Francisation is the act conferring on a vessel the right to fly the French flag; registration is its entry on a register of the French flag. They are two distinct notions, but since 1 January 2022 they give rise to a single formality, enregistrement, evidenced by a certificate of registration which replaces the former acte de francisation and the former carte de circulation. To be francisé, a vessel must have been built in the European Union or have paid the import duties and taxes there, and must belong at least half to nationals or companies of the Union or of the European Economic Area. The application is made to the maritime administration, online for an individual and at the DDTM or the DML for a company or a first registration, with the written bill of sale, proof of customs status, the declaration of conformity and, for vessels of 24 metres and over, the tonnage certificate. An annual tax on maritime craft for personal use is payable on pleasure vessels.
Many owners use the two words interchangeably, and the administration itself long maintained the confusion by entrusting francisation to customs and registration to the maritime authorities. The reform in force since 1 January 2022 simplified the procedure without abolishing the legal distinction, which retains concrete consequences: on the right to fly the flag, on mortgages, on deletion from the register and on taxation.
June 2026, a pontoon in La Rochelle. A buyer from Lyon pays €148,000 for an 11-metre sailing yacht built in 2014; the seller, a Belgian private individual, had registered it under the French flag in 2019, electing domicile with a friend in La Rochelle. The bill of sale fits on one page, both parties are in a hurry, the season is starting. Six weeks later, the transfer is still blocked: the bill of sale states neither the seller’s date nor town of birth, the seller never declared the sale online, and a mortgage entered in 2021 at the registry of the commercial court has not been released. Everything looks in order. Nothing is.
Francisation almost never goes wrong at the counter. It goes wrong earlier, in the bill of sale, at a moment when nobody is thinking about the flag. The sections below follow the procedure in the order in which it actually unfolds, from the checks before purchase to the certificate on board, then the annual tax and what changes in 2027.
Francisation: the right to fly the French flag
Article L. 5112-1-1 of the Transport Code puts it in one sentence: francisation confers on the vessel the right to fly the flag of the French Republic and the advantages attaching to it. It is therefore a question of the vessel’s nationality. It entails the application of French law on board, diplomatic and consular protection, access to French waters and ports without port-call formalities, and submission to flag State control in matters of safety, pollution and working conditions. It also entails obligations: compliance with French safety and manning rules, the presence on board of the certificate of registration (Article L. 5112-1-14) and payment of the taxes attaching to the flag.
Two sets of conditions apply. The first concerns the vessel: it must have been built in the territory of a Member State of the European Union or have paid there the import duties and taxes due (Article L. 5112-1-2). A yacht built in a third country and imported without customs clearance cannot be francisé. The second concerns ownership: the vessel must belong at least half to natural persons who are nationals of a Member State of the Union or, outside fishing, of the European Economic Area (Articles L. 5112-1-3 and L. 5112-1-5), or to legal persons having their seat in one of those States, the vessel then having to be directed and controlled from a permanent establishment in France where the seat is outside France (Article L. 5112-1-6). Natural persons who do not reside in France, or who reside there less than six months a year, must elect domicile there for administrative and judicial matters relating to the vessel.
The text also provides particular routes of access: finance leasing, where the vessel is intended to belong at least half to qualified persons once the option is exercised; bareboat charter by a qualified person; and, for vessels in commercial service, francisation founded on nautical management actually exercised from France (Article L. 5112-1-3, 2° to 4°). A bareboat chartered vessel keeps the French flag only if it is directed and controlled from a permanent establishment in France during the charter (Article L. 5112-1-4), and its francisation may be suspended, by a flag freeze, to allow it to sail temporarily under a foreign flag, subject to the agreement of the mortgagees (Article L. 5112-1-7).
In practice, the vessel condition means that a sailing yacht built in Turkey and bought directly from the yard enters the French flag only with its import declaration, whatever the buyer’s nationality. On ownership, a special approval allows the qualifying share to fall to 25%. The election of domicile required of a natural person who resides in France less than six months a year applies, in co-ownership, to each of the managers, which often takes family co-ownerships by surprise when one member has moved to Geneva or London and nobody has thought to update the file. Our Belgian seller in La Rochelle was in that position: his election of domicile with a friend was sufficient, provided it was produced in the file.
