Proof of ownership?

[dick_james]

Is it still the case that the French require foreign boat skippers to produce some form of proof of ownership? (something to do with VAT) My boat was home completed many moons ago. How do I prove it's mine? I might just have the receipt for the hull somewhere.
Dick James

 

[Guest]

You may keep some of the original invoices, such as the hull, but the best document remains your registration. If the MCA is satisfied that you are the owner, no port state regognising your flag law shall dispute it.

 

[charles_reed]

I think you may have got part of a rather garbled part of the story.

The French will recognise you as the owner providing your name appears of the registration documents.

However, if you are not the boat owner and are acting as skipper they will specifically demand a letter of authorisation from the registered owner giving you permission to use the boat and specifying the departure and arrival points as well as the dates.
If you don't have that and are caught, at best tha boat (and you) will be distrained and at worst you'll find yourself in the cell of the local gendarmerie.

 

[steve]

I couple I know in their late seventies went to France three years ago and were fined 1000 francs because the French refused to recognise their "Certificate of American Ownership", the papers which you get if you register your boat at an American Embassy rather than in the US. He went back to the embassy in Barcelona which had issued the certificate to protest, and as far as I know is still protesting.