In Greece, foreign-flagged yachts must have a Greek charter license if they wish to start (embark) or end (disembark) a yacht charter in Greek waters.
To obtain a Greek charter license, the yacht must fit the following criteria:
- The yacht must be commercially-registered
- The yacht must be EU-flagged (note that if it is not EU-flagged, it must be more than 35m in length and not made out of wood)
- The yacht must spend a certain amount of time cruising in Greek waters per year (the time varies between EU-flagged and non-EU-flagged vessels)
Foreign-flagged yachts don’t need a Greek charter license if they are only cruising into Greek waters. For example, if you (the charterer) begin and end in Turkey but spend time chartering in Greek waters, your charter yacht doesn’t need a Greek charter license.
Once a yacht has its charter license, the yacht can benefit from Value Added Tax (VAT) exemptions on fuel, provisions and other equipment during charter. However, certain VAT restrictions still apply; see our tax and VAT section below.
