European Underwater Federation (EUF)

The European Underwater Federation (EUF) is an organisation of European SCUBA training organisations.

Purpose and Scope

The EUF serves as a forum allowing recreational scuba diver training organisations to meet, exchange ideas and speak with a common voice on important issues like diver safety.Input from Mark Caney, President, EUF, 2005-2007, on 2008-09-02]

The EUF has a membership consisting of a broad range of European training organisations, including both for-profit and non-profit making bodies. It is estimated that member organisations of the EUF represent over 3,000,000 divers, 60,000 diving instructors, 5,000 clubs and 2,500 diving schools.http://www.euf.eu/ Retrieved on 2008-09-02]

Individual training organisations may apply for full membership of the EUF if they meet certain requirements. Organisations that cannot meet the definition of a training organisation may also be able to apply for Observer Status. Two special members also exist: CMAS Europe, which represents the interests of many European national diver training federations and RSTC Europe, which represents the interests of many international diver training companies.,

History

The EUF first became active in its modern form in 1989, initially being comprised of a number of non profit distributing European diver federations, then subsequently expanding to include the major profit distributing training agencies.http://www.euf-certification.org/ Retrieved on 2008-09-02]

The EUF and International Standards

The EUF has shown a close interest in the creation of international standards for diving and many of the EUF member delegates have been directly involved in the development of European Norms (via CEN, the European Committee for Standardization) and ISO Standards (International Organization for Standardization) for recreational scuba diving.

EUF Certification Body

In 2003, the EUF Certification Body was formed, a joint-venture between the EUF and the Austrian Standards Institute (ON). The EUF Certification Body, (which is also known as EUF Certification International) exists to offer the scuba diving community a unified procedure of reliable and recognised proof of the quality of scuba diving training services based on European and ISO Standards. It audits diver training organisations and service providers and, where appropriate, certifies them as complying with the relevant standards.

See Also

* [http://www.on-norm.at/ Austrian Standards Institute (ON)]
* [http://www.cmas-europe.org/ CMAS Europe]

* [http://www.euf.eu/ EUF website]

* [http://www.euf-certification.org/ EUF Certification Body website]

* [http://www.rstc-eu.org/ RSTC Europe]

References