Registration: entry on a register
Registration enters a francisé vessel on a register of the French flag (Article L. 5112-1-9), and every vessel flying the French flag is registered (Article L. 5112-1-10). It is therefore the administrative consequence of francisation: it gives the vessel its port of registry and its number, which are among its identifying elements together with the name, nationality and tonnage (Article L. 5111-1), and it opens the matricule sheet on which the owners, their shares and the real rights encumbering the vessel are entered (Article L. 5114-3). There are several registers: the ordinary metropolitan register, the French International Register (RIF) reserved for commercial vessels and large commercially operated yachts, and the registers of the overseas collectivities. The choice of register governs the crew’s social regime, the tax position and certain safety rules, and it is among the decisions to be taken before buying a yacht.
It is on the register, and not on francisation, that securities attach. A maritime mortgage is entered in the register of movable securities kept by the registry of the commercial court of the vessel’s place of registration (Article R. 5114-14-1) and reported on the matricule sheet. Likewise, any instrument transferring ownership of a registered vessel must, on pain of nullity, be evidenced in writing with the particulars identifying the parties and the vessel (Article L. 5114-1), and it is that writing which allows the register to be updated.
Enregistrement: a single formality since 2022
Ordinance No 2021-1843 of 22 December 2021 merged the two procedures. Francisation and registration now give rise to the registration of the vessel and the issue of a certificate of registration (Article L. 5112-1-11), delivered by the maritime administration after the formalities have been completed and, beforehand, a safety check in accordance with the regulations (Article L. 5112-1-12). For pleasure vessels for personal use, that certificate also includes the navigation title (Article L. 5112-1-13): a single document replaces the acte de francisation, the carte de circulation and the navigation title. It must be on board any vessel putting to sea (Article L. 5112-1-14). The online portal, open to individuals only, handles a change of owner, a change of port or of name and the entry of a co-owner; a first registration, a technical modification, a theft, a destruction or a deletion goes through the DDTM or the DML, and vessels on the RIF through the RIF one-stop shop.
The documents to be assembled for a second-hand yacht are always the same: the written bill of sale, proof of the buyer’s identity and nationality or the company’s articles and extract of registration, proof of the vessel’s customs status (original invoice showing VAT, import document, or a previous certificate of registration mentioning francisation), the CE declaration of conformity and, for pleasure vessels for personal use of 24 metres or more in length, the tonnage certificate (Article L. 5112-2), vessels under 24 metres not being measured (Article L. 5112-3). For a vessel coming from a foreign flag, a certificate of deletion from the previous register must be added. The Code sets no time limit for processing, and four months’ silence amounts to acceptance (Article R. 5112-2-1-1); processing lengthens as soon as a document is missing, and the administration regularly rejects applications in which the customs status is not established.
Buyers still search for an “acte de francisation”. The term dates from the time when customs francised vessels and the maritime authorities registered them: two administrations, two files, two titles. Customs has had no competence since 2022; the Directorate General for Maritime Affairs, Fisheries and Aquaculture (DGAMPA) has taken its place, and maritime mortgages are kept by the registries of the commercial courts. Speaking of an acte de francisation remains a useful anachronism, since it is the term people search for; it is no longer the term used in the Code.
Which boats must be registered
Registration is compulsory for every pleasure boat of at least 2.50 metres and for every personal watercraft, whatever its size. Beach craft, as defined in Article 240-1.02 of the regulation annexed to the Order of 23 November 1987 on the safety of ships and the prevention of pollution (Division 240, version in force since 7 June 2026), are exempt: sailing boats under 2.50 m; craft with an internal combustion or electric engine under 2.50 m whose power does not exceed 4.5 kW (6.1 hp), motorised boards excepted; human-powered craft under 3.50 m, or longer where they do not meet the watertightness, stability and buoyancy requirements of Article 245-4.03; and surfboards. A human-powered craft of 3.50 m or more that meets those requirements (a sea kayak, a rowing boat) may be registered on a voluntary basis, which makes it easier to resell and to identify if stolen.
Step 1: check the boat before signing
The counter processes only what it is given. Three checks therefore precede any signature, and the administration carries out none of them of its own motion.
