Traveling to France after brexit (customs check?)

[striker18]

Hi forum

I'm just wondering if anyone has been across to France this year?

if so what was the situation with customs

were you asked at customs if you were carrying bait or meat and dairy products etc 

or did you have to fill out a declaration form 

any reply's will be greatly appreciated  

thanks  S18

[carpepecheur]

As I understand the rules, post Brexit, you are not allowed to bring in meat or dairy products without an export health certificate. This is not something you can get yourself. So you cannot do it legally even with a customs declaration.

If you want to bring your dog that is still possible but the rules are much more complicated.

If you are coming for more than 90 days, you will now need a visa.

Also, when in France, it has recently be announced that you will need a "pass sanitaire" (Covid passport) to go to places where the public congregate, As far as I know, there are no reciprocal recognition of documentation yet but considering the amount of tourists that come here, that is bound to change. Just be aware of it and keep up with the news.

If you are coming to a managed fishery it is best to contact the owner for advice.

I am afraid "project fear" is now project reality.

Edited July 30, 2021 by carpepecheur

[Golden Paws]

Very sad to hear you whinging again about Brexit again. When Britain left the EU, the intention was always to have a cordial arrangement based on mutual respect and dare I say it, friendship? The EU have tried to punish Britain for daring to want to leave and not subsidising them to the tune of billions of pounds a year.

The EU is a bloated, inefficient talking shop where very little gets achieved but many bureaucrats do very well out of it, thank you very much. After the protracted "divorce" was thrashed out, I believe that if the referendum on membership was rerun, it would be rejected by a landslide.

The final nail in the coffin was when Britain was awarded "null points" at the Eurovision Song Contest! I can't say I've ever heard of the bloke and if he was gigging at my local boozer I doubt I'd go to watch him but it was totally predictable.

Covid is obviously muddying the waters and it's difficult to tell sometimes whether a decision on quarantine is based on medical facts or a continuation of the *** for tat agenda.

I understand that your British pension might not go as far nowadays but as a full time worker and tax payer to the British economy, I'm afraid my opinion might count more than yours!

[striker18]

A bit off topic chaps I was asking about the situation going through the ferry ports or euro tunnel 

 

[carpepecheur]

Sorry striker I misunderstood your question. The rules are clear, you cannot legally bring in meat or dairy products as an individual. In practise many people engage in smuggling and some get away with it. Not everybody is checked.

Edited July 30, 2021 by carpepecheur

[carpepecheur]

1 hour ago, Golden Paws said:

Very sad to hear you whinging again about Brexit again. When Britain left the EU, the intention was always to have a cordial arrangement based on mutual respect and dare I say it, friendship? The EU have tried to punish Britain for daring to want to leave and not subsidising them to the tune of billions of pounds a year.

The EU is a bloated, inefficient talking shop where very little gets achieved but many bureaucrats do very well out of it, thank you very much. After the protracted "divorce" was thrashed out, I believe that if the referendum on membership was rerun, it would be rejected by a landslide.

The final nail in the coffin was when Britain was awarded "null points" at the Eurovision Song Contest! I can't say I've ever heard of the bloke and if he was gigging at my local boozer I doubt I'd go to watch him but it was totally predictable.

Covid is obviously muddying the waters and it's difficult to tell sometimes whether a decision on quarantine is based on medical facts or a continuation of the *** for tat agenda.

I understand that your British pension might not go as far nowadays but as a full time worker and tax payer to the British economy, I'm afraid my opinion might count more than yours!

The customs rules apply equally to anyone who is not a member of the EU, whether you from Tooting or Timbuctoo.

 

There is a brilliant marketing opportunity here to sell vegan boilies to British anglers wishing to take their own bait into the EU. 

[striker18]

2 hours ago, carpepecheur said:

Sorry striker I misunderstood your question. The rules are clear, you cannot legally bring in meat or dairy products as an individual. In practise many people engage in smuggling and some get away with it. Not everybody is checked.

