The French International Register accepts international trade vessels, commercial yachts over 15 metres and deep-sea fishing vessels. It requires a crew that is 35% European, or 25% without tax aid, and a master who is an EU national, in return for exemptions from employer contributions, an adapted tax regime and specific labour rules for non-resident seafarers.
A shipowner orders a gas carrier to be operated between the Gulf and Europe. A family office buys a forty-five metre yacht it wants to charter out in the Mediterranean in summer. A cable-ship operator renews its fleet. All of them face the same question: under which flag should the vessel be registered? Between open registers, European registers and national registers, the French International Register holds a particular place. It offers the flag of an EU Member State, a member of the IMO and a party to every convention, with social and tax rules designed for international competition.
This article describes who can access it, what it requires in terms of crew and labour law, what it brings on the tax and social side, and the situations in which it is, or is not, the right choice.
What the RIF is
Created by Act no. 2005-412 of 3 May 2005 and codified in articles L. 5611-1 et seq. of the French Transport Code, the French International Register (registre international français, RIF) aims, in the words of the statute, to develop maritime employment and to strengthen maritime safety and security by promoting the French flag (article L. 5611-1). It is neither a flag of convenience nor a second register of an overseas territory: a vessel registered under the RIF is a French ship, subject to French sovereignty, to the international conventions ratified by France and to the supervision of its administration.
The RIF coexists with the metropolitan register, which remains the register for coastal fishing vessels, passenger ships on regular lines and private pleasure craft, and with the registers of the overseas communities. It is run by a one-stop shop based in Marseille, which centralises registration, the issue of documents and the follow-up of vessels.
Books I, II and IV and Titles I and VII of Book V of the fifth part of the Transport Code apply to RIF vessels (article L. 5611-4): status of the ship, ship mortgages, arrests, safety, inspection and the common rules on seafarers. Book VI, specific to the RIF, adds a particular social regime for non-resident seafarers.
Who can register
Article L. 5611-2 opens the register to three categories of vessels: merchant ships engaged in deep-sea trade or international coastal trade, except passenger ships on regular intra-Community lines or certain international lines; commercial yachts over 15 metres in length overall; and professional fishing vessels engaged in deep-sea fishing, classified in the first category and operating in areas defined by regulation.
Article L. 5611-3 expressly excludes passenger ships on regular intra-Community lines, vessels operated exclusively in national coastal trade, harbour assistance, harbour towage, maintenance dredging, mooring, pilotage and buoy-tending vessels, and fishing vessels other than deep-sea fishing vessels.
These criteria draw a clear line. A tanker, a container ship, a bulk carrier, a cable ship, a marine energy service vessel, a cruise ship on international itineraries or a charter yacht over 15 metres fall within the RIF. A ferry between Marseille and Corsica, a harbour tug, a coastal passenger launch or a trawler cannot access it. Nor can a private pleasure yacht with no commercial operation: the RIF only accepts commercial yachting, which requires commercial manning, a professional crew and compliance with the safety rules that apply to merchant ships.
The nationality conditions of the vessel, common to all French registers and set out in Chapter II of Title I of Book I of the fifth part of the Transport Code, also apply: broadly, the vessel must be owned at least half by nationals or companies of a Member State of the European Union or of the European Economic Area, or be managed and controlled from a permanent establishment in France. A foreign company can therefore register a vessel under the RIF if it meets one of these conditions, in practice through a suitable ownership or management structure.
The crew: nationality, master, manning
This is the price of the regime. On board RIF vessels, at least 35% of the crew, calculated on the minimum safe manning document, must be nationals of a Member State of the European Union, of the European Economic Area, of Switzerland or of a State bound by an agreement of the same scope (article L. 5612-3, I). The percentage falls to 25% for vessels that do not, or no longer, benefit from the tax aid scheme granted for their acquisition. At the shipowner’s request, compliance is assessed not vessel by vessel but across its whole RIF fleet, and it is checked every year.
The master and the officer acting as deputy must be French or nationals of one of those States, and must show professional qualifications and a knowledge of the French language and of legal matters sufficient to keep the ship’s documents and to exercise the master’s public-authority powers (article L. 5612-3, II). On a merchant ship, the chief engineer may meet this condition instead of the deputy. A shipowner who expands its fleet under the French flag benefits, for two years per additional vessel, from a relaxation: only one person on board, master, deputy or chief engineer, needs to meet the language and law condition.
Every shipowner takes part in embarking cadets from French maritime training schools (article L. 5612-4). The shipowner is responsible towards all seafarers on board for compliance with the rules of Book VI, independently of the liability of their employers, and it guarantees the financial consequences of the employers’ default for sickness, accident, death, unpaid wages and contributions, and repatriation (article L. 5612-6). Breach of the crew nationality requirement, as of several social rules, is punishable by a fine of 7,500 euros (article L. 5642-1).
Labour law on board: two regimes depending on residence
Book VI distinguishes seafarers according to their residence (article L. 5612-1). Those who reside in France are governed by the whole of Book V of the fifth part of the Transport Code, that is ordinary French maritime labour law, with its collective agreements, and are affiliated to the ENIM, the seafarers’ social security scheme. Those who reside outside France are subject to a specific regime, whose main rules are as follows.
