Channel Islands - Customs Formalities

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POD II

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Planning my 1st cross channel crossing but i'm a little confused as to the correct procedure

RYA website states that if i go straight to the Channel Islands from the UK i should complete form C1331 as the Channel Islands are outside the EU. I should also fly the Q flag on arrival in the Channel Islands and again on my return (from 12nm out). I should also notify customs of my return via a phone number. (This is all fine and understood)

If however i go from the UK to a port in another EU member country (say Cherbourg) then i can go straight there without needing to complete form C1331 and don't need to fly the Q flag (or presumably notify French customs?). This again is all fine and understood.

.............. but what should i do if i want to travel from Cherbourg to the Channel Islands? Is there a French equivalent of the C1331 that i should complete? Do i need to notify the Channel Islands Customs of my arrival (other than by flying the Q flag?)

If i travel back from the Channel Islands via Cherbourg should i notify the French Customs (other than by Q flag) of my arrival and if so how?

What are the French like on the radio if I can't speak French very well, is this going to be a major problem?

Do people generally file a passage plan with the Coast Guard before setting off and how do you then let them know that you have arrived safely?

Thanks for any advice and help.
.
 
POD II said:
Planning my 1st cross channel crossing but i'm a little confused as to the correct procedure

RYA website states that if i go straight to the Channel Islands from the UK i should complete form C1331 as the Channel Islands are outside the EU. I should also fly the Q flag on arrival in the Channel Islands and again on my return (from 12nm out). I should also notify customs of my return via a phone number. (This is all fine and understood)

If however i go from the UK to a port in another EU member country (say Cherbourg) then i can go straight there without needing to complete form C1331 and don't need to fly the Q flag (or presumably notify French customs?). This again is all fine and understood.

.............. but what should i do if i want to travel from Cherbourg to the Channel Islands? Is there a French equivalent of the C1331 that i should complete? Do i need to notify the Channel Islands Customs of my arrival (other than by flying the Q flag?)

If i travel back from the Channel Islands via Cherbourg should i notify the French Customs (other than by Q flag) of my arrival and if so how?

What are the French like on the radio if I can't speak French very well, is this going to be a major problem?

Do people generally file a passage plan with the Coast Guard before setting off and how do you then let them know that you have arrived safely?

Thanks for any advice and help.
.
Click to expand...
You don't need to tell anyone..just turn up.In France they have berths specifically for visitors usually signposted with a big V, so you just find an empty one and grab it. Courtesy flag for France; no Q flag anywhere. Sometimes in France they want a passport at the capitanerie when you pay up, and in Guernsey they do quite like you to fill in a form on arrival and post it in one of the little boxes about (Victoria) marina.
In busier marinas there might be someone about in a small dory to tell you where to go.
All very informal really.
The only time I call ahead is when I need to get into the lock and I am the only boat (France). Even if they do not speak much English, they get the idea !
Both Guernsey and Jersey are tidal access, but both have space outside the marinas, so time is not critical. If you venture round to St Vaast for example, and highly recommended, you do need to know the lock times but all this stuff is on the marina web pages so you do not need to get your calculator out to work things out any more !
 
Jersey Customs are quite relaxed they don't bother you to much, BUT Guernsey Customs will try and get you to fill out forms before you have a chance to moor up! they even chase us from Jersey :rolleyes:
 
At Exmouth the ex HM used to collect the customs forms from the box and when his drawer was full he then put them all in the bin and started all over again. HM Customs never once collected any of them. I suspect your phone call to HMRC will elicit the same response............
 
POD II said:
.............. but what should i do if i want to travel from Cherbourg to the Channel Islands? Is there a French equivalent of the C1331 that i should complete? Do i need to notify the Channel Islands Customs of my arrival (other than by flying the Q flag?)
Click to expand...

Don't get me started on this. Logic dictates that there ought to be a French equivalent of the C1331 or there's no point in ours. I queried this with the border agency a couple of years ago and they were...let's say..not helpful. They insisted that the C1331 was vital in ensuring we knew who was entering or leaving the EU but didn't know if other countries, specifically France, had an equivalent and suggested I ask the French embassy. Ask in Cherbourg about formalities for leaving for the Îles Anglo-Normandes and you'll get a blank stare. Possibly a shrug. Not that that tells you anything: you'll get the same if you try to give them the crew list you're supposed to for a schengen country.

Channel Islands customs are all relatively proper and straight forward. Fly the Q flag. Jersey and Guernsey have been mentioned. They'll bring you out a customs form when collecting your mooring fees in Alderney.

