I had a good trip to France last weekend, and thought a write-up might be useful for members to understand some of the issues and processes for taking firearms there.
The shoot we went to is in the Somme department (although c.30km from the battlefield). The shoot we participated in was for pheasants (the remarkable Reeve’s variety) and woodcock. But it also hosts grand gibier (“big game”) driven shoots, for roe deer and boar; I am going back in a few weeks.
We drove from London to Folkestone, and took the Eurotunnel Shuttle. Everything worked really well each way and, given the security issues that some other posters have highlighted for the ferries, I would thoroughly recommend it. The process for taking your own guns and/or shotguns was as follows:
Before the trip:
- You need a written invitation from your shoot. They will almost certainly know how to do this if they have ever had visiting guns from across any border. The invitation says where the shoot is, contact details, your name. and may state what sort of shooting: if you are shooting grand gibier, ask for the invitation to state this, since this authorises the sort of firearm and ammunition you import.
- Then apply for a French permis de chasse. Your FAC or SGC is recognised as having equivalence (which is nice of them) – once you have applied once (online – I used www.fdc80.com as the local Federation), your FAC/SGC number becomes your permis number for all subsequent applications.
- Total cost for 3 days, including insurance, is c.€80 for the permis. Knock off €20 if you already have insurance, but you will be asked to show it before you shoot.
- It can be a bit confusing doing this the first time, but if you know a French-speaker (i.e your host) they can phone the Federation, who will manually process your initial application in an hour or so: I did this for my daughter, who accompanied me, the day before we started.
- Your permis de chasse, which you print off, is the second key part of the process for taking guns/firearms in and out of France.
- The final important bit (apart, clearly from your FAC/SGC) is the Douanes (French Customs) declaration. Easiest way to get this is to go onto www.FACE.eu and search for “visiting France”, or similar. The document is called Document d’accompagnement en cas de déclaration verbale pour l’admission temporaire, CERFA no.15678-01, and is a doddle to fill in: just put the description of your guns/firearms (make, calibre; no need for serials), their estimated value, the date you will be shooting, and your name and address.
At Folkestone:
- The first manned booth you get to when your car is called forward is UK Border Control. Say that you are carrying firearms.
- They will point you to the next booth, where they take a photocopy of your UK certificate. (They also swab the steering wheel for explosives, which is pretty pointless, since if you have been reloading then the alarms should go off!). There is a sign that says "Declare any firearms here" or suchlike.
- Final stage: ask for the Douanes (it’s a biggish portacabin setup on the left of the check-in area). They will want to see your guns/firearms inside, and check them against your filled in CERFA no.15678-01; they just looked at the makes of ours, nothing more. They might also ask to see your invitation and permis de chasse – have them available. They will stamp your CERFA no.15678-01: make sure you keep this, since it’s the only way to bring the guns/firearms back out of France/the EU.
- Total time taken was less than 15 minutes.
- Then drive on the Shuttle, have a kip as it goes under the Channel, drive off, and go and shoot. The only other check is of your permis and insurance on the morning of the shoot – they really take this very seriously.
On the way back at Calais:
- Inform the Border Control that you have armes à feu.
- Ask for the Douanes, who will check them against your filled-in and stamped CERFA no.15678-01.
- Your FAC/SGC is your UK import/possession permit. No one seemed remotely interested on the UK side of check in!
- Total time taken was under 10 minutes.
Overall, it was a far easier and less stressful way to take firearms abroad than any other method I have tried (flying, Eurostar). If your shoot is within decent driving distance of the Tunnel, you can get a full day’s driven shooting in, plus travel there and back from Southern England well inside 36 hours.
This was the first time I have shot petit gibier (= driven birds) in France – previously I have only shot boar. The day really confirmed to me the hospitality of the French, and their desire to make our visit as easy and enjoyable as possible.
The shoot we went to is in the Somme department (although c.30km from the battlefield). The shoot we participated in was for pheasants (the remarkable Reeve’s variety) and woodcock. But it also hosts grand gibier (“big game”) driven shoots, for roe deer and boar; I am going back in a few weeks.
We drove from London to Folkestone, and took the Eurotunnel Shuttle. Everything worked really well each way and, given the security issues that some other posters have highlighted for the ferries, I would thoroughly recommend it. The process for taking your own guns and/or shotguns was as follows:
Before the trip:
- You need a written invitation from your shoot. They will almost certainly know how to do this if they have ever had visiting guns from across any border. The invitation says where the shoot is, contact details, your name. and may state what sort of shooting: if you are shooting grand gibier, ask for the invitation to state this, since this authorises the sort of firearm and ammunition you import.
- Then apply for a French permis de chasse. Your FAC or SGC is recognised as having equivalence (which is nice of them) – once you have applied once (online – I used www.fdc80.com as the local Federation), your FAC/SGC number becomes your permis number for all subsequent applications.
- Total cost for 3 days, including insurance, is c.€80 for the permis. Knock off €20 if you already have insurance, but you will be asked to show it before you shoot.
- It can be a bit confusing doing this the first time, but if you know a French-speaker (i.e your host) they can phone the Federation, who will manually process your initial application in an hour or so: I did this for my daughter, who accompanied me, the day before we started.
- Your permis de chasse, which you print off, is the second key part of the process for taking guns/firearms in and out of France.
- The final important bit (apart, clearly from your FAC/SGC) is the Douanes (French Customs) declaration. Easiest way to get this is to go onto www.FACE.eu and search for “visiting France”, or similar. The document is called Document d’accompagnement en cas de déclaration verbale pour l’admission temporaire, CERFA no.15678-01, and is a doddle to fill in: just put the description of your guns/firearms (make, calibre; no need for serials), their estimated value, the date you will be shooting, and your name and address.
At Folkestone:
- The first manned booth you get to when your car is called forward is UK Border Control. Say that you are carrying firearms.
- They will point you to the next booth, where they take a photocopy of your UK certificate. (They also swab the steering wheel for explosives, which is pretty pointless, since if you have been reloading then the alarms should go off!). There is a sign that says "Declare any firearms here" or suchlike.
- Final stage: ask for the Douanes (it’s a biggish portacabin setup on the left of the check-in area). They will want to see your guns/firearms inside, and check them against your filled in CERFA no.15678-01; they just looked at the makes of ours, nothing more. They might also ask to see your invitation and permis de chasse – have them available. They will stamp your CERFA no.15678-01: make sure you keep this, since it’s the only way to bring the guns/firearms back out of France/the EU.
- Total time taken was less than 15 minutes.
- Then drive on the Shuttle, have a kip as it goes under the Channel, drive off, and go and shoot. The only other check is of your permis and insurance on the morning of the shoot – they really take this very seriously.
On the way back at Calais:
- Inform the Border Control that you have armes à feu.
- Ask for the Douanes, who will check them against your filled-in and stamped CERFA no.15678-01.
- Your FAC/SGC is your UK import/possession permit. No one seemed remotely interested on the UK side of check in!
- Total time taken was under 10 minutes.
Overall, it was a far easier and less stressful way to take firearms abroad than any other method I have tried (flying, Eurostar). If your shoot is within decent driving distance of the Tunnel, you can get a full day’s driven shooting in, plus travel there and back from Southern England well inside 36 hours.
This was the first time I have shot petit gibier (= driven birds) in France – previously I have only shot boar. The day really confirmed to me the hospitality of the French, and their desire to make our visit as easy and enjoyable as possible.
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what does something like that cost?
