French Customs Charges

[High Winger]

I usually clear customs at Bergerac airport en route to my home airfield in the south west of France because the landing fee is just over 4 Euros and Avgas is readily available.

Shortly after my last arrival, I received an invoice that included a 50 Euro charge for "Autre produits d'exploitation". When I queried this I was told the charge had recently been introduced for customs attendance for private flight arrivals. It seems security arrangements have been beefed up and customs arrive for arrival and departure of all flights.

Apparently, the charge is made whether or not the customs officers are in attendance for commercial flights (as indeed they were at the time of my arrival).

I think I will be looking for an alternative customs airport in future as there are a number of alternatives available. It will be a question of balancing landing charges against the imposition of customs attendance costs.

[patowalker]

It is misleading to suggest the fee is for Customs attendance, as it is the airport's fee for handling the arrival or departure of a cross-border flight, i.e. even intra-Schengen flights,. As posted on the other side: "Sur les VOLS VENANT et ALLANT hors de FRANCE , un DOSSIER est désormais constitué ( douanes , police , sûreté etc .. ) , cela nécessite un travail et nous facturons."

[dirkdj]

Isn't his grossly in contradiction to the free circulation of persons in the EU?

[patowalker]

I don't know, but LESO (San Sebastian) has a mandatory handling fee of 60 euros if you arrive from an airfield in France that does not have a police presence (and they know which ones these are).

[ChickenHouse]

Isn't his grossly in contradiction to the free circulation of persons in the EU?
Free circulation is Schengen, not EU, and UK never joined the Schengen treaty.

[patowalker]

We are discussing the fee, not the need for Customs, hence my example of the Spanish charging for flights originating from non-policed airports in France.

[swbok]

Unfortunately, the actual implementation of the very worthy aims of Schengen and the EU have long been and remain disastrous.
As a small comfort, it's always sobering to have a look at our relatively expensive costs at home - for both local and non-UK a/c.

[Wander00]

Must be a "Spanish custom"........hat, coat..............

[beerdrinker]

Yes I got clobbered for the €50 the other day at Bergerac. Pity really so now I will probably clear in and out of France via Deauville