If a search, rescue or rescue service from the Emergency and Rescue Group is required while practicing water activities, the General Directorate of Emergencies and Security of the Government of the Canary Islands may require in certain cases, depending on the circumstances, the payment of a fee.
The amount of this fee it is variable and will depend on the human and material forces that have had to be mobilized and the duration of the service. The rates for each of the resources are as follows:
UPDATED RATES FOR 2017
However, they establish maximum limits of the amounts to be paid, which would be the following:
Who is required to pay the fee?
The person obliged to pay the fee is the person who benefits from the service, that is, who needs a search, rescue or salvage by the Emergency and Security Group (GES). This person will be obliged to pay whether he is the one requesting the service or a third party does it for him. Even when it is the Directorate General itself that activates the services, the beneficiary must pay the amount of the fee.
What if it is an organized activity?
If it turns out that it is an activity organized with or without profit by any natural or legal person, then the organizer will be obliged to pay the fee. This is the case, for example, of activities organized by sports federations, clubs, learning schools, etc. . However, if the organizer cannot afford to pay the fee, for example due to insolvency, the beneficiary of the service will be obliged to pay.
Source:
Art. 173.2 Legislative Decree 1/1994, of July 29, introduced by Law 4/2012, of June 25: «Taxable persons as substitutes are natural persons, legal entities and the entities referred to in the article 35.4 of Law 58/2003, of December 17, General Tax, that organize, with or without profit, recreational or sports activities that generate risk or danger that give rise to the provision of services subject to this rate«
This is what is regulated on obligated to pay in organized activities. Our interpretation is that it will be up to the discretion of the General Directorate to determine if it is an organized activity or not. That in the case of a group of friends who organize a "water activity" it is not an organized activity, but when we talk about the assumption that another figure is the promoter of the activity (club, association, etc), even if it is non-profit, if it could be considered an organized activity. But we insist, it would be the discretion of the General Directorate of Security and Emergencies who decides.
dangerous water activities
The following are considered dangerous water activities:
Diving, swimming, windsurfing, flysurfing, water skiing, wakeboarding, wakesurfing, jet skiing, bodyboarding, surfing, rafting, hydrospeed, canoeing and rowing.
What solutions exist to guarantee the payment of fees?
If you are going to practice any of the activities considered dangerous, or in the case of organized activities, it is advisable to take out accident insurance that includes coverage for health care expenses, with sufficient capital, depending on the number of participants. The maximum amount would be €12.000.
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