The first concerns the seller’s certificate. Its authenticity can be checked online on PROMETE, using the registration number and the unique control number printed on the title; a certificate that fails that check is worthless, however good the paper. The second concerns mortgages: the statement of registered charges is requested from the registry of the commercial court of the port of registry, and an unreleased mortgage follows the vessel into the buyer’s hands. The third is the pre-sale survey (diagnostic prévente, DPV), presented at the Paris boat show in 2025 by the Fédération des industries nautiques, France Assureurs and the DGAMPA, which adds a technical assessment of the hull, the engine and the equipment.
A fourth question should be put to the seller directly: has this year’s annual tax been paid? The owner on 1 January is liable for it, and a seller who failed to declare an earlier sale remains liable for the TAEMUP for the following years. At the time of sale this sometimes reveals a chain of owners of whom the register has never heard, and which will have to be reconstructed before any transfer. The buyer does not inherit that debt, but he does inherit the dispute.
Step 2: draft a bill of sale the administration will accept
This is where everything is decided, and it is the step the parties rush. The bill of sale must identify the boat (name, registration number, hull number, make and model, engine) and each party in full: surname, forenames, date and town of birth, address. One particular is missing, and the transfer stops. The bill of sale must be presented within one month (Article D. 5112-2-5 of the Transport Code); failure to do so incurs the administrative fine provided for in Article R. 5112-2-7.
We advise annexing to the bill of sale a copy of the certificate of registration, the invoices for the engine or engines, the written declaration of conformity and the statement of registered charges issued by the registry. Those documents take ten minutes to gather at the time of sale, when the seller is still on the pontoon and has every interest in things going smoothly. They take weeks to reconstruct afterwards, once the seller has taken the train back to Brussels.
Step 3: assemble the documents for your situation
The common core is the same for everyone: the original and a copy of the invoice or bill of sale, an identity document, proof of address, the certificate of election of domicile if the owner resides in France less than six months a year, and the original written declaration of conformity, CE or non-CE. The pleasure craft form (fiche plaisance) is required only for an application by post or at the counter. The rest depends on the case.
| Situation | Documents specific to this case | Where to apply |
|---|---|---|
| New boat bought from a professional | The seller carries out the provisional registration, which allows one month’s navigation; invoice and declaration of conformity | Through the professional |
| Second-hand boat between individuals, already registered in France | Complete bill of sale; the seller declares the sale and passes on the transfer code | demarches-plaisance.gouv.fr |
| Second-hand boat bought in another EU State | Invoice or bill of sale; tax certificate if the boat exceeds 7.50 m; proof of deletion from the foreign register | DDTM or DML (first French registration) |
| Boat bought outside the EU | Import declaration proving payment of the duties and taxes (Article L. 5112-1-2); declaration of conformity | DDTM or DML |
| Owner is a legal person | Proof of the company’s existence and seat; signatory’s authority | DDTM or DML (the portal is reserved for individuals) |
| Co-ownership | Identity of each co-owner; appointment of the manager; each co-owner confirms the sale online | Portal or DDTM, as the case may be |
| Owner resident outside France | Certificate of election of domicile in France | As in the cases above |
Step 4: choose the right counter
The portal demarches-plaisance.gouv.fr is free, opens with FranceConnect and serves natural persons only. It handles a change of ownership, a change of name, a change of port and the updating of contact details. It does not handle everything. For a first registration, a technical modification (including a change of engine, on invoice), a theft, a destruction or a deletion, which are precisely the situations in which a file becomes complicated and a conversation with the case officer avoids back-and-forth, the application must be made to the departmental directorate for the territories and the sea (DDTM) or, overseas, to the directorate of the sea (DML). The application is made by the beneficiary or by an agent (Article D. 5112-2-1), which allows a broker or a lawyer to lodge it for a buyer who has neither the time nor the inclination to follow the file.
Step 5: declare the sale and pass on the transfer code
Between individuals, the online transfer takes place in three stages: the seller declares the sale on the portal and uploads the bill of sale, the portal generates a transfer code (code de cession), and the buyer then enters that code and completes the transfer into his name, each co-owner having to confirm where the boat belongs to several persons. The time limit is one month from the sale, failing which the seller remains liable for the TAEMUP. No provision forbids him to drag his feet. His financial interest does.
The buyer has a simple lever: make delivery of the transfer code a condition of payment of the balance, written into the bill of sale. We include it as a matter of course.
