EU food import restrictions

Doug_Lamont

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Hi - We are heading for France this summer and want to know what food and stores we are allowed to land with. I have downloaded French Customs leaflet (attached) which indicates that meat (fresh and processed/canned), all dairy produce, and fruit/vegetables without a plant health certificate are not permitted. Surely ship's stores are exempt from these regs as long as they are not taken ashore. Can anyone enlighten me as it will make quite a task menu planning for the passage? Cheers.
 

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awol

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From your location I assume you can travel via Norniron and the South - problem solved but you must avoid touching GB including the Scillies.
Should have mentioned you should do all your shopping in the Emerald Isle - until Rishi Rich's new/old deal goes through you are not meant to take things like cooked meat across the North Channel.
 

John_Silver

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Had Douanes aboard in Roscoff last summer. They checked paperwork (SSR, passport etc) and also inspected each cabin, in a cursory manner. Not sure what they were looking for. But they took no interest in provisions lockers / fridge.(Despite my being in the midst of preparing supper at the time). No questions, regarding stores, from Police Aux Frontieres, on arrival in Cherbourg (where we had entered Schengen). No stores related Q’s from Spanish customs, later in the cruise, either.
 
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jlavery

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My experience with campervan, and reported from others with campervans and boats, is that they don't seem interested in what food we're bringing in.
 

AngusMcDoon

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These are the UK rules for your return...

Handling and disposing of international catering waste

The EU rules for your outward passage and arrival will be similar.

They are almost impossible to follow to the letter of the law because a DEFRA approved disinfectant that must be used is not available to be bought by the public in the ordinary shops that we have access to. It's typical guvmint civil service think - make up some complicated rules, apply them to everyone regardless of whether they have any possibility of being able to follow them.
 

Birdseye

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Are these restrictions real? I have yet to see any incoming british boat being checked in the UK but has this now changed? Certainly the rules for coming from the CI into the UK were never imposed.
 

lustyd

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As with anything border related, the majority of effort goes into mass ingress points like airports, ferry terminals and train stations where it's economically viable to do so and where there's a real impact to be had. There is then an occasional effort to show that there is enforcement elsewhere but it's generally half arsed because yachts can't bring in enough goods to cause real problems (by real problems I mean money and tax losses, of course). All of which is a pantomime to pretend there is some kind of actual "border" to cross, which there clearly isn't out in the real world as many of us see on a trip abroad where we have to seek out an official to "let us in" to the country we've been in all morning.
The restrictions are real though, and generally exclude ships stores so as long as the stuff remains on board you're fine. To suggest we should all arrive with empty larders and no booze on board would be crazy.

Also, CI and UK have a free travel arrangement so a bit different
 
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Tranona

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Are these restrictions real? I have yet to see any incoming british boat being checked in the UK but has this now changed? Certainly the rules for coming from the CI into the UK were never imposed.
This is different. The issue of paperwork to cover a wide range of fresh foods is one of the key issues in the NI Protocol row and a direct result of the withdrawal agreement which makes UK fresh food third country and requires a whole range of paperwork to cover imports into the EU. The rules are obviously aimed at commercial imports but the question here is whether they are being applied and checked for personal "imports".
 

SaltyC

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This is different. The issue of paperwork to cover a wide range of fresh foods is one of the key issues in the NI Protocol row and a direct result of the withdrawal agreement which makes UK fresh food third country and requires a whole range of paperwork to cover imports into the EU. The rules are obviously aimed at commercial imports but the question here is whether they are being applied and checked for personal "imports".
Having continued crossing to NI since Brexit we do not clear customs and have never been queried about any food onboard. Last month, an early outing to Bangor, then up to Belfast City and no one interested.
The whole paperwork issue appears to be the EU being awkward because it can be and British politicians being spineless.
On a positive, haven't heard of any leisure boaters having problems ........ yet!
 

Amlov

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As the cross channel ferry doesn’t throw all their pork pies overboard just outside Calais, I am blowed if I am going to.

My view is these are ship’s stores and not imports.

When we were boarded and searched outside of Brest, there was no interest shown in our stock of pork pies. So I will continue to take my pork pies when we go to France this summer.
 

Tranona

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Having continued crossing to NI since Brexit we do not clear customs and have never been queried about any food onboard. Last month, an early outing to Bangor, then up to Belfast City and no one interested.
The whole paperwork issue appears to be the EU being awkward because it can be and British politicians being spineless.
On a positive, haven't heard of any leisure boaters having problems ........ yet!
The requirement for checks is here to stay. The issue with NI is whether the full set of checks is necessary for goods intended for consumption in NI (such as the infamous sausages) hence the proposal for a "green channel" for such goods. If goods are intended for the single market (that includes the south) via NI then full paperwork is needed as if it were going direct from mainland UK to the single market.

I think you are right unlikely to be any problems for sailors, although you may remember in the early days they (French customs) were stopping lorry drivers bringing their own sandwiches, although this may have been a Daily Mail story!
 

SaltyC

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The requirement for checks is here to stay. The issue with NI is whether the full set of checks is necessary for goods intended for consumption in NI (such as the infamous sausages) hence the proposal for a "green channel" for such goods. If goods are intended for the single market (that includes the south) via NI then full paperwork is needed as if it were going direct from mainland UK to the single market.















I think you are right unlikely to be any problems for sailors, although you may remember in the early days they (French customs) were stopping lorry drivers bringing their own sandwiches, although this may have been a Daily Mail story!


Or the French being uncharacteristically awkward?
Ireland generally appear very laid back in their interpretation.
 
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