Diving Parks.

Thus recreational scuba diving in Greece risked regressing to its pre-2005 conditions, i.e. where recreational scuba diving was forbidden throughout the country except for Diving Parks and Visitor-Accessible Underwater Archaeological Sites, which did not, however, exist or operate anywhere in Greece.

Simultaneously, Administration with regulatory provisions, along with the simplification of the licensing process for the purveyors of recreational diving services, which was mandated by the European legislation, brought back useless bureaucratic procedures, which had been abolished under law 3409/2005, as they impeded the operation of scuba diving businesses without reason.

Luckily, these regulations, after having created problems and disturbed the diving world, were shortly abolished with the new law on diving tourism, law 4688/2020.

 

E.Law 4688/2020 on Diving Tourism

 

The bill for diving tourism, which was drafted under the supervision of Ch. Theocharis as Minister for Tourism and M. Konsolas as Deputy Minister and was posted for public deliberation in February 2020 (http://www.opengov.gr/tourism/?p=1886), introduced multiple innovations, particularly helpful and modernizing for Greek diving tourism, including live-aboard diving boats, immediately freeing up of modern wrecks throughout the country for recreational diving etc.

This was also the reason why the bill gathered a very large number of comments from citizens, mainly positive, as one can see from aforementioned the public deliberations webpage.

Tridentstar played a significant role in formulating this bill, which was carried out by D. Markatos & Partners Athens Law Firm in collaboration with K. Koutsis, marine biologist and member of our B.o.D., as well as other members of our association.

Unfortunately, following the public consultation, the bill appeared before Parliament and was put to the vote to a great extent stripped of many points, often those that had received the most positive critiques.

Whatever the case, law 4688/2020, even in the form in which it was finally passed, continues to introduce major innovations and improvements for diving tourism and more broadly for recreational diving in Greece.