Ok thanks carpe pecher I think you understand my interest now! lol have you heard weathers its fines or just boile confiscation? 🙂

[carpepecheur]

Sorry, I don't know of any anglers who have been stopped. But plenty of friends have done the post Brexit trip.. All I can say is that the rules are not applied in any systematic manner.

One friend who runs  a small market stall had his entire stock of Bisto confiscated and was given a formal warning. When he asked what that meant, he was told next time he was caught he would be taken to court and the "Bisto" incident would also be taken into consideration. The penalties can be severe but were not designed to address boilie smuggling

Another friend had his Mercedes sent over to be delivered before the end of the Withdrawal Agreement to avoid any problems. The garage screwed up it it was delivered on Jan 6th (only 6 days after the WA ended). It cost him €7,000 to legalise his car.

My best guess would be that you will be unlucky to get stopped. If you are and it is your first offence, you may only get your bait (or whatever) confiscated and a caution. BUT, remember there are probably more jobsworths in France than UK. I can assure you, from personal experience,  that it is not worth having a customs caution against your name.

Even though you make it past the port you may not be in the clear. I am not sure about North of France but here in the SW you get customs officers turn up at random roundabouts and do spot checks.

My suggestion would be to mail order bait to an address where you are fishing and not attempt to bring any food stuff with you.

But whatever you do BON CHANCE.

[Golden Paws]

I rest my case, Your Honour! Common sense has gone out of the window and the French want to convict anyone who wants to travel there. It's got so crazy, that we on the mainland can't export sausages to Northern Island, which is a part of the UK and there are shortages on the shelves. I can see the divorce papers being ripped up if they continue to try to treat us like fools.

[striker18]

1 hour ago, carpepecheur said:

Sorry, I don't know of any anglers who have been stopped. But plenty of friends have done the post Brexit trip.. All I can say is that the rules are not applied in any systematic manner.

One friend who runs  a small market stall had his entire stock of Bisto confiscated and was given a formal warning. When he asked what that meant, he was told next time he was caught he would be taken to court and the "Bisto" incident would also be taken into consideration. The penalties can be severe but were not designed to address boilie smuggling

Another friend had his Mercedes sent over to be delivered before the end of the Withdrawal Agreement to avoid any problems. The garage screwed up it it was delivered on Jan 6th (only 6 days after the WA ended). It cost him €7,000 to legalise his car.

My best guess would be that you will be unlucky to get stopped. If you are and it is your first offence, you may only get your bait (or whatever) confiscated and a caution. BUT, remember there are probably more jobsworths in France than UK. I can assure you, from personal experience,  that it is not worth having a customs caution against your name.

Even though you make it past the port you may not be in the clear. I am not sure about North of France but here in the SW you get customs officers turn up at random roundabouts and do spot checks.

My suggestion would be to mail order bait to an address where you are fishing and not attempt to bring any food stuff with you.

But whatever you do BON CHANCE.

Thanks Carpe Pecher  good advice👍 on the plus side I am assuming no more speeding tickets will be coming my way I had 4 last time and a couple of them were a bit of a stitch up in my opinion only 5km over the limit! 

[carpepecheur]

49 minutes ago, Golden Paws said:

I rest my case, Your Honour! Common sense has gone out of the window and the French want to convict anyone who wants to travel there. It's got so crazy, that we on the mainland can't export sausages to Northern Island, which is a part of the UK and there are shortages on the shelves. I can see the divorce papers being ripped up if they continue to try to treat us like fools.

With respect Golden Paws, your information is incorrect. The French are are simply implementing the EU rules for non-European countries that have been in existence for many years and which the UK, when it was a member of the EU, helped to formulate and voted for.

 You raise an interesting point regarding Northern Ireland. The same rules that concerns Striker must surely apply to any anglers going to Northern Ireland to fish. Although N Ireland is part of the United Kingdom it has remained in the single market and is obliged to conform to the single market rules. The same rules that the UK, as a member of the EU, helped to formulate and vote into existence.