The seafarer’s employment agreement of a non-resident is governed by the law chosen by the parties, subject to the provisions of Book VI, the applicable collective agreements and the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (article L. 5621-7). Conditions of engagement, employment, work and life on board may not be less favourable than those of the International Labour Organization conventions ratified by France (article L. 5621-8). The seafarer must have enough time to review the agreement before signing it and must keep a copy on board (article L. 5621-12). Engagement may be direct or through a manning agency, the shipowner remaining guarantor if the agency defaults and having to show insurance or a financial guarantee covering that risk (article L. 5621-17).
The first three months of the first period of employment are a probationary period. The maximum period on board is six months, extended to nine months by collective agreement, and in both cases adjustable by one month for operational reasons (article L. 5621-9). The agreement ends at its term, when the vessel is lost or laid up, by decision of the employee if the vessel is heading for a war zone, or by reasoned and notified decision of the shipowner for serious misconduct, gross misconduct or genuine and serious cause (article L. 5621-13). Reciprocal notice is one month, except for serious or gross misconduct and force majeure (article L. 5621-14). Severance may not be less than two months’ wages, except for termination during probation, at the employee’s initiative or for serious or gross misconduct (article L. 5621-15). Repatriation is due at the end of periods on board of no more than twelve months, at the expense of the shipowner or the manning agency, to the place of engagement, the agreed place or the seafarer’s residence, at the seafarer’s choice (article L. 5621-16).
Working time is organised on the basis of 8 hours a day, 48 hours a week and 208 hours a month, with the possibility of another daily basis of up to 12 hours by collective agreement (article L. 5623-1). Hours beyond 48 a week are overtime, compensated by equivalent rest or paid at a premium of at least 25% (article L. 5623-2). A record of hours of work and rest is kept on board (article L. 5623-4), and the seafarer is entitled to one day of weekly rest (article L. 5623-6), to public holidays set by agreement or by contract among the legal holidays of his or her country (article L. 5623-7), and to three days of paid leave per month of actual work (article L. 5623-8).
Disputes follow a protective jurisdiction rule: the employer may only sue before the courts of the State of the employee’s domicile, whereas the employee may sue the employer before the French courts, those of his or her domicile or those of the place of the establishment that hired him or her, after an attempt at conciliation in France (article L. 5621-18). A jurisdiction clause is valid only if it post-dates the dispute or widens the employee’s options.
Social protection of non-resident seafarers
Seafarers who are nationals of a State of the European Union or of the European Economic Area, or of a State bound to France by a bilateral social security convention, are covered under the European coordination regulations or the applicable convention (article L. 5631-2). For the others, the shipowner must provide minimum social protection, defined by article L. 5631-4: full coverage of medical, hospital and repatriation costs in case of sickness or accident in the service of the ship, with payment of basic wages for 120 days in case of sickness and until recovery or consolidation in case of accident; a death benefit to the spouse and dependent children, up to three; maternity coverage for two months; an annuity or lump sum in case of permanent incapacity; and an old-age pension whose level is set by reference to annual pay.
In practice this protection is organised through group insurance taken out by the shipowner or by the manning agency, whose cost must be built into the crewing budget.
The tax and social benefits for the shipowner
The first benefit is social. Article L. 5553-11 of the Transport Code, as amended by the 2025 Social Security Financing Act, allows shipping companies to be exempted from the employer contribution to the ENIM for seafarers affiliated to that scheme and serving on merchant ships managed and controlled from a permanent establishment in France, flying the French flag or that of another EU State, and engaged in transport or maritime services exposed to international competition. For cable ships, marine renewable energy service vessels and passenger ships, the exemption extends to family allowance and unemployment insurance contributions. It requires at least 25% of seafarers who are EU or EEA nationals, assessed across the fleet, and prior authorisation from the State authority.
The second benefit is tax. The RIF one-stop shop presents as available to shipowners under this register the tonnage tax regime of article 209-0 B of the French General Tax Code, which replaces corporate income tax with a flat amount based on the tonnage of the vessels, the depreciation regime for ships and ship co-ownership shares of article 39 C, and the exceptional deduction of article 39 decies C for vessels using clean energy. For seafarers domiciled in France, article 81 A of the same code exempts from income tax, under conditions, wages earned for work carried out outside France for more than 183 days in any twelve consecutive months where it consists of sailing on board merchant ships registered under the RIF, which allows shipowners to recruit French seafarers at a competitive net cost.
For yachts, the one-stop shop refers to exemptions from VAT and customs duties on import and on supplies, subject to commercial operation, and to access to the flag of a Member State, which facilitates charter operations in EU waters, since Regulation (EEC) no. 3577/92 in principle reserves maritime cabotage to vessels flying the flag of a Member State.
The third benefit lies in the flag itself. France is on the white list of the Paris Memorandum of Understanding, which reduces the frequency of port State inspections and the risk profile of the vessel. The French ship mortgage, recorded with the one-stop shop, is a financing instrument recognised by banks. Consular and diplomatic protection, and the intervention of the French Navy in high-risk areas, are those of a State that has the corresponding means.
