Your company has been incorporated in France, the goods have arrived at a French port or airport, and the carrier now says that the first shipment is \u201cblocked at customs\u201d. For a foreign founder, this message is rarely precise enough to tell you what to do. The obstacle may be a missing Economic Operators Registration and Identification number, a mismatch between the company\u2019s legal identity and its French value-added tax number, an incomplete commercial invoice, an uncertain commodity code, a missing product certificate, or a customs control that cannot be solved by simply paying a carrier\u2019s invoice. The first objective is therefore to identify the exact procedural status of the goods, the person who filed the customs declaration, and the document or data that is missing. This article explains the legal framework applicable on 28 August 2026 and gives a practical recovery plan for a French subsidiary, branch or company owned from abroad. It also separates customs duties, import VAT, contractual claims against a supplier or forwarder, and formal appeals. The recent EORI SIREN transition and the planned changes to the French tax-code provisions make a dated verification essential before the next shipment.<\/p>\n
A shipment arriving from outside the European Union does not become a French import merely because a French address appears on the delivery label. The legal analysis begins with the goods, the sales chain and the customs declaration. A purchase from a supplier established in another EU Member State is generally an intra-Union movement, not an import into France. A shipment from the United Kingdom, the United States, Switzerland, China or another non-EU country normally requires a customs procedure before the goods can be released for free circulation in France.<\/p>\n
For value-added tax purposes, Article 291 of the French General Tax Code<\/a> states: Four roles must be identified in writing:<\/p>\n A foreign parent should not assume that its French company can use the parent\u2019s customs identity without checking the legal structure. For a French establishment, an EORI number is connected to the operator\u2019s registration data. EORI means Economic Operators Registration and Identification. SIREN means the nine-digit national identification number of a French legal entity; SIRET means the fourteen-digit identification number of a particular establishment. The French customs administration explains the EORI and SIREN transition in its official EORI guidance<\/a>. Its current guidance states that the EORI SIREN is intended to be the unique identifier for French operators, while older EORI SIRET records are being phased out according to the administration\u2019s timetable.<\/p>\n The tax identity must be checked separately. Article 286 ter of the French General Tax Code<\/a> begins: Nor should a company confuse EORI with a Kbis. A Kbis is the official extract showing the registration of a commercial company in the French commercial register. The greffe is the clerk\u2019s office of the competent commercial court. Since the move to the Guichet unique, the single online business-formality portal operated through the Institut national de la propri\u00e9t\u00e9 industrielle (INPI), many registrations are filed into the Registre national des entreprises (RNE), the National Business Register. A Kbis can help prove the company\u2019s identity and powers, but it is not a substitute for the EORI or for an import-capable VAT registration.<\/p>\n The first practical request to the forwarder is therefore not \u201cplease release the goods\u201d. Ask for the Movement Reference Number (MRN), the customs office handling the declaration, the declaration status, the exact error message, the EORI used, the VAT number used, the type of representation, and the name of the person who lodged the declaration. Ask whether the goods are merely awaiting information, selected for documentary control, selected for physical examination, subject to a product restriction, or already the subject of a formal decision. Those are different situations with different next steps.<\/p>\n A useful cross-check is the French customs administration\u2019s EORI validity service<\/a>. The administration warns that EORI registration is free and that websites offering a paid number may be fraudulent. Keep a screenshot or downloaded result in the shipment file. The French company should also link its customs profile, professional email address and authorised users to the correct legal entity rather than relying on an account controlled only by the foreign parent or by a logistics provider.<\/p>\n \u201cBlocked\u201d is not a legal diagnosis. The second stage is a document-by-document reconciliation of what the customs declaration says with what the goods, contract and company records actually show. The declarant\u2019s responsibility is serious because Article 15 of the Union Customs Code makes the person lodging a declaration responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the information and for the authenticity, accuracy and validity of supporting documents. The company should not solve a delay by asking a broker to guess a lower value, a more convenient origin or a generic product description.<\/p>\n For a first commercial shipment, assemble a single indexed file containing at least:<\/p>\n Classification is often the hidden issue. \u201cMachine\u201d, \u201csample\u201d, \u201ccomponent\u201d, \u201ccosmetic\u201d, \u201cfood supplement\u201d or \u201celectronic device\u201d is not usually precise enough. The customs code can change the duty rate, licensing requirements, trade-defence measures and product controls. The commercial invoice must describe what the goods are, what they are made of, what they do and how they are packaged. If the product has several possible uses, document the principal function and obtain technical sheets from the supplier. If the tariff classification is genuinely uncertain, consider a binding tariff-information application before future shipments rather than repeating the dispute at the border.<\/p>\n Origin is not the same as the country from which the parcel was shipped. A product manufactured in one country, sold by a company in a second country and shipped through a third country may require a separate origin analysis. A preferential rate can depend on a specific proof and on the relevant trade agreement. Do not copy a \u201cmade in\u201d label into the customs declaration without checking the origin rules for the product.<\/p>\n Customs value also requires discipline. Article 292 of the French General Tax Code<\/a> states: Import VAT follows its own legal logic. Article 293 A of the French General Tax Code<\/a> provides: For a company identified for VAT in France, import VAT is generally reported through the French VAT return rather than treated as a simple carrier cash collection. The French customs administration describes automatic import-VAT self-accounting in its official procedure<\/a>. Self-accounting means that the company reports output and deductible import VAT on its periodic return; it does not mean that customs duties disappear, that an invalid VAT number is acceptable, or that the company can omit the transaction from its records.