Who we are
Why standards
Recreational scuba diving has developed to be a very popular leisure time activity. The recreational scuba diver of today is typically a vacation diver who uses leisure industry services, like travel agents specialised on diving trips, diving schools and dive centres, throughout the world. Given the variety of different training service providers on the market, it is no easy task for consumers to choose the right training service provider.
Experts from scuba diving training organisations and companies, consumer representatives and authorities have jointly developed standards for training services in recreational scuba diving which equally serve both the recreational diver and scuba diving professionals.
The result of this common effort is a series European Standards (EN) and International Standards (ISO) dealing with quality and safety aspects in the training recreational scuba divers and scuba instructors as well as requirements for dive centres.
Benefits for a Scuba Diver
- to ensure a high level of quality and safety for an activity which demands proper training;
- to enable the consumer to make informed choices;
- to create internationally recognised diver qualifications which enables the consumer to purchase services from dive centres world-wide.
Benefits for the Scuba Diving Professional
- to provide scuba instructors with an internationally accepted qualification which opens the markets for training service providers (eg dive centres, resorts, schools or clubs);
- to provide a benchmark for training organisations and service providers to prove that their services comply with the current "state of the art";
- to improve understanding between training organisations, to raise standards and to increase the level of credibility within the diving industry.