Title II: Organisation and operation of the customs service

Apart from the cases provided for in Article 60-2, customs officers may, at any time, visit goods, means of transport and persons present or moving in the places mentioned in the same Article 60-2, in order to investigate customs offences relating to the goods mentioned in Chapter II of Title VIII and in 6° of Article 427 as well as those dispatched under a suspensive procedure. They may carry out…

For the purposes of inspecting goods placed under customs supervision pursuant to Article 134 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 October 2013 laying down the Union Customs Code, customs officers shall have access to the premises and places where they are likely to be held between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. or, outside these hours, when access to the public is…

With the exception of those carried out in the places mentioned in 2° and 3° of article 60-1, excluding the surroundings of these places, visiting rights may only be implemented in the same place for a period not exceeding, for all operations together, twelve consecutive hours and they may not consist of a systematic check of persons present or circulating in the places and areas mentioned in articles 60-1 to…

Visits to persons may consist of palpation or a search of their clothing, luggage and any other personal belongings, excluding any full search. With the person’s written consent, they may also be tested for substances or plants classified as narcotics. These operations are carried out in conditions guaranteeing respect for the dignity of the individual. They are performed out of public view, unless circumstances make this impossible.

Customs officers may only immobilise means of transport and goods or keep persons at their disposal for the time strictly necessary to carry out the physical inspection operations, which include checking the goods, means of transport or person and, where applicable, seizures. After four hours from the start of the inspection operations, the public prosecutor is informed of these operations by any means. This obligation to inform does not apply…

Each visit to the premises or places referred to in articles 60-1, 60-2 and 60-4 shall take place in the presence of the person concerned or their representative or, failing this, a person requested for this purpose by the customs officers and who is not under their administrative authority. The inspection of means of transport takes place in the presence of the driver, the owner or, failing this, a person…

Customs officers may only take statements with a view to recognising objects discovered during the visit. Where a person concerned by the visit and suspected of having committed a customs offence is the subject of a measure of constraint against his person, he may not be heard in accordance with the procedures laid down in Article 67 F.

The fact that the inspection operations reveal offences other than those mentioned in articles 60-1 to 60-4 does not constitute grounds for invalidity of the incidental proceedings.

Where there are serious indications that a person is carrying narcotics concealed in his or her body, customs officers may subject the person to medical screening tests after first obtaining the person’s express consent. In the event of refusal, the customs officers submit a request for authorisation to the president of the judicial court with territorial jurisdiction or to the judge delegated by him. This application is forwarded to the…

1. All drivers of means of transport must comply with the orders of customs officers. 2. The latter may use appropriate equipment that complies with the technical standards defined by order of the Minister responsible for Customs to immobilise means of transport in the cases provided for in Article L. 214-2 of the Internal Security Code.