The French have certainly tightened up. I recently flew to Abbeville to clear customs for a tour of France. We had provided all the notifications etc. A government helicopter followed us in with three customs guys. We were very politely asked for the aircraft documents and passports together with proof that we had notified them (I has the received fax conformations with me). They did not ask for licence or log book. Every document was scrutinised, and after 25min or so we were thanked for our cooperation and told all was in order. The aircraft is a UK registered homebuilt and the kit was French, VAT was not an issue, but I got the impression that if a single bit of paper had been missing we would have been swimming home.
Rod1