French Customs General

Disclaimer

Lynn Whitmore and the 180days team are not responsible for the accuracy of the information that has been provided by the Douane as this is constantly evolving.  The following is however the official position at the time of writing.

Introduction September 2021

In March 2021, Lynn Whitmore collated more than 50 questions which she then submitted to the French Douane. It became problematic getting replies that were consistent over time so some previously published information has been withdrawn.

Based on reports over the last few months from people who have travelled to France, the current situation is that the Douane are presently focusing on the checking of Covid vaccination and testing.  However, this situation will change.

People who travel by car and carry a lot of items with them other than personal effects may wish to be prepared for any queries by the Douane. If you wish to be prepared in future then we suggest that you create a list in advance of your travel - see below.

The following notes do NOT apply to individuals moving permanently to France who receive special dispensations; this subject is beyond the remit of this website.

List what you are carrying  

Based on previous discussions with the Douane it may be helpful to list things under the following headings.

(1) Personal Effects.  

The Douane have provided an illustrative list of items that they consider as a traveller’s personal effects which you would generally need on holiday. The wording is a bit dated in parts but you can see the principles that they are using. Please see this list here 

(2) Personal Allowances

Each traveller is entitled to a Personal Allowance depending on their method of travel to France.  By air and ferry, this is 430€ per adult, by Eurotunnel or Eurostar this is 300€ per adult, and for each child under age 15 years, 150€ travelling by any means.  These allowances must comprise non-commercial items deemed as personal although this category is relatively broad.  Note that you cannot “share” your personal allowances amongst different passengers.  Each allowance is specific to that person; for example you cannot combine two passengers’ personal allowances to take a larger item worth 600€.

(3) Items that you intend to take back to the UK at the end of the season

These items are classed as “admission temporaire” and include items you are taking to France on a temporary basis such as tools.  For this the Douane have confirmed that in future you will need to complete a downloadable CEFRA 15678 form listing items which will NOT remain in France but will be returned to the UK.

(4) Items you will be leaving or consuming in France

Assign a value to each item

The Douane may want to know the value of the goods in your car for anything beyond “personal effects” or which come within your “Personal Allowance”. For example, you will need to list items of furniture, machinery, kitchen equipment etc.  

You must assign a realistic value to each so that the Douane can determine whether VAT and customs duties (if your items total over 1200€) will be charged. 

This may seem onerous to do in advance, but consider the situation if you have to value each item under the eyes of a watchful customs officer when all you want to do it drive on to your destination!

Charges and Duties

In future, VAT will be chargeable on all items you have listed in 4 above, especially those which are clearly for permanent export to France, eg to furnish a second home, and which clearly do not come into the Personal Effects and Personal Allowances categories. In future, the following may be enforced:

• VAT (TVA) at 20% will be applied to the total value of your items that exceed your personal allowance.

• If your items exceed a total of 1200€ then VAT at 20% is applicable. In addition, the relevant level of customs duty will be payable, as deemed by the Douane, if these items originate from outside the EU or the UK. You will be required to formally prove their origin through, for example, invoices.

In Conclusion

A large amount of effort has been spent in trying to establish how French Customs rules will be applied to UK residents such as second home owners, once the current focus on checking Covid vaccination and testing has ended. We have published what we know in late August 2021 but will not be developing this area any further.

Unfortunately, we are unable to answer questions asked via social media.