 All the UK has to do, to be able to export sausages from UK to N. Ireland, is agree to conform to the same quality standards for the preparation of sausages as the rest of the EU has done. For some reason this is politically unacceptable.

 The alternative is to abandon this agreement and move the border from the Irish Sea to between North and South Ireland. This would infringe the Good Friday Agreement. If this were allowed to happen, the rest of the civilized World would certainly turn against the UK and the “troubles” would start all over again.

[carpepecheur]

30 minutes ago, striker18 said:

Thanks Carpe Pecher  good advice👍 on the plus side I am assuming no more speeding tickets will be coming my way I had 4 last time and a couple of them were a bit of a stitch up in my opinion only 5km over the limit! 

Good point and I think you are correct. However I am sure you will find that it will only make the French more vigilant towards UK cars for on the spot fines. Another thing to be aware of is that next year they are introducing something that the locals refer to as "noise radar". It measures the sound of the exhaust and you get a fine if over a certain level.

[kevtaylor]

Think we'll see a good few French venues being sold due to the lack of UK custom in 2020/21 and moving into 2022.  Never seen so many desperate adverts, whilst UK fisheries thrive move then ever before.

Might be a few bargains to be had - watch this space! 

 

[elmoputney]

3 hours ago, kevtaylor said:

Think we'll see a good few French venues being sold due to the lack of UK custom in 2020/21 and moving into 2022.  Never seen so many desperate adverts, whilst UK fisheries thrive move then ever before.

Might be a few bargains to be had - watch this space! 

 

Brexit doesn't seem to be going too well, it's quite a sad realisation when you put it like that, people have tried to go out and and start something good, and it's just going to become impossible now we are out the EU, covid made it hard but brexit will kill it I think, and it'll be impossible to ever join another syndicate again 😢

Pre brexit I thought I would get my name down on the woolpack cos it's just up the road from me,but I never did don't think I'll ever get on there now 😢

[kevtaylor]

On 23/08/2021 at 19:04, elmoputney said:

Brexit doesn't seem to be going too well, it's quite a sad realisation when you put it like that, people have tried to go out and and start something good, and it's just going to become impossible now we are out the EU, covid made it hard but brexit will kill it I think, and it'll be impossible to ever join another syndicate again 😢

Pre brexit I thought I would get my name down on the woolpack cos it's just up the road from me,but I never did don't think I'll ever get on there now 😢

I'd like to think that it won't take too long for the EU to notice an enormous reduction in income from UK holiday makers, sure a small minority are straight back on it but the amount of adverts tells it's own tale.  They say the customer is always right so I expect them to crack first and lessen restrictions.

As for UK syndicates the problem started way before Brexit - far more carp anglers these days and the great videos we all enjoy just highlight all the waters that proper carp anglers have been wanting to fish for years, now known to every-man and his dog - I spoke to a guy on Swan, Bluebell who only started fishing that year after watching the vids, wrong on all levels, whilst I was polite I was shocked, stunned, horrified.

[elmoputney]

2 hours ago, kevtaylor said:

I'd like to think that it won't take too long for the EU to notice an enormous reduction in income from UK holiday makers, sure a small minority are straight back on it but the amount of adverts tells it's own tale.  They say the customer is always right so I expect them to crack first and lesson restrictions.

As for UK syndicates the problem started way before Brexit - far more carp anglers these days and the great videos we all enjoy just highlight all the waters that proper carp anglers have been wanting to fish for years, now known to every-man and his dog - I spoke to a guy on Swan, Bluebell who only started fishing that year after watching the vids, wrong on all levels, whilst I was polite I was shocked, stunned, horrified.