Step 6: processing, and what four months’ silence is worth
The Code sets no time limit for processing. It sets a limit: silence kept by the administration for four months on an application for registration amounts to a decision of acceptance (Article R. 5112-2-1-1). The rule protects less than it appears to, and that is our firm view: an implicit acceptance puts no certificate on board, whereas Article L. 5112-1-14 requires precisely that it be there, so that an owner who sails on the strength of a silence is exposed at an inspection with nothing to show. After a month without news, it is better to chase the case officer, and after two months, to write.
Where the vessel is subject to one, a safety inspection precedes registration (Article L. 5112-1-12).
Step 7: read the certificate of registration
The certificate states the vessel’s name, type and port of registry, its IMO number if it has one, the owner’s identity, the date and number of registration, and the particulars of the matricule sheet (Article D. 5112-1). The register is identified by two letters (Article D. 5112-2). For a pleasure vessel for personal use, the certificate serves as the navigation title (Article L. 5112-1-13). A provisional certificate may be issued for delivery, demonstration or trials.
The title takes the form of a secure PDF that can be reprinted at will. According to the ministry responsible for the sea, it remains valid for ten years as long as nothing changes. It is attached to the vessel: it cannot be transferred or lent (Articles L. 5112-1-15 and L. 5112-1-16). The certificate follows the boat, never the owner.
Step 8: keep the certificate on board and up to date
The certificate must be on board (Article L. 5112-1-14). The rest is administrative upkeep: the boat’s name can be changed at any time free of charge; a change of home port requires no documents, except a move to an overseas collectivity, which requires residence there; and a change of engine is declared with the invoice for the new engine, failing which the certificate describes a boat that no longer exists.
The certificate is returned within one month if the vessel is lost, if the flag conditions cease to be met or if any of the particulars it records changes; where titles are dematerialised, the return takes the form of a report within the same time limit (Articles L. 5112-1-17 and D. 5112-2-6).
The annual tax on maritime craft for personal use
The former annual francisation and navigation duty disappeared with the reform. Since 1 January 2022 it has been replaced by the annual tax on maritime craft for personal use, codified in Articles L. 423-4 and following of the Code of Levies on Goods and Services. The chargeable event occurs, for each calendar year and for each taxable craft, on the first day of the year in which the conditions of taxation are met, or at the time the registration formality is completed where that happens during the year (Article L. 423-14).
The amount depends on the length of the hull and the power of the engines, with an allowance for age, and the tax is payable by the owner as at 1 January, which has to be settled between seller and buyer on a sale during the year. Vessels in commercial service, including charter yachts operated commercially, are not subject to it but fall under other regimes. For a foreign buyer, that distinction is usually the practical starting point of the whole structuring question.
Registration itself is free. What costs money is the annual tax on maritime craft for personal use (TAEMUP), codified in Articles L. 423-4 to L. 423-37 of the Code of Levies on Goods and Services, which succeeded the annual francisation duty.
The TAEMUP in 2026
Until 31 December 2026, the tax applies to boats of at least 7 metres or of at least 22 administrative horsepower (CV), and to personal watercraft under 4 metres with at least 90 kW. It adds together a hull element and an engine element.
| Hull length | Hull element (Article L. 423-23) |
|---|---|
| Under 7 m | €0 |
| 7 m to under 8 m | €77 |
| 8 m to under 9 m | €105 |
| 9 m to under 10 m | €178 |
| 10 m to under 11 m | €240 |
| 11 m to under 12 m | €274 |
| 12 m to under 15 m | €458 |
| 15 m and over | €886 |
| Administrative power | Rate per CV (Article L. 423-24) |
|---|---|
| Up to 5 CV | €0 |
| 6 to 8 CV | €14 |
| 9 to 10 CV | €16 |
| 11 to 20 CV | €35 |
| 21 to 25 CV | €40 |
| 26 to 50 CV | €44 |
| 51 to 99 CV | €50 |
| 100 CV and over | €64 |
Below 100 CV, the first five horsepower are deducted; outboard engines are counted separately. A 9.50 m sailing yacht built in 2010 with a 6 CV engine therefore pays €178 for the hull and €14 for the engine, a total of €192. For a boat built before 2008, the whole tax is reduced by 80% if it was built before 1993, by 55% if built between 1993 and 1997 and by 33% if built between 1998 and 2007; above 100 administrative horsepower, the reduction applies only to the hull element (Article L. 423-19). Personal watercraft pay €3 per kW from 90 to 159 kW and €4 above (Article L. 423-26); yachts of at least 30 metres and 750 kW pay a flat amount of €30,000 to €200,000 (Article L. 423-25).
