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Exporting to France is something that the U.S. frequently does every year. France is a vital trading partner that consistently imports a large assortment of U.S. goods. Even though France imports from the U.S. frequently, there are quite a few regulations that you’ll need to follow if you want to get your goods into the country with ease.
According to the International Trade Administration, exporting to France requires you to follow a strict set of labeling and marking requirements when you send your goods to them. Next, make sure that you don’t export any items that are prohibited in France. Lastly, you’ll need to provide the Schedule B Number for your export.
Our guide on exporting to France will detail each regulation that you’ll need to follow when you send your goods to this country.
Of all of the EU countries that take up the United States export market, France is within the top five. In 2020 alone, the U.S. exported about $37.7 billion worth of goods and services to France. That said, many of the goods that the U.S. sends to France aren’t your typical goods such as agriculture or medicine.
The table below represents some of the most popular U.S. goods that were exported to France.
| Commodity | Export Value |
| Gas Turbines | $2.15 Billion |
| Crude Petroleum | $1.56 Billion |
| Refined Petroleum | $1.01 Billion |
While these are the top exported goods to France, there are plenty of other U.S. products that French importers enjoy.
Some of these goods include the following:
Because the U.S. is such a reliable supplier to France, both countries share a positive trading relationship. This creates an atmosphere that is beneficial for U.S. exporters when conducting business with this country.
The European Union (EU), France does have import tariffs on U.S. goods. All EU nations, including France, share the same tariff rates. That said, the tariff rates can fluctuate across all EU member states based on the goods being imported and based on the country the goods come from.
Depending on the U.S. goods being exported, France will impose anywhere between a four to 12 percent tariff. The EU has the integrated Tariff of the European Union (TARIC) which contains information regarding trade policy and tariff measures for importers in the EU.
Importers in France use this tool to determine what tariff they’ll need to pay when importing U.S. goods. You can search the TARIC to find the tariff French customs will apply to your goods.
Access to TARIC is possible using the following methods:
Understanding the EU tariffs placed on your goods that your French importer will have to pay can give you the ability to price your goods more competitively.
When exporting freight to another country, there are numerous documents that you’ll need to include. For this article, we’ll focus on documents specifically meant for exporting to France rather than the generic ones that you would use when exporting to any other country.
An EORI number isn’t a solid piece of documentation, but it provides important information that a solid piece of documentation would. The EORI or Economic Operators Registration and Identification number are what France and other EU nations use to identify foreign businesses.
EORIs can come in two parts:
You can obtain your EORI Number by making a formal request to French customs. When you do, there’s a possibility that French customs will request you provide additional documentation to accompany your request. Companies in the U.S. that wish to export to and conduct business in France will need this number.
Under EU regulations, exported shipments of animal products or animal by-products to France will need to be accompanied by a sanitary certificate.
Animal products requiring a sanitary certificate include:
A sanitary certificate indicates to French customs the origin of your animal products and that the shipment is safe to be used for whatever purpose it’s intended for. If you’re exporting seafood to the EU, then you’ll need to make sure that your shipment is accompanied by a certificate as well. These certificates essentially work in the same manner that animal certificates do.
The labeling and marking requirements for U.S. exports sent to France are a fusion of French-specific rules and EU regulations. In case you don’t know, there is a difference between labels and marks.
Labels provide specific information about products, such as measurements or the materials within them.
Marks, on the other hand, are symbols or pictograms that can be found on a product or the packaging for it. They often indicate the potential hazards of a product or state how the goods should be disposed of, among other things.
Under most circumstances, any goods that you send to France must have labels and marks that are in the French language.
Labels and marks must be written in the following ways:
Many of these language requirements for labels and marks on goods exported to France can be found in the following French acts and decrees:
When exporting your goods from the U.S. to France, you must follow these regulations so your goods can make it past French customs.
As with France’s tariff rates, the country’s labeling and marking requirements are also dictated by EU regulations.
Under EU regulations, exports of the following goods to France must have labels and marks:
When creating labels and marks for these types of products, make sure that you still closely follow the French language requirements.
As most countries do, there are a variety of goods that French customs denies entry to. The TARIC contains information regarding which goods aren’t permitted from coming into the country.
The TARIC applies the following codes for prohibited goods.:
If the TARIC gives any of the codes above to your goods, you won’t be able to export them to France.
Goods and products that can be assigned any of these three codes include the following:
Consulting the TARIC on your own to determine whether or not your goods are prohibited from being exported into the country is difficult to do on your own. Consider working with a certified export consultant familiar with EU tariff laws.
