Ports of Entry

During the past >year I have been following the modifications on French Douanes web site FAQ related to Brexit, advice written there has of course evolved following the UK internal discussions and orientations. "What if" this happens..., What if that happens... etc etc.
Brexit : vos questions les plus fréquentes | Portail de la Direction Générale des Douanes et Droits Indirects

The impression I have is UK (boating) visitors in France will have absolute and strict reciprocity with UK treatment of French/EU visitors in the UK. Should the UK decide for Visa, boat paperwork, customs visits onboard, etc, for foreign boats, in agreement or not with the EU, here they will most likely impose visa, boat paperwork and customs visits onboard to arriving UK boats, I'd think strict compliance will be required without exceptions.
Brexit is/has been a difficult period for the UK Nation and Authorities, in practical terms it is being difficult for all the northern France, "what do we have to do to be ready" being one most asked question. Regular people now see that after two years "trying and be ready for directions" this side of the Channel, it was just waiting for some kind of UK official final agreement, yet to come. Surely most of the UK is/was fed up with Brexit neverending story: there is not much difference on the bordering France, they are just thinking "please decide something".
After two years of waiting after UK Official decisions, I'd think very difficult to expect any kind of compassion from local authorities in case procedures are not followed the proper way by some visiting boat, whatever "proper" will be agreed by the parties.
 
Daydream believer said:
Whilst I will certainly comply with the rules of a foreign nation, I certainly will stick 2 fingers up when I come back, unless someone starts making a fuss
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My mother did that years ago before the EU. Trip from Folkstone took shelter inn Calais due to sudden bad northerlies- no passports but French OK with it. On return UK officials got shirty. My mother said they could arrest her if they wanted but they could not deny her access to UK, and if they arrested her for failing to comply with rules it would give the local magistrate laugh before dismissing the case. They let her in
 
In the old days if you were heading out of UK bound for a non EU country you needed to clear on form ??? forgotten the name... So will it be the case that we need to clear out of UK when heading for France?

Is it a requirement to fly a Q flag re-entering UK waters?

Are we allowed ashore during he two hour waiting period after notifying UK customs?
 
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Sea Devil said:
In the old days if you were heading out of UK bound for a non EU country you needed to clear on form ??? forgotten the name... So will it be the case that we need to clear out of UK when heading for France?

Is it a requirement to fly a Q flag re-entering UK waters?

Are we allowed ashore during he two hour waiting period after notifying UK customs?
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From my experiences in the 70's leaving Burnham on Crouch ,we certainly did have to check out. That would not be much of a problem going, except that I do have a habit of going walk about & have been known to head for Harwich & ended up in Boulogne or Ostend on more than one occasion. ( hence the AIS for the wife to follow on line)
On return I , like everybody else, had a mooring in the river. The customs officer could see from his office a large part of that river & it would have been difficult to wander ashore before he got to us. flying the Q flag made it more obvius that we were waiting for him, so it made sense to comply.
However, now there is a plethora of marinas in the Crouch & i, for one, will be returning to Bradwell marina.
On arrival I will step onto the pontoon to tie up & then , if it was not my home berth I would go to the harbour office to book in & check I was in the correct berth etc.
I can hardly see how they can insist that one stays ON the boat in those circumstances. In the vicinity, perhaps.
If I go to Ostend, I hand in a Schengan form to the harbour master & each day the immigration officer checks new arrivals with him. Sometimes they will visit the boat. I suspect a similar situation could be used in the UK quite easily.
Using smart phone apps etc may sound Ok, but I do not always carry mine. I would just wave my Nokia phone at an officer & plead ignorance anyway.In the Dengie area there is limited reception. I cannot, for instance use my phone at home without a boostbox.
I have limited data on my contract & do not use it on my phone anyway.
As for Q flag. It is actually supposed to be flown when entering the CI's from France but I have never flown it. Would I bother in the UK? I doubt it. If stopped by border force en route I would just say that I was going to hoist it nearer the destination & I was having my hands full due to being SHanded.
I suspect that after a while common sense will prevail - apart from the odd jobsworth.
 
awol said:
Presumably on return to the UK there will be a requirement to present yourself at an official Port of Entry - no more sneaking back to your home marina.
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There will be an app! Seriously in lots of places now its possible to clear in and out online. My guess is that UK will use the technology if needed.
 