I know what you mean there doesn't seem to be much of a natural progression these days,everything is available online, I wouldn't have dreamt of stepping on some of those lakes when I was just starting out, whatever happened to the old village ponds, I remember how big the step up to a club lake was 😁

[carpepecheur]

On 23/08/2021 at 16:11, kevtaylor said:

Think we'll see a good few French venues being sold due to the lack of UK custom in 2020/21 and moving into 2022.  Never seen so many desperate adverts, whilst UK fisheries thrive move then ever before.

 

Nothing worth having ever comes cheap. Those anglers who invested all their cash and energy into providing carp fisheries for you seem to be paying the price.

On the plus side UK venues seem to be booming even if it does mean a waiting list or two.

Surely you must have seen a decrease in East Europeans stealing fish for the table? I am sure there must be many more benefits to come.

On 23/08/2021 at 20:56, kevtaylor said:

...  I expect them to crack first and lesson restrictions.

 

I think this is unlikely. The full force of the customs restrictions does not happen until October. At the moment we are enjoying the benefit of a temporary waiver of some restrictions to ease us into the effects of Brexit.

 

[kevtaylor]

18 minutes ago, carpepecheur said:

Nothing worth having ever comes cheap. Those anglers who invested all their cash and energy into providing carp fisheries for you seem to be paying the price.

On the plus side UK venues seem to be booming even if it does mean a waiting list or two.

Surely you must have seen a decrease in East Europeans stealing fish for the table? I am sure there must be many more benefits to come.

I think this is unlikely. The full force of the customs restrictions does not happen until October. At the moment we are enjoying the benefit of a temporary waiver of some restrictions to ease us into the effects of Brexit.

 

Yeah it's a shame if some venues go, no doubt about that - fingers crossed things pick up for those businesses 👍

UK scene will settle down once furlough ends in Sept and there have been some new waters crop up which will also ease the numbers on the waters I fish, so it's looking good.

Not sure what you mean about less East Europeans stealing fish, not something I have experienced, Otters are the big threat here.

If I ever fish abroad again and I have nothing on the horizon - it would be flying to Italy, now that does appeal, maybe in a few years 😎

 

 

[carpepecheur]

29 minutes ago, kevtaylor said:

Not sure what you mean about less East Europeans stealing fish, not something I have experienced, Otters are the big threat here.

 

I confess I argued strongly against Brexit but now it is here we have to take any positives from it we can. I understood, only from reading on UK forums, that there was a big problem with East Europeans stealing carp from fisheries. I (perhaps naively) assumed that now, thanks to the imposition of freedom of movement, this problem would be resolved. I am sure there must be many more benefits to come from Brexit?

 

We have plenty of otters in France but they don't seem to pose a problem to the places I fish. The French love to hunt anything that moves so that may be a contributing factor.

 

I agree, Italy sounds very enticing. Remember you can only stay in any Schengen country, like Italy, for a maximum of 90 days in any 180 day period. This includes holidays and business trips also made in that time.

[kevtaylor]

13 minutes ago, carpepecheur said:

I agree, Italy sounds very enticing. Remember you can only stay in any Schengen country, like Italy, for a maximum of 90 days in any 180 day period. This includes holidays and business trips also made in that time.

Blimey 7 nights is more than enough for me - 4 nights too many if I'm honest 😁

 

[elmoputney]

1 hour ago, carpepecheur said:

I confess I argued strongly against Brexit but now it is here we have to take any positives from it we can. I understood, only from reading on UK forums, that there was a big problem with East Europeans stealing carp from fisheries. I (perhaps naively) assumed that now, thanks to the imposition of freedom of movement, this problem would be resolved. I am sure there must be many more benefits to come from Brexit?

 

We have plenty of otters in France but they don't seem to pose a problem to the places I fish. The French love to hunt anything that moves so that may be a contributing factor.

 

I agree, Italy sounds very enticing. Remember you can only stay in any Schengen country, like Italy, for a maximum of 90 days in any 180 day period. This includes holidays and business trips also made in that time.