The rest of the regime comes down to a few rules. The tax is not collected below €76 (Article L. 423-34). Boats classified or listed as historic monuments, and those of heritage interest, are exempt (Article L. 423-18). Corsica benefits from a reduction, set at 10% for 2025 and 2026. The flag of a non-cooperative State multiplies the tax by 3 below 15 metres and by 5 above (Article L. 423-20). The chargeable event is fixed at 1 January and the person liable is the owner (Articles L. 423-14 and L. 423-29). In the first year, the tax is reduced by one twelfth for each full month elapsed (Article L. 423-17): a boat registered on 5 October pays three twelfths.
What changes on 1 January 2027
The Finance Act for 2026, Law No 2026-103 of 19 February 2026 (Article 66), rewrites the scale, and administrative horsepower, a unit nobody could calculate without the manufacturer’s manual, gives way to kilowatts. The tax will apply to boats of at least 7 metres and to boats under 7 metres whose power reaches 120 kW. The hull element is increased and gains a band for craft of 24 metres and over.
| Hull length | 2026 | From 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Under 7 m | €0 | €0 |
| 7 m to under 8 m | €77 | €80 |
| 8 m to under 9 m | €105 | €110 |
| 9 m to under 10 m | €178 | €185 |
| 10 m to under 11 m | €240 | €250 |
| 11 m to under 12 m | €274 | €285 |
| 12 m to under 15 m | €458 | €470 |
| 15 m to under 24 m | €886 | €900 |
| 24 m and over | €886 | €1,200 |
The engine element becomes progressive, calculated by marginal power bands: €3 per kW up to 159 kW, €4 from 160 to 299 kW, €5 from 300 to 999 kW and €6 above. It is nil for boats taxable only because of their length, that is, those that remain below 120 kW. The reform therefore does not treat everyone alike, as two examples show. Our 9.50 m sailing yacht will pay €185 in 2027, slightly less than in 2026, since its engine falls outside the tax base. A 12.50 m motor launch built in 2015, whose engines total 350 kW of propulsive power, will pay €470 for the hull and €1,292 for the engine (€477 for the first 159 kW, €560 for the next band and €255 for the last 51 kW), a total of €1,762.
The age allowance is maintained on the hull (80%, 55% and 33%) and extended to the engine (70%, 50% and 25%), except from 1,000 kW (Article L. 423-24-1). Electric or hydrogen propulsion halves the engine element (Article L. 423-24-2). Where the power is not known, a flat-rate value set by ministerial order applies (Article L. 423-9). Listed historic monuments join classified ones in the exemption.
Paying, and the cost of not paying
Payment is spontaneous, on demarches-plaisance.gouv.fr, using the online payment codes sent to the owner. A false declaration, or an undeclared change that causes all or part of the tax to be evaded, incurs a surcharge of 80% of the amount evaded, applied thirty days after the notice of infringement and reduced to 30% if the owner pays online within fifteen days (Article L. 5112-1-27 of the Transport Code). The ministry provides an online simulator (simulateur-taxe-plaisance.mer.gouv.fr), and the single pleasure craft tax office (GUFiP) can be reached in Saint-Malo, 27 quai Solidor, on +33 2 90 63 03 45 or at gufip-info@mer.gouv.fr.
Penalties
The administrative fine can reach €1,500 for failing to keep the certificate on board, failing to present the bill of sale, failing to return or report the certificate, or the voluntary loss of francisation of a mortgaged vessel (Article R. 5112-2-7). The procedure is adversarial: the owner has one month to submit observations (Articles R. 5112-2-8 to R. 5112-2-10). The flag may also be withdrawn of the authority’s own motion where the conditions are no longer met, unless a published mortgage encumbers the vessel (Article L. 5112-1-8); here the legislature protects the lender before the owner.
Deletion, loss of the flag, change of flag
A vessel which no longer meets the conditions of francisation is deleted from the French flag of the authority’s own motion, unless it is subject to a published mortgage (Article L. 5112-1-8). The most frequent case is a sale to a buyer who is neither a national nor a company of the Union or of the European Economic Area: the vessel must then be re-registered on another register, and the seller must obtain a certificate of deletion which the destination register will require. The second case is an owner who leaves the Union without having organised the succession of the flag.
