How to Register A Small Boat in France

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captainhooked

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Hello there,

Thanks to some excellent help I got here last year I purchased a small (5.5m) 2nd hand motorboat from north Italy that I had delivered to Antibes in France (I got a place in a port there)

While filling in my paperwork with the port they said:

We're wondering about your boat: there doesn't seem to be any registration or boat name on it. Can you confirm this? The same goes for the boat's papers: I don't see any registration or boat name.

Now I had assumed that since the boat had been owned up the road in Italy it would be registered there but when I contacted the company that sold me the boat they said:

The boat under 10 meters in Italy is not registered.

So I'm guessing I need to register the boat in France now. Just wondering how to do this? I see a bunch of sites that advertise doing it for €129 such as these guys but they also seem to be based in random countries around the world and set off my slightly dodgy looking senses!

I'm happy to pay a small fee for someone to handle it as my French is crap but not sure if one of these sites is the way to go or I should be doing it direct myself.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks
 
captainhooked said:
Thanks for the reply. I live in Ireland so EU based.
Click to expand...
Post Brexit, a friend of mine, resident on the UK, re-registered his boat, which he kept permanently based in Brittany, under the Irish flag.

He had no problems with the French authorities about this and, following his death, his widow was able to sell the boat to a Frenchman.

He used an Irish company to handle the re-registering.
 
Thanks for that. I suspect the port might be fussy about using a non French registration (even if in theory EU is fine) so if I have to register it somewhere anyway France probably makes more sense. I'd imagine when I sell it it will be to a local also so might be easier.
 
I would have asked the marina. I have found french marinas very helpful

If the marina is expecting a 5m boat to be registered then I'd assume there must be some small boat registration service there.

UK residents can use the SSR, but it sounds like you're not UK resident. UK citizens can use the Part 1 registry, but that seems a bit ridiculous for a 5m boat.

There's probably some french scheme where you go to the town hall on a Tuesday and it costs €50 for 5 years.
 
I think you have to be a French resident or national to register in France your best option is to register in Ireland, there won't be a problem in Antibes they are very used to multi national registrations. To check though send a PM to Roberto he will give you chapter and verse on registering in France which can be done online
 
If you have a French address you can register it by yourself, it's free.
A French address is either yours (if you are resident in France), or a French address of a resident friend: Affaires Maritimes will ask for proof so you need to provide them a utility contract (electricity, fixed phone, etc)+ ID of the resident person. For your friend it s just a formality, once you have your registration they will talk only to you (well, today you ll do it everything by yourself via internet).

The owner just needs to be a EU national (you are). As an example, I am Italian national, resident in France, I 'lent' my French address to a couple of Italian friends living in Spain, all the formalities are done by themselves (radio licence, payment of the yearly tax, etc). (Just to be clear as I am often asked, sorry I am not selling/renting my address to anyone else).

Addition
As the boat comes from abroad, your first registration has to be done by post or in person (once the boat is French then it s all online). You will need to show the purchase contract.
As the boat was formerly an Italian ''natante'' (under 10m, without registration), you will not be able to provide a radiation certificate (which is usually required), I advise you do all the formalities in the Mediterranean etc as they know well this particular case.

General procedure here:
Acheter, vendre, enregistrer des navires de plaisance pour naviguer en mer
Get in touch with the one under heading ''83 - Var (Toulon)''
Coordonnées des services plaisance : enregistrement des navires, permis plaisance
 
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Also, I think you are aware French registered boats have to pay a yearly tax (depends on length, engine power, age of boat), it may not be much (for my old 40 footer sailboat I pay about 90 euro) but maybe check the amount in advance, should the Irish or other registrations be totally free... The radio licence is free, like MMSI number etc, there are registration companies charging all sorts of silly amounts, and sometimes they even provide a UK MMSI to non-UK boats, which of course is totally illegal.
 
Fr J Hackett said:
I think you have to be a French resident or national to register in France your best option is to register in Ireland, there won't be a problem in Antibes they are very used to multi national registrations. To check though send a PM to Roberto he will give you chapter and verse on registering in France which can be done online
Click to expand...
How do you register a boat in Ireland?
 
Roberto said:
Also, I think you are aware French registered boats have to pay a yearly tax (depends on length, engine power, age of boat), it may not be much (for my old 40 footer sailboat I pay about 90 euro) but maybe check the amount in advance, should the Irish or other registrations be totally free... The radio licence is free, like MMSI number etc, there are registration companies charging all sorts of silly amounts, and sometimes they even provide a UK MMSI to non-UK boats, which of course is totally illegal.
Click to expand...
Getting an MMSI in Ireland is. Currently €100.
 
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