Can I put my bike on a trailer or in a van and drive it into France like I used to or will I need more paperwork?
Answer
The answer is not a happy one or even, a consistent one. If you ride your own bike on and off the ferry, you need your V5, your insurance (there is currently a move to jettison the Green Card but you still require one) and a photocard licence.
I am not convinced the green card can be got rid of just yet as I have seen my first policies come through that exclude riding and driving outside the UK, which was legally impossible pre-Brexit.
The simple truth is the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement are a mess. The motorcyclist trailering his motorcycle into the EU was simply forgotten about. Each member state of the EU can decide how it will allow third-party nationals’ goods into their own country. Of all the EU nations, as at July 2021 the French seem to be taking the hardest line, turning back, fining, or even pulling over vehicles that have cleared customs if they have vehicies on board or towed, street-legal or not.
I keep my ear close to the ground on these matters, not least as I have taken my road-legal off-road bikes all over Europe in the back of my van. There is no consistency between nations or even ports.
There is an international arrangement called the carnet which allows goods to be temporarily brought into a country so long as the goods (and motorcycles are goods within the meaning of the ATA Carnet Convention) leave the country – you do not need a carnet to ride a bike into the EU.
Anecdotal reports are that Spain, Belgium and Holland are not requiring carnets if a road-registered motorcycle is in a van with a V5 but the French take a different – and legally justifiable view – which is that it requires a carnet unless the driver of the carrying vehicle can demonstrate it is not “goods in transit’. The UK Government’s advice (which has no force or value in France) is that you do not need a carnet to trailer a road-legal vehicle into the EU but the actual convention does not say this.
French laws are based on the principle that everything is forbidden until it is allowed and as we are now out of the EU single market, UK residents are not allowed to bring goods into the EU. Contrast this with English and Welsh law which is that until forbidden, everything is lawful. The presumption is an item not usually used by a tourist being transported into a country may well be intended to stay there and hence, import taxes are due and it is your responsibility to show that it is not. Customs officers the world over have close to complete discretion to stop goods entering their country.
So, if you are carrying a bike into the EU, should you take out a carnet? I would do so, and especially so for France. You may never be asked to present it. You could be waved through Calais, Zeebrugge or Santander. Or you could be stopped, asked for your carnet or customs declaration and if you have neither, your goods seized or be hit with a fine or assessment of customs duty.
The cost of carnet paperwork is about £300-£350 and the carnet insurance for a motorcycle worth £8,000 is about £130 or a refundable carnet deposit of 40% of the value of the goods being temporarily imported. So the question is: do you want to chance a potential world of frustration and expense or cough-up for a carnet until there is some consistency as to how temporary, non-commercial imports of road-legal vehicles are going to be treated by the EU or individual EU member states?
Unless you can afford to have it seized, get a carnet and hope things improve, I am sad to say the excellent UK to France and Geneva motorcycle transport service, used by me – Bikeshuttle – has been halted precisely because of these import issues.
Andrew Dalton
RiDE Magazine September 2021
The end of the single market really does have significant impacts. What is frustrating is that each country can decide how it will apply the rules relating to permanent imports. Spain and France both have a similar system of civil law – which one might think could result in similar interpretation of the rules relating to goods brought in by tourists – after all, it is the same treaty. The French interpretation, which is also very patchy, and I have heard many more people are getting through without problems than the rare problems I hear about indicates there is no consistency. I have heard no issues getting bikes in vans through Santander or Hook of Holland but French Ports, the occasional but very expensive and disruptive issue surfaces. I can only say what I am doing which is, if I want to take a bike into the EU, ideally ride it on and off the Ferry otherwise, I will be getting a carnet. One chap who communicated with me is getting his bike out of his camper van, and riding his bike on and off the ferry and then reloading it the other side of the Channel, with his partner driving the camper off the ferry.There is some hope this will settle down but until there is some official guidance from the French authorities in particular, a bike in a van will carry risks. As a lawyer I can see their legal justification, but the mere fact they can do something does not mean they should. A carnet is a pain in the backside without a VAT number and most people do not have VAT numbers. This is because Carnets are designed for businesses and a tourist was never part of their remit. I have not heard of many problems recently, but until there is clear guidance, I am avoiding French Ports or riding into France on my bike. Is this the French being deliberately difficult? I suspect so. A customs officer need only declare himself content that the motorcycle is being used by a tourist and to be returned to the country of origin. That is the test. The diffculty is that if Monsieur le Douanier says “non” he has a huge amount of power. I have been the victim of a stroppy customs guy, entering Austria from Germany and they can make your life, lawfully, very difficult indeed. This was pre single market in about 1989 and I never want to see another customs compound.
Wow. it looks like the days when I could and did, simply climb on the bike on a whim and spend a few days zooming around Europe , safe in the knowledge my insurance, health cover ,licence, liabilities, ability to sue if the worst happened etc were covered and already in place are gone.
The joys of European biking with little more difficulty than popping down the local shop, seem over.
A shame.