The Directorate-General for Customs and Indirect Rights (DGDDI) informs operators of a transfer of health, biological and import marketing standards since 1 November 2022.
As part of the government's approach to fluidising the passage of goods at borders and improving the readability of the action of State services, particularly for port operators, certain controls, carried out so far by DGCCRF (Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer and Fraud Prevention), are Transferred to Customs Administration. This transfer of powers covers checks on compliance with health requirements for foodstuffs of non-animal origin, checks on organic products, checks on marketing standards for fruit and vegetables and checks on materials in contact with foodstuffs, all carried out before the goods are cleared.
As a reminder, with a view to Brexit, the import controls carried out in Dunkirk by DGCCRF had already been transferred to customs on an experimental basis on 1 January 2020 and a border control post had been established by customs in Calais on 1 January 2021. The success of the experiment had led to the decision to extend the transfer of controls to Marseille and Le Havre.
As from 1 November, the border checkpoints (FCPs) in Saint-Nazaire-Montoir, La Réunion, Guadeloupe and Guyana, the checkpoints in Agen and Strasbourg- Entzheim, as well as the points of release for free circulation in Strasbourg-Entzheim and Bordeaux will be attached to the DGDDI. In concrete terms, the transfer will be neutral for professionals. The controls will be carried out by customs officers in the same manner as the officers of the DGCCRF, after having benefited from a strong training and support system.
The only change lies in the notification by operators of health documents and biological certificates to the new customs FCPs and points of release for free circulation. The extension to the new PCF of the digital service platform FRANCE SESAME will allow a fluidisation of physical controls for goods subject to sanitary, veterinary or phytosanitary regulations.
The transfer phase will be completed by 1 June 2023, when DGDDI took over the DGCCRF import control missions in the Occitanie, Île-de-France, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Mayotte regions.
Source(s): DGDDI
Editor(s): L. SPRIET