Apart from cases of transit or crossing customs territory, it is prohibited to import or export narcotics without a special authorisation issued for each operation by the Director General of the Agence nationale de sécurité du médicament et des produits de santé. This authorisation is issued under the conditions set out in article R. 5132-75.
The authorisation mentions the name and quantity of the product involved in the operation, the nature and quantity of the narcotic substance it contains, the name and address of the sender and recipient, the mode of transport and the customs office.
In the case of transit or use of customs territory, the goods are accompanied by the export authorisation issued by the competent administrative authority of the exporting State.
The documents attesting to the authorisations issued pursuant to this article shall be kept by the holders of these authorisations for a period of three years from the date of issue, to be produced at the request of any inspection authorities.
By way of derogation from the first paragraph, for establishments whose authorisation issued pursuant to Article R. 5132-74 so provides, an authorisation may be issued for a series of operations by the Director General of the Agence nationale de sécurité du médicament et des produits de santé for the import and export of reference standards containing narcotics used exclusively for scientific purposes.