For which shipowners, and on what terms
The RIF is aimed first at international shipping companies that operate their fleet from an establishment in France or in the Union and want the flag of a Member State without the cost of an entirely European crew. The 35% or 25% rule leaves up to two thirds or three quarters of the crew, calculated on minimum manning, to non-resident seafarers under the Book VI regime.
It is aimed next at yachts over 15 metres operated in charter. Moving to the RIF requires certifying the vessel as a commercial yacht, manning it with a compliant crew, with a master who meets the nationality and language conditions, and keeping the commercial operating accounts that the tax and customs authorities will require to maintain the exemptions. A yacht whose real use is private, with a few weeks of charter for appearances, is exposed to the withdrawal of these benefits and to the reassessments that come with it.
It does not suit vessels excluded by article L. 5611-3, shipowners who cannot meet the nationality requirements for the master and deputy, or those whose model relies on the absence of social protection for the crew. It means accepting the supervision of the French administration, for safety as for labour law: RIF vessels are inspected by the ship safety centres, and maritime labour inspectors may intervene on board.
The choice is therefore made on a full comparison: crew cost under each regime, taxation of the shipowner and seafarers, cost of social insurance, certification requirements, mortgage financing and exposure to inspections. It also depends on timing, because registering under the RIF a vessel coming from another register requires a deletion certificate, the discharge or transfer of registered mortgages and a commissioning survey.
What the firm does
The firm advises shipowners, yacht owners and their banks on the choice of register and handles registrations under the RIF and deletions from it.
It structures the ownership and management of the vessel to meet the nationality conditions, prepares the one-stop shop file, records mortgages, drafts the employment agreements of resident and non-resident seafarers and the supply agreements with manning agencies, and sets up the social protection required by Book VI. It assists the shipowner with applications for exemption from contributions and in defending its tax and customs positions, particularly for yachts in charter.
Finally, it acts in disputes arising on board RIF vessels: termination of employment agreements, repatriation, accidents, maritime labour inspections and prosecutions under article L. 5642-1.
For a complete picture, our practical guide Operating a yacht in France: charter, crew, berth, accidents, what rules and what risks? brings together the ten building blocks of a lawful operation, from commercial status to crew contracts, berth and insurance; it can be downloaded free of charge. To have your own situation reviewed, contact the firm.
Frequently asked questions
Which vessels can be registered under the RIF?
Merchant ships in deep-sea trade or international coastal trade, commercial yachts over 15 metres in length overall and first-category deep-sea fishing vessels (article L. 5611-2 of the Transport Code). Ferries on regular intra-Community lines, vessels engaged exclusively in national coastal trade, harbour assistance vessels and other fishing vessels are excluded (article L. 5611-3).
Can a private yacht be registered under the RIF?
No. Only commercial yachting is admitted, which requires genuine commercial operation, certification of the vessel on that basis and a professional crew. A private pleasure yacht belongs on the ordinary register.
What proportion of European seafarers is required?
At least 35% of minimum manning, nationals of the European Union, the EEA, Switzerland or a State bound by an equivalent agreement, reduced to 25% where the vessel does not benefit from tax aid on acquisition. The requirement may be assessed across the shipowner’s fleet (article L. 5612-3).
Must the master be French?
The master, like the deputy, must be French or a national of a State of the Union, the EEA or Switzerland, and must show a knowledge of the French language and of the legal matters needed to keep the ship’s documents and exercise the master’s public-authority powers (article L. 5612-3, II).
Which labour law applies to non-resident seafarers?
The law chosen by the parties, subject to the mandatory rules of Book VI of the Transport Code and the Maritime Labour Convention: three months’ probation, a maximum of six months on board, one month’s notice, severance of at least two months’ wages, repatriation at the shipowner’s expense, 48 hours of work a week, three days’ leave per month (articles L. 5621-7 to L. 5623-8).
What are the tax and social benefits of the RIF?
Exemption from employer contributions to the ENIM for affiliated seafarers, under conditions (article L. 5553-11), access to tonnage tax and ship depreciation regimes, income tax exemption for seafarers domiciled in France who sail more than 183 days in twelve months on merchant ships (article 81 A of the General Tax Code), and for yachts in charter, exemptions from VAT and duties on import and on supplies.
Can a foreign company register a vessel under the RIF?
Yes, if the vessel meets the nationality conditions of the Transport Code, in practice ownership held at least half by EU or EEA nationals or companies, or management and control exercised from a permanent establishment in France.
What does a shipowner risk if it breaches the RIF rules?
A fine of 7,500 euros for breach of the rules on crew nationality, length of service on board, repatriation, collective representation and minimum wage (article L. 5642-1), repeat offending being established by a new breach within twelve months, without prejudice to tax and social reassessments.
Hervé Guyader, avocat at the Paris Bar, doctor of law.
For a registration or a deletion from the register, the firm can be reached through its contact form.
On the same subject, the status of the vessel: illegal charter and its consequences; the crew: the employment contract and social protection of yacht crew; damage: accidents on board a yacht.