There are some goods can legally be exported to France, but must also fulfill specific regulations outlined by the French government.
These goods include the following:
France, along with the rest of the EU, wants to ensure that goods entering the country are safe for use by the French people. The purpose of regulations is to make sure that they won’t have any adverse health effects on consumers. Strict adherence to the applicable regulations relating to these goods is vital for them to be accepted in France.
As a member of the EU, France abides by the EU Battery Directive. Among the many objectives that this directive seeks to provide, it’s supposed to protect the environment of EU member states from the harmful chemicals in batteries.
One way that the directive does this that affects U.S. exporters of batteries is by restricting the sale and entry of batteries that have either mercury or cadmium within them.
This regulation applies to batteries used for the following type of applications:
If you plan on exporting batteries for the following types of purposes, your export will not be restricted from entering France under the EU Battery Directive if mercury or cadmium are within them:
While mercury and cadmium are permitted in batteries used for these purposes, you will still need to include the symbol for each chemical.
The chemicals and their corresponding atomic symbols are:
Another material that can sometimes be found in batteries is lead. While lead in batteries is not prohibited under the EU Battery Directive, you will need to provide the Pb symbol for lead if your battery export to France has at least 0.004 percent of lead within it.
Lastly, your battery shipments to France should have what’s called a separate collection symbol. This symbol looks like a wheeled bin with a big X on it. The purpose of this item is to let consumers in France who will use your batteries know that they should not dispose of their batteries in garbage bins.
REACH or Registration, Evaluations and Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals is another regulation that you’ll need to worry about when you’re exporting goods to France. This regulation applies to exported shipments of chemicals to France that exceed a metric ton.
The REACH regulations affect U.S. exporters of chemicals in just about every industry. To export chemicals to France, you’ll need to register your chemicals with the European Chemicals Agency or ECHA.
You can register through two entities as:
An EU-based partner is typically an importer, in this case, one specific to France. That said, most U.S. exporters opt to use an OR to register their goods. This way, U.S. exporters don’t want to have to rely on French importers to get their goods into the country.
Recognizing how costly and time-consuming it is to register chemicals with ECHA, the EU has provided a small list of chemical goods that don’t have to be registered when exported to France.
These chemicals include:
Once you’ve completed the registration process, you’ll need to carefully review two lists of Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC).
These two lists are the :
SVHCs on the authorization list can be exported without additional steps to follow. However, if the chemicals you want to import are part of the candidate list, you may need to follow additional communication steps to get your chemical goods into France.
The last regulations that France applies to a specific set of U.S. exports are the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) and the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS). Both of these regulations deal with electronics and electrical equipment. They’re each very similar to the regulations placed upon batter exports.
We’ll first discuss what your responsibilities will be under WEEE regulations when exporting to France.
When exporting electronics or electrical goods to France, you’ll need to:
RoHS regulations restrict certain electronics and electrical equipment from entering France.
These chemicals include the following:
Under RoHS, any electronics or electrical equipment that you export to the U.S. will also need to have the CE mark on it.
Look into our article on export control basics to for further assistance when exporting to France and other countries.
Although the U.S. and France have a great trading relationship with one another, there is no established Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two nations. Typically, if a country were to have an FTA with the U.S., the importer in the foreign country would want to apply for preferential treatment under the FTA.
This would then require the U.S. exporter to provide a certificate of origin (COO) and find the foreign country’s HS code for the goods they’re sending. Since the U.S. doesn’t have an FTA with the EU, which France is a part of, you won’t need to take these steps. Nonetheless, you will need to find the Schedule B Number for your export shipment of goods to France.
The U.S. Census Bureau is responsible for regulating all exports that require either a license or have a value of $2,500 or more. Before sending your goods from the country, you’ll need to find which Schedule B Number applies to your export for it to successfully make it past U.S. customs.
If you want to export goods to countries that have a free trade agreement with the U.S., consider exporting to Canada or exporting to Mexico. We have an article about the benefits of the United-States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) which is the FTA between the three countries
At USA Cargo Exports, we have a dedicated team with decades of combined experience in helping U.S. exporters get their goods into other countries. We make it our job to keep up with all the current regulations, trade agreements and protocols to perform this important task.
We provide a variety of export services for U.S. residents and international companies looking to move U.S. goods.
We want you to get your goods through any customs service as hassle-free as possible.
Schedule your consulting session today or call our team at (866) 941-8081 to figure out your next step.
