| French Customs | |
|---|---|
| Direction Générale des Douanes et Droits Indirects | |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 1791 |
| Jurisdiction | Government of France |
| Headquarters | 11, Rue des Deux-Communes, Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, France |
| Minister responsible | François Baroin, Minister of Budget |
| Website | |
| www.douane.gouv.fr | |
The Directorate-General of Customs and Indirect Taxes (French: Direction générale des douanes et droits indirects, DGDDI) is a French law enforcement agency responsible for levying indirect taxes, preventing smuggling, surveilling borders, and investigating counterfeit money. The agency acts as a coast guard, border guard, sea rescue organisation and immigration service, as well as a customs service.[1]
The Directorate-general is controlled by the Minister for the Budget, Public Accounts and the Civil Service (French: Ministère du Budget, des Comptes publics et de la Fonction publique) at the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment. It is normally known simply as "la Douane", individual officers being referred to as "douaniers". It is an armed service.[2]
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The first French customs service was called the General Firm (French: Ferme générale) and operated under the monarchy. During the revolutionary period, a military customs service was formed, which provided a customs service but also fought in major wars such as the Franco-Prussian War and the First World War.[3]
The military customs service fought in the early part of the Second World War but was disbanded in 1940 after the French defeat and was never reconstituted as a military service.[3] Nonetheless small units of customs men from customs posts in French Indochina fought against the Japanese as guerilla units until the end of the war.[3]
The customs headquarters is in Montreuil (Paris). The agency consists of three types of unit:[4]
France is divided into 39 customs regions, which are grouped into 12 customs "inter-regions".[5]
A customs region typically consists of:
As well as the 39 customs regions there are 4 coastguard regions: Channel & North Sea, Nantes, Marseille, Antilles-Guyana).
Customs officials of all ranks wear French rank insignia based on that of the army. However, the ranks should not be seen as equivalent to the army rank insignia used.
Customs agents (agents de constatation) wear the rank badges of French army senior NCOs:
Controllers are more senior and wear the rank badges of French army junior officers:
Inspectors are more senior and wear the rank badges of the French army ranks of commandant and lieutenant-colonel:
In 2010 the aircraft fleet consists of Reims-Cessna F406 maritime patrol aircraft and C-T206, Eurocopter EC-135 and Aerospatiale AS-355 helicopters manufactured by Eurocopter. Two Reims-Cessna F406 operate out of Martinique and the rest are based in metropolitain France.
6 Reims-Cessna F406 and 3Eurocopter EC-135 are assigned to the atlantic region, 4 Reims-Cessna F406 and 2Eurocopter EC-135 are assigned to the mediterranean region, 2 C-T206, 1 Reims-Cessna F406 and 2 Aerospatiale AS-355 are based in Paris (Bourget) and 2 Reims-Cessna F406 are based in Fort de France (Martinique) soon to be joined by 2 additional Aerospatiale AS-355.
From 2012 onwards 8 Beechcraft King Air 350 will replace the F406 [6].
In 2010 the customs had 3 offshore patrol boats, 18 coastal patrol boats, 18 surveillance patrol boats and 5 speed boats. The boats are assigned as follows:
As of 2008 the Customs service had 3255 vehicles (including 355 motorbikes).
Customs Agents are armed with the 9mm Sig-Sauer SP 2022 pistols.
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