Now coming back to the UK is an interesting matter. Here's my experience of the national yacht line from last year when we went UK-Cherbourg-Alderney-UK:
http://forums.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?402406-National-Yacht-Line

In summary: Don't bother with anything for France. If there is something you should do, I don't know what it is, others here don't and the French don't know. Do do what you're supposed to in the channel islands. Coming back to the UK from the channel islands...most people don't bother with doing what they're supposed to. I tried and the experience wasn't positive. It's obviously more straightforward if you go UK-CI-UK because you know what to do without taking the advice of an official with less familiar with the rules and potentially more cognitively challenged than you are (at 30p/min on a mobile).

Re: logging a passage plan with the coastguard. They don't check if you've arrived. They just use the info you've given them for SAR if someone else reports you missing. ALWAYS tell a responsible friend/relative your plan, leave instructions for them to call the coastguard if you don't check in with them by X O'clock (for some X which is the latest you would be likely to arrive in the event of minor problems) and check in with them when you arrive. Whether I bother logging a plan with the coastguard depends on who my shore contact is: I only log the plan with the coastguard if I don't necessarily trust my shore contact to correctly relay all the relevant info in case of a problem.

EDIT: Also...stick to English on VHF. It's the language of the sea, they should be ok with it in theory and they are in practice (no problem at all in Cherbourg). It's not just us: everyone except the French and some of the Belgians will be using English. My French is pretty passable and I don't try and speak in English in shops and restaurants but I'd rather a slow precise exchange in English over the radio than risk inviting rapid-fire colloquial French. Note that you don't need to call anyone on arrival in Cherbourg: just pick your berth according to your length (instructions on the wall as you go into port chantereyne marina) and go to the office once parked up.
 
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Its like those driving rules with the GB sticker and the headlight kit from Halfords you are supposed to have.
I have been driving back and forth each month for the past 5 years and have been stopped by every man and his working dog..
And no one has ever checked or said anything etc about me not having them...
But Halfords make a fortune from this..
 
Agree with everything Laika said.

The French may or may not have any procedures for this, but if they do, nobody including their officials seems to be aware of them.

Marinas in Guernsey will give you a form to fill in when you first arrive. The Mainbrace RIB dropped me off one the first couple of times I went there, and they saw my yellow flag. Third time we arrived earlier in the day and our yellow flag was roundly ignored. In the end I called them on the radio, and they said they didn't do the form bit when the harbour office was open, we had to go ashore and do it there. So that's the only wrinkle.

I've called the UK phone number once as we came up the Solent; pretty uninspiring experience though not as complicated as Laika's described in the other thread. I probably won't call them again. I do send in the appropriate UK forms when I remember, which isn't every time.

Pete
 
Don't forget to take ships papers. Proof of VAT paid, proof of ownership (best is a registration document from SSR) or charter agreement.
The French authorities are like the French traffic police - they turn up in big numbers and inspect everything. Yes I been across to France many times with out any formalities but one one occasion in St Malo suffered a very full inspection of papers and boat equipment. There must have been 15 officials working on the one pontoon.
Had problems with dogs in Channel Island too, even with "dogs passport".
The story is that a Sunsail charter yacht was impounded in Cherbourg and crew had to return by ferry due to faulty paperwork. It maybe the crew had not told Sunsail where they were going or even their navigation was a bit loose!
 
If it's any help, I sailed to Ireland from Guernsey last autumn in a friend's boat, making landfall at the village of Courtmacsherry on the Cork coast. We followed the advice in Reeds Almanac: there being no Garda station there, we telephoned the Garda in Cobh and announced our arrival.
The response was inevitably charming, but along the lines of - why are you telling us this?
 
This morning we returned from two weeks in Cherbourg, Carteret, Jersey and Guernsey. We had been armed with passports and all the other boat related paperwork, we were also prepared to fill out any other necessary forms. The reality was that we showed no papers to anybody, nor filled out any forms anywhere. In fact from a duty free point of view, we left the UK with more alcohol on board than the half empty bottle of Calvados that we returned with.
 
Quote from Jersey Customs and Immigration 2015:
"Clearance procedures for visiting yachtsmen have been greatly simplified and the vast majority arriving at St Helier Harbour are not obliged to carry out any Customs and Immigration formalities whatsoever. They will, of course, always be liable to inspection at any time by Customs and Immigration Officers but there will no longer be any time-consuming forms to fill in or declarations to make.
The only yachts whose crew will still have to fly the yellow 'Q' flag and fill out the JCE 112 declaration form are those who have arrived from outside the European Economic Area; have non European Economic Area nationals on board or have any goods to declare (including prohibited or restricted items).
Customs regulations require that all dutiable goods should be declared".

It goes on for a bit longer, but you get the gist.
 
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