Registration of pleasure boats and navigation tax: changes in 2022

2022 brings its share of changes to the yachting world: boat registration procedures, DAFN, dematerialization of navigation documents… Bateau-immatriculation.com takes stock of pleasure boating in 2022.

Since January 1, 2022, administrative procedures related to the registration of pleasure boats for sea navigation have been simplified. Indeed, the application for registration with the Maritime Affairs and the application for French flagging of the vessel to fly the French flag with the Customs Office merge into a single one: registration. It is carried out with the nearest Délégation à la Mer et au Littoral (DML) or Direction Départementale des Territoires et de la Mer. This still concerns pleasure boats over 2.5 meters (sailing boats, motor boats, personal watercraft).

The DDTM will issue you a secure PDF registration certificate. It now replaces the navigation license and the francization certificate and assigns you an identification number (2 letters, initials of the instructing service (former maritime district), and 6 characters). Apart from a change (engine, ownership, etc.) which must be declared within one month and will result in a reissuance of the certificate, the document has an unlimited lifespan.

As of 2022, we no longer speak of a home port but of a port of registration.

The registration certificate must be present on board the pleasure boat and must be able to be checked at any time by the authorized agent who requests it.

Although no format (paper or digital) is clearly imposed, Bateau-immatriculation.com recommends that you print it and laminate it so that you can present it during a check at sea.

Until 2021, to sail at sea, you had to pay the DAFN (Annual Francisation and Navigation Duty) or the Passport Duty (sailing under a foreign flag while being a tax resident in France), with identical amounts. This concerned all pleasure boats (sailing boats, motorboats) over 7 meters in hull length or equipped with an engine with an administrative power of 22 administrative horsepower, and PWCs (jet skis, sea scooters) with a real power of 90 kW and more.

Since January 1, 2022, the DAFN and the Passport Duty have merged into a single annual tax on maritime craft for personal use. Payment of the tax is made between January 1 and March 31 online to the Directorate of Maritime Affairs (and no longer to the Customs Office). There will be no change in the amount, unless there is a change in engine power: The allowance has been frozen since 01/01/2019, no further changes are possible.