The French Registration of Pleasure Boats Flying a Foreign Flag

While sailing under a foreign flag once offered many privileges and simplified administrative procedures for French citizens, this is no longer the case today. French or foreign navigators with their tax residence in France are now obliged to comply with French regulations or to have their pleasure boat naturalized as French. To assist you in your efforts to repatriate your boat under the French flag, we explain the various procedures and the legislation currently in force.

More flexible in terms of safety and administrative documents, other European countries like Belgium and the Netherlands have attracted French boaters for many years to register a boat. To name just a few, the Belgian flag allows sailing in offshore areas without a navigation license, the Dutch flag allows navigation with reduced and simplified safety equipment...

European nationals could register their pleasure boat in the state of their choice and only had to comply with the regulations of that flag, regardless of the navigation area and their country of origin.

To encourage the pleasure boating sector, law n°2016-816 for the blue economy, published on June 20, 2016, changed things for French nationals, as stipulated in article L. 5241-1-1:

"Regardless of their flag, pleasure craft and motorized watercraft belonging to natural or legal persons whose primary residence or registered office is in France, as well as pleasure craft and motorized watercraft that these persons have the use of, are subject, in French territorial waters, to all the rules relating to boat licenses and to the equipment and safety gear applicable on board pleasure craft and motorized watercraft flying the French flag."

In other words, the privileges of flying a foreign flag no longer apply to the navigation of French residents in French territorial waters. Moreover, the French tax (DAFN) is now mandatory, regardless of the boat's country of registration. Payment is made in the form of a passport duty. The amount is equal to the DAFN paid by a boater with a boat flying the French flag.

Finally, it should be noted that to clarify registration records at the European level, Belgium (and other foreign governments) sends a deregistration notice to French owners if they do not primarily reside in its territory.

• Keep the foreign flag while applying French regulations: pass and obtain the appropriate navigation license for the desired type of navigation, equip your boat or PWC (Personal Watercraft: Jet Ski) with mandatory safety equipment…
• Have your boat Frenchified/registered

The acte de francisation (French registration certificate) is an administrative document issued by the Customs Department that authorizes a vessel to fly the French flag and implies compliance with French law, both legislative and fiscal (payment of VAT and DAFN - annual navigation and pleasure boat tax).

French registration concerns:

• sailboats and motorboats with a hull length of at least 7 meters and/or with an administrative power of 22 CV and more
• PWCs (jet skis, personal watercraft, etc.) with a real power exceeding 90 kW.

The validity of this navigation title is unlimited as long as the vessel remains under the French flag.

Repatriating a pleasure boat under the French flag is a long and potentially tedious administrative process, but the specialized advisors at Bateau-Immatriculation.com are here to help you.

If your boat is less than 7 meters long and/or has an administrative power of less than 22 HP, or if your PWC is equipped with an engine with a real power of less than or equal to 90 kW, then French registration is not mandatory. However, it is still possible to have it repatriated under the French flag. For this, the procedure is also long and potentially complicated. You can entrust us with your file; we will take care of all these administrative procedures with the Customs and Maritime Affairs Services to proceed with the boat's registration and obtain the registration number.