With all due respect to the man from the RNLI he is totally out of order!!!
These kind of throw away comments from them can do so much damage.
Like a few I have met from the MCA they have not a clue.
Or even worse they think they know as they have some of the facts.
The sad thing here is because they are from the MCA or the RNLI people think they are always right.
I had a run in with a high ranking man from the MCA last London Boat Show.
He had gone on to a stand and advised the dealer that they were selling radio's that were not approved as they did not have DSC built in. He told them he was going to bring the house down on them.
As you can imagine the dealer was flapping a tad!!
When they spoke to me I went and dragged this guy to one side and read him his facts of life and explained the "real" sittuation
I followed it up with a call to the head of the Navigation and Communication section of the MCA.
He came and found me later in the show and made a humble apology for the other guy.
His (RNLI man) comments could lead people to think its ok to "grey import" which is fine until they get fined and or they go to use a feature that is not there.
Ofcom will not care if you say "well the man from the RNLI said it was ok, cos you can bet as sure as eggs are eggs they would not back you up.
I am not aware of any changes to enforcement at this time.
There are a number of ideas on the table at the moment but nothing set in stone.
Big things you will notice with a US set over a UK set.
M1 (37a) M2 (P4) will be missing as these are us only channels.
Depending on the make CH80 can be a bit of a drama to.
Most dealers will not be able to or want to programme these in for you.
Warranty from most companies is back to base.
So if you have a US set the UK arm of the company will either not repair or charge for the repair.
Whilst a lot of radio's are comming to market in the US with Class D DSC most out there are Class F or SC101 which is a much lower standard than Class D.
There are more and more radio's appearing on the UK/EU market to meet every budget.
Whilst you would be better to stick to a known or recomended brand there is some cheap stuff out there.
With this in mind IMHO there should be no need to buy the wrong kit.
Thus the comment about the law and obstacales is not relevent but I fully understand why it may seem that way.
10 years ago a non waterproof, non dsc M59 with a years warranty would cost you about £370ish.
You can buy a decent waterproof unit, with DSC, With a Fog Horn, With a Loud Hailer, 3 year warranty and a host of other goodies for £250ish.
Much better value for less money.
Also lots of good free, and sometimes correct advice on here from some friendly companies
All the Best