Same I was still am dead against it tbh, feels quite a backward step in my opinion,its been a shambles, its made getting stuff imported a nightmare, going abroad is going to be trickier,its isolated us from Europe and now we have a shortage of people too do essential jobs that brits don't want to do, but it's not only that it's also given this government so much power to do what they like, slowly they are taking away our freedom, and taking away our rights to protest, corperal punishment has started being mentioned again, they've creamed off billions from the tax payer, get away with scandal after scandal and people still lap it up, Boris needs to go now he couldn't organise a raffle properly, (he would fix it for his mates to win) 

 

[Golden Paws]

I'm afraid I disagree. When the Common Market (as it was then) was introduced, it did seem like quite a good idea to form when was effectively a gentleman's club to make importing/exporting easier. If I have been able to vote at the time, I probably would have voted for it. Roll on 50 odd years and it has turned into a monster of many heads that just talks endlessly but achieves very little at a great cost.

One of their great achievements was standardizing jam! They ruled that jam could only be made with fruit. Fair enough, you would think. The Portuguese objected as they had made a carrot jam for many years. To get around that little problem, carrots were re-classed as a fruit!

My main problem was lack of democracy. In this Country, every 5 years or so you have to opportunity to vote on who runs the Country and have the power to replace the Government if you disagree with how they have run the Country. Although we used to have MEP's, they wielded very little power and it was the eurocrats  who run things and most were un-elected.

I'm afraid the other great lie was how much migrants contributed to our economy. OK, so they paid tax on their earnings. When you calculate how much it cost to educate their kids and pay for NHS treatment, I doubt that many were really truly paying their way. Drink driving was falling for many years amongst most groups of people. When the influx of Polish occurred, the rate shot up sharply as they do like a bit of Vodka.

The UK has been unshackled and now has it's ability to trade with Countries outside the EU bubble. We also have the right to decide who comes to our shores.

Although I did vote for Brexit, I did weigh up all the pro's and con's and made a decision based on the long term benefits that leaving would bring but was also mindful that sometime it is better the devil you know. I would vote for Brexit again tomorrow with more conviction than first time round.

[elmoputney]

1 hour ago, Golden Paws said:

I'm afraid I disagree. When the Common Market (as it was then) was introduced, it did seem like quite a good idea to form when was effectively a gentleman's club to make importing/exporting easier. If I have been able to vote at the time, I probably would have voted for it. Roll on 50 odd years and it has turned into a monster of many heads that just talks endlessly but achieves very little at a great cost.

One of their great achievements was standardizing jam! They ruled that jam could only be made with fruit. Fair enough, you would think. The Portuguese objected as they had made a carrot jam for many years. To get around that little problem, carrots were re-classed as a fruit!

My main problem was lack of democracy. In this Country, every 5 years or so you have to opportunity to vote on who runs the Country and have the power to replace the Government if you disagree with how they have run the Country. Although we used to have MEP's, they wielded very little power and it was the eurocrats  who run things and most were un-elected.

I'm afraid the other great lie was how much migrants contributed to our economy. OK, so they paid tax on their earnings. When you calculate how much it cost to educate their kids and pay for NHS treatment, I doubt that many were really truly paying their way. Drink driving was falling for many years amongst most groups of people. When the influx of Polish occurred, the rate shot up sharply as they do like a bit of Vodka.

The UK has been unshackled and now has it's ability to trade with Countries outside the EU bubble. We also have the right to decide who comes to our shores.

Although I did vote for Brexit, I did weigh up all the pro's and con's and made a decision based on the long term benefits that leaving would bring but was also mindful that sometime it is better the devil you know. I would vote for Brexit again tomorrow with more conviction than first time round.

