French Customs Code

1° Customs officers with at least the rank of controller may demand to see papers and documents of any kind relating to operations of interest to their department, whatever their medium; a) in railway stations (consignment notes, invoices, loading sheets, books, registers, etc.) ; b) on the premises of shipping and river companies and shipowners, consignees and shipbrokers (freight manifests, bills of lading, ship’s tickets, shipping notices, delivery orders, etc.);…

The right of disclosure provided for in articles 64 A and 65 is extended to customs officials responsible for the recovery of all sums collected in accordance with the procedures laid down by this Code and under the conditions mentioned in these same articles.

In order to establish the basis of assessment and control of taxes, duties and charges falling within the remit of the customs and excise administration and with a view to detecting fraud, the right of communication provided for in article 65 may relate to information concerning unidentified persons, under conditions laid down by a decree of the Conseil d’Etat issued after consultation with the Commission nationale de l’informatique et des…

The Autorité Nationale des Jeux and the Direction Générale des Douanes et Droits Indirects may spontaneously provide each other with all information and documents gathered in the course of their respective duties.

Persons who design or publish management or accounting software or cash register systems or who intervene technically in the functionalities of these products directly or indirectly affecting the keeping of records or the preservation or integrity of the original documents required for controls by the customs authorities are required to present to the customs authorities, at their request, all related codes, data, processing or documentation. For the application of the…

In order to establish the offences referred to in Articles 414, 414-2, 415 and 459, to gather evidence thereof and to seek out the perpetrators, accomplices and those who participated as interested parties within the meaning of Article 399, customs officers with at least the rank of controller and specially authorised by the director of the department to which they are assigned may obtain communication of the data stored and…