International Tracked & Signed
Features
*A signature is taken on delivery however we don’t provide a copy of the signature to you as part of the service and it’s not available to view online.
Options
1 Delivery aim to Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, Austria and Luxembourg is 3-4 working days
International Tracked & Signed cannot be sent to PO Boxes or Pack Stations, because a signature cannot be captured. This restriction does not apply when items are sent to Africa or the Middle East
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International Tracked
Features
Options
1 Delivery aim to Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, Austria and Luxembourg is 3-4 working days
Visit International TrackedReady to send?
Buy online now with Click & Drop
International Standard
Features
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International Economy
Features
Delivery aims
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Customs - France
The UK is no longer part of the EU’s single market and customs union and differing rules apply. This means there will be changes to how you send and receive items from abroad and as of 1 July 2021, items imported to the EU with a value of €22 or less became liable for VAT. For more information on how to send goods to EU countries more effectively click here.
If you are a business customer sending items in excess of €150 we offer a Postal Delivery Duties Paid Solution (PDDP) to a limited, but growing list of EU destinations. Please see here for more information.
France VAT arrangements
Please note that VAT rates in France may vary depending on service chosen:
DDU: 20% (recipient to pay)
PDDP: 20% (Seller to pay)
IOSS: product dependent, e.g. Books 5.5%
For additional information about these services please visit our dedicated page.
There are several reduced* VAT rates in France, for example:
2.1% - Certain pharmaceuticals, newspapers and periodicals
5.5% - Books, some foodstuff, non-alcoholic beverages
10% - Certain foodstuffs, non-alcoholic beverages, works of art, some pharmaceutical, cut flowers, plants.
For additional information please check this PDF: The French VAT System and Revenue Efficiency.
*The reduced VAT rates mentioned will only apply to items valued above €150
France Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) additional checks
If you are sending an item to France via the IOSS VAT scheme, with an HS code shown in this documentxlsx, 1.76 MB, please be aware that the contents of these items require additional manual customs checks and therefore may incur delays of 1-2 days.
Please note: We advise that a recipient telephone number (in the format 06, 07, +336, or +337 then 8 digits, without spaces or special characters) or email address is always included within the electronic customs data when exporting to France to help improve the customs clearance process. La Poste will contact any customers who provide this electronically to pay charges (where applicable) through an online portal. Their fee for facilitating this is €2 on top of the charges. For any shipments where this is not present the agent will collect any fees payable on the doorstep and their fee increases to €8
You are responsible for checking postal restrictions and prohibitions for your destination.
There are rules about what Royal Mail will carry and each country has their own restrictions which may differ, so it’s important to check both.
Check the status of deliveries around the world on our International Incident Bulletin
Prohibited and Restricted items to France
Prohibited items are forbidden and must not be sent.
Restricted items are allowed under certain conditions.
Prohibitions and restrictions vary from country to country and can sometimes apply to items which you may think are ordinary so please check the criteria carefully.
Please ensure that you follow the below guidelines before sending your items to France
- Royal Mail prohibits and restricts certain categories of items, please click here to check that your item is allowed within our network.
- Each post around the world must follow the Universal Postal Union (UPU) rules applicable to letter post and postal parcels regarding prohibited and restricted items. To identify whether your item is allowed, please visit Article 19 which contains a detailed list of items that are not admitted in the International mail flow here.
- The destination country also set their own rules around which items are prohibited and/or restricted. To check that your item is allowed to be sent to France please visit the UPU Country specific list here and scroll down to France.
- You can also use the UPU CDS search function here.
Please note: Specific Country restrictions and changes may be enforced at short notice, so for any clarification please contact the destination country’s trade, postal and customs authorities as appropriate. Royal Mail have no control over UPU and Country specific restrictions regarding prohibited and restricted items and it is your responsibility to check whether your items are allowed.
Remember to use the correct address format
- You can shorten Madame, Monsieur and Mademoiselle to Mme, M, and Mlle.
- Write the addressee’s surname in capitals to avoid any confusion.
- The five-digit postcode is written before the city, on the same line.
- Please write 'FRANCE' in capital letters on the last line of the address.
Example:
Mme Annette VERBIER
29 Rue de Lyon
95400 PARIS
FRANCE
To help facilitate customs clearance, it is recommended that you provide recipient contact details (email address and/or phone number) so that recipients are contactable if any information is missing or incorrect. Contact details should be provided within the electronic customs data or in the case of a CN23 on the physical declaration. To ensure this information is protected do not write these contact details separately on the outside item.
