Holidaying in France post brexit

cgtmiles

cgtmiles

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We have now shifted our 2020 summer holiday France crossing again from July 2021 to the beginning of next year but I’ve heard that there may be an issue taking ‘personal goods’ to France after brexit with a limit on the total value. When (or at this rate, if) we ever get to go back we will have a fully loaded camper when loads of camping kit and possibly some expensive bikes too. Does anyone know if this will be an issue? I have heard that the bikes alone if over £400 could be an issue.

Does anyone know what the limitations are now and had any experiences?

The rules around taking food and drink have been in the news (ham sandwiches banned etc) but I have not heard of any further changes so far.
 
cgtmiles said:
We have now shifted our 2020 summer holiday France crossing again from July 2021 to the beginning of next year but I’ve heard that there may be an issue taking ‘personal goods’ to France after brexit with a limit on the total value. When (or at this rate, if) we ever get to go back we will have a fully loaded camper when loads of camping kit and possibly some expensive bikes too. Does anyone know if this will be an issue? I have heard that the bikes alone if over £400 could be an issue.

Does anyone know what the limitations are now and had any experiences?

The rules around taking food and drink have been in the news (ham sandwiches banned etc) but I have not heard of any further changes so far.
Click to expand...
Not sure about your specific question, there are rules and regulations but who is going to check and police it?
I visited Switzerland a couple of years back, at the time they had restrictions on alcohol, meat and dairy imports from the EU, no doubt to protect their own inflated prices, no checks made at all just a ‘welcome and enjoy your stay’.
All European countries need tourism.
 
@cgtmiles. I don't know the facts but my suspicion is that the rumour mill is at work here. Using the specific example, there are a lot of places in Europe where cycling tourism is a big part of the local economy and the sort of people that tend to go on such trips (like me!) are very unlikely to have a sub-£400 bike and such rules could put yet another nail in their post-covid coffin. Personally, I would be really interested to hear from anybody who knows the real answer to the the original question as the thought of long European road trips once we get out of this mess is about the only thing making me keep hold of the van at the moment and they wouldn't be the same with the bikes on board.
 
I don't think that it is clear, but I suggest that this relates to items being imported not to items accompanying you on holiday. The limit on the import/ export of "Goods for personal use" is £390. There used to be 'Minimum Indicative Levels' (MILs) which served as a guide to establishing whether goods were for personal use. These MILs are now replaced by "personal allowances".

As said above, £400 is a very small value for stuff taken on holiday. Most phones exceed this! So perhaps we return to the old days I remember, when my father always made sure he took his camera receipt on holiday overseas to prove he wasn't importing it; but I hope not!

See Travellers Communication Pack
 
My parents have a place in France and the fb page they are on raised this as being an issue, and in fact did say that you would need to provide receipts for all items. On another gov site it sounded like you needed a carnet for every item but I think that was for cyclists competing in the EU. I can’t see anything on any ferry or eurotunnel site highlighting the issue so I’m gonna not worry for now.
Thanks everyone for replies and please update the thread with any experiences when you do travel to France in the summer
 
I think that food items are what the French customs will be interested in ..... on your way into France but not on your way back.

It’s all rather petty, I remember holidaying in France well before the EEC morphed into the EU and there were no checks on this sort of stuff in any way
 
cgtmiles said:
No me either but macron seems to think they are going to open up for tourists in June!
Click to expand...
Our French site is open from late May, but it's doubtfully we will be able to go,(first week in June),because of the 10 days quarantine and expensive tests on our return. All of these things will quickly dissapear once the summer holiday season is here, as money talks, and the tourism industry on the continent needs every penny of UK holiday makers money.
 
Some lorry drivers were having sandwiches confiscated a while back as you can't import food into France.
As we're outside the EU I suppose you'll have to declare everything. Prob best check the .gov website... I'd suggest buying bikes over there and leaving them if your folks own the place.
 
I actually have one of my old bikes down there now. So if I try to bring it back (I won’t) would I be importing it into the uk?
 
Unless you can prove you bought it in the UK then exported it...
 
It’s a 90s Saracen mountain bike so I don’t have any receipts for it, quite cool especially with the cruiser tyres I put on it for trips up seafront but I don’t want it back
 
SWMBO has a penchant for Normandy Cider (you have to be careful how you pronounce ‘cidre’ as the word for aids is very similar.) Oh, and Desperardos (I had the worse hangover ever on this stuff but still like it [unlike vodka which I haven’t touched since 2001])

Ian
 
As long as you steer clear of Grey Goose you should be ok to head back to the vodka bus.... :inlove:
 
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