In both situations the existence of a mortgage blocks deletion, and any voluntary operation entailing the loss of francisation of a mortgaged vessel is prohibited (Article L. 5114-6-10). Conversely, a European owner buying a yacht under the Maltese or British flag may have it francisé if he establishes its customs status and obtains its deletion from the previous register. Sequencing those two steps in the right order, and in the right order relative to payment of the price, is what a well-drafted sale contract provides for.
Special cases
Since 1 May 2026, a transfer of the port of registry requires payment of the difference between the duties and taxes already paid and those due at the new port, where the vessel leaves a territory of the Republic situated outside the customs territory in order to be registered within it, and also where it moves from one part of that territory to another (Article L. 5112-9-2 of the Transport Code, introduced by Ordinance No 2026-265 of 8 April 2026). An owner who registered a catamaran in Pointe-à-Pitre and is bringing it back to Marseille must therefore make that calculation before changing the port, and not afterwards, once the application has been lodged and the service is claiming the differential. No decision has yet applied this provision; we reason on its wording, and its wording draws no distinction between pleasure and commercial vessels.
Deletion is applied for at the DDTM, never online. It requires that no mortgage be registered and that the TAEMUP has been paid, which applies in particular when the boat moves to inland navigation. A theft or a destruction is declared to the same service, with the certificate.
That leaves the French resident who keeps a boat under a foreign flag, a solution often thought to be lighter. Where the boat exceeds 7 metres or 22 administrative horsepower, or for a personal watercraft of more than 90 kW, it requires in any event a passport from the French administration, which thus regains through another door the control the owner thought he had escaped by registering the boat in Jersey, in Poland or on a still more exotic register. Set against an inspection at sea, a resale to a French buyer who will insist on the French flag and a bank that will refuse a mortgage on a register it does not know, the hoped-for saving in formalities often comes to very little and is sometimes paid for dearly.
When to consult a lawyer
Three situations recur. A registration application refused or left unanswered because the customs status of the vessel cannot be established, typically a yacht built outside the Union and imported years ago without a traceable file. A deletion ordered of the authority’s own motion after a change in the owner’s situation, or blocked by a mortgage the seller had forgotten. And a change of flag organised alongside a sale, where the certificate of deletion, the payment of the price and the entry on the new register have to be sequenced so that the buyer is never paying for a vessel that is on no register at all.
The firm handles the registration file itself where the position is contentious, the exchanges with the maritime administration and with customs, the release of mortgages before deletion, and the drafting of the sale documents that make the flag transfer work. For a foreign buyer of a yacht in France, the ownership structure, the choice of register and the customs and VAT position are decided together, before signature, because each of them constrains the others. A first assessment is normally possible within a few days on the strength of the vessel’s papers and the draft sale contract.
What the firm checks for you
Our work is mostly upstream, where mistakes are most costly. Before signature, we check the seller’s certificate on PROMETE, the statement of registered charges at the registry, the boat’s origin under Article L. 5112-1-2 and, for a boat coming from another State, proof of its deletion from the foreign register. We draft or review the bill of sale, making delivery of the transfer code a condition of payment of the balance. For a company, a co-ownership or a buyer resident outside France, we check the nationality condition and arrange the election of domicile. We then lodge the file as agent, follow its processing and calculate the TAEMUP under both the 2026 and the 2027 scales.
Buying or selling a vessel under the French flag, or facing a refused registration? The firm handles the file, the customs status and the change of flag alongside the sale.
Need assistance? See our maritime law practice.
On the tax and customs side, see our page yacht tax and customs lawyer.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between francisation and registration?
Francisation confers on the vessel the right to fly the French flag, that is, its nationality (Article L. 5112-1-1 of the Transport Code). Registration is its entry on a register of that flag, which gives it a port of registry, a number and a matricule sheet on which ownership and mortgages are recorded (Articles L. 5112-1-9 and L. 5114-3). Since 1 January 2022 both are obtained through a single formality, enregistrement, and a single certificate of registration.
What are the conditions for having a vessel francisé?