<\/p>\n Article 271 of the French General Tax Code<\/a> says that deductible VAT includes, for imports, the tax paid by the taxable person itself, subject to the statutory conditions. Its wording includes: The reporting obligation is not optional merely because the company has made only one import. Article 287 of the French General Tax Code<\/a> states: There are exceptions and transitional rules. Article 286 ter A<\/a> provides, in specific situations, that taxable persons are not required to identify themselves by an individual number, including certain occasional or exempt operations. Article 1695<\/a> still contains a separate rule for imports where the liable person is not subject to VAT or is not identified, stating: A company should also distinguish a customs hold from a product-safety refusal. Customs may request evidence of conformity, an import licence, a sanitary document, a strategic-goods authorisation, a protected-species document or another regulatory clearance. If the goods are counterfeit, prohibited, unsafe or misdeclared, the matter can escalate beyond a routine missing-document request. Preserve the original packaging and do not destroy, relabel or return the goods before the customs position is understood.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s first response should be coordinated, written and time-stamped. Create one internal incident record and nominate one person in France to communicate with the declarant, carrier, accountant and foreign management. Multiple employees sending inconsistent invoices or authorisations creates a second problem and can make it difficult to prove which information was approved.<\/p>\n Correction has limits. Article 173 of the Union Customs Code allows the declarant, on request, to rectify one or more particulars after acceptance, but the rectification cannot turn the declaration into one covering different goods. The regulation also limits amendment after customs has informed the declarant that it intends to examine the goods, established that the particulars are incorrect, or released the goods. After release, an amendment may still be possible in defined circumstances and within the applicable period. The broker should provide the legal basis for the route proposed, not only a software explanation.<\/p>\n The following decision table helps a management team choose the first escalation:<\/p>\nLes importations de biens sont soumises \u00e0 la taxe sur la valeur ajout\u00e9e.<\/q> The provision defines an import by reference to the entry into France of goods originating in or coming from a country or territory outside the European Union which have not already been released for free circulation. This is different from the commercial question of who owns the goods and from the Incoterm written in the supplier\u2019s contract. An Incoterm allocates costs, transport risk and certain tasks between the contracting parties; it does not by itself determine whether the French company is correctly registered with customs or who may be liable for inaccurate information.<\/p>\n
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Toute personne peut d\u00e9signer un repr\u00e9sentant en douane.<\/q> Representation may be direct, in the name and on behalf of the company, or indirect, in the representative\u2019s own name but for the company\u2019s account. The distinction affects the allocation of customs and tax exposure.<\/li>\n
Est identifi\u00e9 par un num\u00e9ro individuel :<\/q> It includes an assujetti, meaning a person carrying on an economic activity for VAT purposes, who is liable for VAT on imports. The company\u2019s French VAT number must be valid, connected to the correct legal entity and communicated in the customs declaration when the import-VAT mechanism requires it. A French VAT number, an EORI number and a foreign parent\u2019s VAT number are not interchangeable.<\/p>\n
B. Which document, classification or tax data is actually missing?<\/h3>\n
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La base d’imposition est constitu\u00e9e par la valeur d\u00e9finie par la l\u00e9gislation douani\u00e8re conform\u00e9ment aux r\u00e8glements communautaires en vigueur.<\/q> It then includes, among other items, import duties and taxes other than VAT and accessory costs such as commission, packaging, transport and insurance up to the first destination in France. The invoice price is not automatically the full taxable base, and a related-party transaction may require additional supporting information. Keep the freight and insurance figures consistent across the invoice, transport file and declaration.<\/p>\n
A l’importation, le fait g\u00e9n\u00e9rateur se produit et la taxe devient exigible au moment o\u00f9 le bien est consid\u00e9r\u00e9 comme import\u00e9.<\/q> The same article requires the liable taxable person to communicate a valid identifier to the administration handling the customs declaration. A foreign-owned French company must therefore make sure that the EORI, French VAT number, customs declaration and import accounting all point to the same transaction.<\/p>\n
La taxe sur la valeur ajout\u00e9e qui a grev\u00e9 les \u00e9l\u00e9ments du prix d’une op\u00e9ration imposable est d\u00e9ductible de la taxe sur la valeur ajout\u00e9e applicable \u00e0 cette op\u00e9ration.<\/q> The company must preserve the import declaration or the documents transmitted by the customs representative, the taxable base and the declaration reference. A broker\u2019s informal email saying \u201cVAT cleared\u201d is not enough evidence for the accounts.<\/p>\n
Tout redevable de la taxe sur la valeur ajout\u00e9e identifi\u00e9 conform\u00e9ment aux dispositions combin\u00e9es des articles 286 ter et 286 ter A est tenu de remettre au service des imp\u00f4ts dont il d\u00e9pend … une d\u00e9claration conforme au mod\u00e8le prescrit par l’administration.<\/q> In practical terms, the French company should coordinate the customs broker, its accountant and its Service des imp\u00f4ts des entreprises (SIE), meaning the business tax office, before submitting the first return affected by the import.<\/p>\n
La taxe sur la valeur ajout\u00e9e est d\u00e9clar\u00e9e et per\u00e7ue lorsqu’elle devient exigible<\/q> for the listed situations. These provisions have future abrogation and replacement dates in the version currently shown by L\u00e9gifrance. The correct treatment must be checked against the date of the import and the company\u2019s actual status, especially around the 2026 transition.<\/p>\n
II. What should a foreign-owned French company do to release the shipment?<\/h2>\n
A. Follow a controlled 24-hour recovery workflow<\/h3>\n
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