Please enter your email address to receive the guide, September 2026 edition. The download starts automatically after submission.
Your email will be used by the firm only to send you the requested guide and provide any necessary follow-up, in accordance with our privacy policy. It will be kept for a maximum of 3 years; you may request its deletion at any time by writing to guyader@guyader-avocat.fr.
What the guide contains
Twenty-two pages on what the law requires when a yacht is put to work in French waters. The guide starts from the dividing line between personal use and commercial use, which tolerates no grey area, and details what the owner, the broker and the captain risk when a private boat is chartered out with its crew: navigation certificates, safety certificate, qualifications, undeclared work, avoidance of the insurance and nullity of the charter contract. It then describes the lawful route: commercial use status, operation of a foreign vessel in France with its host State obligations, or a move to the French international register. It covers the crew employment agreement and the law that really governs it despite the flag, social security for seafarers, dismissal of the captain and the compulsory conciliation on which any claim depends, the marina berth and what it really gives you, the salvage invoice and how to challenge it, and finally accidents on board, where liability and limitation are allocated the opposite way from what owners imagine. It ends with a table of the ten building blocks of operation, a roadmap and a glossary. It is written for owners and operating companies, management companies, captains and crews, brokers, marina operators, insurers and advisers.
While you wait for the guide, the related analyses are freely available: Illegal yacht charter in France: the risks for the owner and the broker, on the line between personal use and commercial use; Yacht crew in France: employment contract, governing law, social security and dismissal of the captain, on what the flag does not decide; Marina berths in France: usage guarantees, fees, termination and the competent court, on long-term berths, fee increases and termination; Assistance and towage at sea in France: challenging a salvage invoice, on the invoice and how to challenge it; Accident on board a yacht in France: liability of the owner towards guests, passengers and crew, on liability towards guests, passengers and crew; The French International Register (RIF): conditions and benefits for shipowners, on the conditions and benefits of the flag for a charter yacht.
Frequently asked questions about operating a yacht in France
When does my boat become a commercial vessel?
As soon as a crew is supplied with it, or the owner keeps control of the navigation, or what is sold is no longer a boat but a stay. A pleasure vessel for personal use is one used by its owner, by a hirer who has it entirely at his disposal or by a borrower free of charge; a pleasure vessel for commercial use carries passengers for a price, under the responsibility of the shipowner and the captain (Decree No. 84-810 of 30 August 1984, article 1). Bareboat hire remains personal use. Hire with crew never does.
What exactly does an inspection on board a chartered yacht check?
Four documents, in this order: the navigation certificate, a manning permit for professional use or a circulation card for personal use; the safety certificate issued for the use actually carried on; the certificates of competency and medical fitness of the captain and crew; and the employment contracts. On board a foreign vessel operated mainly in French waters, add the receipt for the declaration of activity, sent seventy-two hours before the activity begins (article R. 5561-2 of the Transport Code). Inspections look at documents that either exist or do not.
My captain is paid by a foreign management company: am I his employer?
Possibly, and often jointly. A company that signs the contract without naming the owner on whose behalf it acts risks being treated as the employer, and an owner who gives orders on board risks being treated as co-employer. The seafarer employment agreement must identify the employer unambiguously and contain the particulars required by article L. 5542-3 of the Transport Code. Having a contract signed with an entity outside France does not make the problem go away; it shifts it to another charge.
Can I part ways with my captain at the end of the season?
Not by text message, and not without notice. Termination follows the Labour Code as adapted for seafarers: preliminary meeting, reasoned letter, real and serious cause, severance pay. Notice is a matter of public policy: one month after six months of actual service on board and one to two years’ seniority, two months beyond that, and its starting point must leave the seafarer, ashore, a paid period at least equal to a quarter of the notice (articles L. 5542-43 and L. 5542-44 of the Transport Code). Repatriation remains at the employer’s expense.
I paid for a marina berth fifteen years ago: what do I actually own?
A right of use, not an asset. A marina is part of the public domain, where no one may occupy without a title and occupation is temporary, precarious and revocable (articles L. 2122-1 to L. 2122-3 of the General Code of Public Property). The berth guarantee, for a maximum of thirty-five years, gives access to a berth matching the size of the boat; it is neither ownership, nor a lease, nor a co-ownership share, and it is only valid within the limits of the concession agreement that authorises it.
Can the marina operator raise the fee as it pleases?
No. The fee must take account of the benefits obtained by the holder of the authorisation (article L. 2125-3 of the General Code of Public Property) and respect equality between users in the same situation. Changing it requires the proposed provisions to be posted for fifteen days and the port council to be consulted, where boat owners are represented by the local committee of permanent port users. The tariff decision can be challenged by an action for annulment within two months; but stopping payment is still the surest way to lose your berth.
Is a salvage invoice of twelve thousand euros due?
That depends first on the danger. Without danger, the service rendered is towage, paid at the agreed price or set according to custom. Where there is danger, salvage that has had a useful result gives right to a reward set according to ten criteria, including the value of the vessel salved, the nature of the danger, the time spent and the means deployed, and capped at the value of the property salved (article L. 5132-4 of the Transport Code). A contract signed under the influence of danger whose price is manifestly disproportionate may be annulled or modified by the court.
A guest is injured on board: how far am I liable?
With no cap in principle and no indulgence for hospitality. A guest falls under the general law and may sue on the basis of custody of the thing, without having to prove fault (article 1242, paragraph 1, of the Civil Code), acceptance of risks not being enforceable against him outside sporting competition. The owner in principle keeps the right to limit his liability, except for personal fault committed recklessly and with knowledge that damage would probably result. Towards a crew member, by contrast, limitation never applies.
Should my charter yacht move to the French international register?
If it is over fifteen metres and genuinely operated, often yes. The French international register is open to professional yachts over fifteen metres overall (article L. 5611-2 of the Transport Code) and gives the flag of a Member State, which is useful for charter in EU waters, with the French ship mortgage as a financing instrument. In return, it requires a proportion of European seafarers, a captain and deputy meeting nationality and language conditions, and genuine commercial operating accounts.