The vessel must have been built in the European Union or have paid the import duties and taxes there (Article L. 5112-1-2), and must belong at least half to natural persons who are nationals of the Union or, outside fishing, of the European Economic Area, or to legal persons having their seat in one of those States (Articles L. 5112-1-3, L. 5112-1-5 and L. 5112-1-6). Finance leasing, bareboat charter and nautical management from France provide alternative routes.
Can a non-European national own a vessel under the French flag?
Not on his own. The vessel must belong at least half to qualified persons of the Union or the European Economic Area. A non-European buyer may nevertheless hold it through a company having its seat in a Member State, the vessel then being directed and controlled from a permanent establishment in France where that seat is outside France. Structures of this kind must be examined before signature, since they also drive the tax and customs position.
Does the annual francisation duty still exist?
No. It was replaced on 1 January 2022 by the annual tax on maritime craft for personal use, in Articles L. 423-4 and following of the Code of Levies on Goods and Services. The amount depends on hull length and engine power, with an allowance for age, and it is payable by the owner as at 1 January, which should be apportioned between seller and buyer on a sale during the year. Commercially operated vessels are not subject to it.
What documents are needed to register a second-hand yacht?
The written bill of sale, proof of the buyer’s identity and nationality or the company’s articles and extract of registration, proof of the vessel’s customs status, the CE declaration of conformity and, for pleasure vessels for personal use of 24 metres or more, the tonnage certificate (Article L. 5112-2). For a vessel coming from a foreign flag, a certificate of deletion from the previous register is also required. The Code sets no time limit for processing; four months’ silence amounts to acceptance (Article R. 5112-2-1-1).
Must my boat be registered?
Yes, if it is at least 2.50 metres long or is a personal watercraft. Beach craft are exempt, and registration remains optional for a human-powered craft of 3.50 metres or more that meets the watertightness, stability and buoyancy requirements of Division 245.
How much does it cost to register a boat?
Nothing. Registration is free. Only the TAEMUP is payable each year, from 7 metres or above a certain engine power, and its scale changes on 1 January 2027.
What is the deadline for declaring the purchase of a second-hand boat?
One month from the sale. After that, the seller remains liable for the annual tax, and the administration may penalise the failure to present the bill of sale with a fine of up to €1,500.
How long does registration take?
The Code sets no time limit for processing. Four months’ silence amounts to acceptance, but it is no substitute for the certificate that must be kept on board.
How does the transfer code work?
The seller declares the sale online and uploads the bill of sale, the portal generates a code, and the buyer enters it to complete the transfer. Where the boat is co-owned, each co-owner must confirm.
Can the application be made online?
Yes for an individual, on demarches-plaisance.gouv.fr through FranceConnect. A company, a first registration, a technical modification, a theft or a deletion goes through the DDTM or the DML.
Does a commercial vessel follow the same procedure?
No. The pleasure craft portal covers only pleasure vessels for personal use. A vessel operated commercially (crewed charter, passenger transport, fishing) comes under the corresponding register and the competent services, with documents relating to the declared use, the tonnage and the manning.
What documents are needed for a boat bought in another EU country?
The invoice or bill of sale, the declaration of conformity, proof of deletion from the foreign register and, above 7.50 metres, a tax certificate. The file is lodged with the DDTM.
Can a company register a boat under the French flag?
Yes, if its seat is in France, or in another State of the Union or the EEA with a permanent establishment in France (Article L. 5112-1-6). The application is made at the counter, not on the portal.
Can a foreign national register a boat under the French flag?
A national of the Union or the EEA can, by electing domicile in France if he or she resides there less than six months a year. Beyond that, at least half of the vessel must belong to persons who meet the condition, failing which a special approval allows the qualifying share to fall to 25%.
How long is the certificate of registration valid?
Ten years according to the ministry, as long as none of the particulars it records changes. It can be reprinted at will and its authenticity checked on PROMETE.
What should be done if the boat is sold, stolen or destroyed?
Declare the event within one month. A sale is declared online; a theft or a destruction is declared to the DDTM, which deletes the vessel from the register where appropriate.
Further reading: ten checks before buying a yacht abroad, selling a yacht to a foreign buyer, checking that a vessel is unencumbered.
Written by Hervé Guyader, avocat at the Paris Bar, doctor of law. This content is general information and is no substitute for advice on your own matter.