We are heading into a capitalist nightmare at the moment, the poor get poorer and the rich will get richer, we won't even have an NHS soon as they want to privatise it, and by getting rid of "the immigrants" it will lead to a massive shortage of staff in hospitals, fruit pickers, warehouse staff, hgv drivers and all sorts, so the only thing we will have left to trade is finance,which suits the rich, most global companies will probably decide to quit the uk as import/export will become too much of a ball ache and we will all be at the mercy of Europe anyway 

Boris and his goons are pulling your pants down if you think we will be better off, they will be better off, they will keep changing the laws to suit while they have so much power, his handling of covid has been a deliberate attack on the vulnerable, look how many people are still dying from it, he allowed the Johnson variant to flourish in this country then packed his bags announcing freedom day was on and went off on his holidays, he doesn't care about anyone but his chums,he wants to see the NHS fail, he was happy to let gove and handcock stay in their jobs even though they got caught fiddling the books for personal gain, 

And as a human being, people deserve a better life wherever they come from, they arent just here to get benefits, they are the biggest lie anyway, if they got the rich to pay tax the cost of benefits would be Insignificant, but they don't as they give them nice things and big fat donations or allow them to become directors and shareholders, and maybe get a lordship in return 

The whole of the brexit campaign was built on lies, farage lied, Cummings said the campaign was based on lies, 

I would be happy to be proved wrong on brexit but I can't really see it going well with these clowns in charge 

 

 

[Golden Paws]

Steady on Elmo, your blood pressure is at bursting point!

I get it you don't like Boris. I would have more nightmares if that weasel Corbyn had got in. (Dianne Abbott for Home Secretary anyone?)

It's easy to say that Covid could have been handled better but it has been the worst global pandemic for a Century and with global travel, it had the legs to move quickly. Although we all value our personal freedoms, most people agreed to lock down with good grace as at one stage about 2,000 people a day were dying in this Country. It's a fine balance between the almost draconian place we were in a while back and where we are now. The winter will almost certainly see a resurgence in Covid deaths. I wouldn't have liked to make the judgement calls on when to lock down and when to gradually ease them. They have gone along with the medical experts to a large degree and any Government would have done the same.

The EU dithered on buying vaccines (probably still talking about it!) but Boris got in early, done the deal and secured the vaccines we needed. When they realized they had messed up, the EU tried to stop us getting them by underhand tactics.

All elections or referendums rely on fear, persuasion or lies and the Brexit one wasn't that different. You just have to study  the arguments and make a judgement call. 

[elmoputney]

41 minutes ago, Golden Paws said:

Steady on Elmo, your blood pressure is at bursting point!

I get it you don't like Boris. I would have more nightmares if that weasel Corbyn had got in. (Dianne Abbott for Home Secretary anyone?)

It's easy to say that Covid could have been handled better but it has been the worst global pandemic for a Century and with global travel, it had the legs to move quickly. Although we all value our personal freedoms, most people agreed to lock down with good grace as at one stage about 2,000 people a day were dying in this Country. It's a fine balance between the almost draconian place we were in a while back and where we are now. The winter will almost certainly see a resurgence in Covid deaths. I wouldn't have liked to make the judgement calls on when to lock down and when to gradually ease them. They have gone along with the medical experts to a large degree and any Government would have done the same.

The EU dithered on buying vaccines (probably still talking about it!) but Boris got in early, done the deal and secured the vaccines we needed. When they realized they had messed up, the EU tried to stop us getting them by underhand tactics.

All elections or referendums rely on fear, persuasion or lies and the Brexit one wasn't that different. You just have to study  the arguments and make a judgement call. 

How come we have the highest death rate in Europe if they've done such a good job? We live on an island,should be easy to control, and let's get it straight the vaccine was down to the scientists acting fast and the NHS distributing it efficiently not the government, let the bodies pile high was Boris's mantra and still is 

As for Corbyn he was probably the last chance at a decent socialist PM that would have put people first, the Labour Party wanted him out, the media wanted him out as he wasn't scared to rock the boat and now they are so far out of touch with the people there is no genuine opposition we the people are screwed, which leads us to where are now, 

Priti Patel isn't exactly doing a great job as home secretary, she wants to see hangings again and banning people from protesting, her parents were immigrants but she seems to have forgotten that,