My experience of ports of entry is that there is usually a specific pontoon set up for arriving, departing boats .... the boat and crew remains there until the formalities with police, immigration and customs are complete. If the pontoon is full or absent then you need to anchor off with the Q flag flying and wait or send the skipper ashore to visit the authorities.

There is some flexibility, I arrived once in Mali Losinj gone midnight, went to the customs berth and checked in. I was then allowed to go to the normal pontoons with the understanding that I would report to the harbourmaster the following morning to pay my Vignette and Light Duties.

All the Italians coming over to Croatia for their summer cruises had to do this too, even though they formed the vast majority of maritime tourists, they were seen as a major source of income and every penny possible was extracted from them by the authorities. Crew restrictions were imposed on boats to prevent foreign charter companies operating in Croatia.

When Croatia joined the EU it got more expensive. Croatia could no longer operate their restrictive crew lists, or prevent foreign competition - to compensate, the price for Vignettes was raised considerably.

I have no idea what will happen in France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal etc. post-Brexit. UK citizens will no longer be able to avail themselves of the same rights as the locals, they will be 3rd country citizens with no ECJ to take the French government to task for discrimination.

Apps make a lot of sense, but they will not necessarily negate the need for inspections and I would imagine they will require considerable investment in spot checks and intelligence to prevent abuse.
 
awol said:
And nobody would tell porkies about the quantity of alcohol etc. they were bringing back, would they? I see a parallel in Boris buses' back doors.
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You can tell porkies like that when you are stood in a customs office.......

Being all too familiar with customs, immigration, port police, harbour authorities and agents in many places, an electronic clearance like eSeaClear in the Windies would be welcome. The thought of being boarded at random for inspection at any time gives you the same responsibility no matter how its done.

Used to be the same postin the customs entry forms on return to the UK and the telephone call to the local office. Email will be masses more convenient.
 
With an online check in if I can pick up a phone signal an hour or so out, which shouldn't be a problem even if I have to hoist my MiFi up the mast, I will be still more than two hours from my mooring and often if the tides aren't right, I anchor and go to my mooring the next day, so i can't see an issue or delay for me when I return.
 
awol said:
And nobody would tell porkies about the quantity of alcohol etc. they were bringing back, would they? I see a parallel in Boris buses' back doors.
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I can remember awaiting a customs officer in a Poole Marina, guy had to trek from the ferry terminal, our 'excess' booze was seriously depleted by the time he left our 26 footer (seemed quite big back then to hop over to cherbourg)
 
It's fairly simple really. Check in by app. Every once in a while there'll be customs & immigrations waiting for you. Major sense of humour failure if they find your bilges full of baccy & booze. Crime 1: Importing too much. Crime two: Failure to declare. Options to seize boat, big fines prison etc. Lots of publicity "pour encourager les autres". Headlines in the Wail "Luxury yacht* seized in customs sting"

Sure, 99 times out of 100 you'll get away with it, the 100th... D'ya feel lucky, punk?

* A Centaur :rolleyes:
 
I am not sure what the attraction with bringing stuff back is. I never bring anything back these days, Apart from box of chocolates for the wife ( Well one has to;)) which I usually eat anyway(y)Cannot be bothered otherwise.-
 
Daydream believer said:
I am not sure what the attraction with bringing stuff back is. I never bring anything back these days, Apart from box of chocolates for the wife ( Well one has to;)) which I usually eat anyway(y)Cannot be bothered otherwise.-
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Im sure as long as you arent bringing back illegal drugs and immigrants you will be fine. o_O
 
capnsensible said:
Im sure as long as you arent bringing back illegal drugs and immigrants you will be fine. o_O
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No!! I think you are wrong there. No VAT on ganga & immigrants. But keep the ganga down to a few kilos & you can claim it is for personal use, so you should be ok anyway.
If they say anything about class "A" just say that you look for that label because you wanted to ensure that you got good quality for your kids
 
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eastlands said:
Ultimately you could lose out by not checking back into the UK correctly. Remember you'll be restricted to 90 days in Europe. If you can't show you returned to the UK, your EU visa will still be accumulating days...
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Strange interpretation. To prevent 90 days running out you need to let the rEU system know you left. Telling UK. you arrived back does nothing in that regard.
 
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