Supplying Curtains to France: A Rule-Follower’s Guide to Exporting Goods 😬🇫🇷

info364972
Feb 4
5 min read

I want to talk to you about my experience supplying curtains to a client’s home in the south of France.

Now, anyone who knows me well will know that I am terrified of authority. Police. Teachers. HMRC. Anyone who could “tell me off”, basically. I am an avid rule follower — so agreeing to export goods abroad felt like a big deal. (Sounds lame, I know.)

Honestly? I had no idea where to start.

Like most things these days, I started with ChatGPT, for which I am so grateful. It very quickly pointed me in the right direction and suggested I instruct a customs agent, which was absolutely the correct first step.

However… there were quite a few things I didn’t know ahead of time, and have since learned the hard way. I’m sharing them here in case it helps anyone else doing the same thing, or reassures anyone thinking about using a UK designer for a property in France (or anywhere else in the world, for that matter).

First up: the tax bit 💸

With an EORI number (which, FYI, is the same as your VAT number), you can omit VAT on the UK invoice. Instead, the country the goods are being sent to will charge their equivalent tax.

I knew this before quoting the client, so I was able to explain that they’d be paying approximately 20% French tax on the order.

What I didn’t know was that this tax needed to be paid before we travelled — and before we were issued with the final customs paperwork.

That was surprise number one.

Surprise number two: UK export charges 😬

What really caught both me and the client off guard was an additional UK export charge, which came to £****. This was not something we had factored in, simply because we didn’t know it existed.

By the time we found out, the curtains were already made so there was no choice but to pay it and proceed.

I felt awful about this. I am very keen on transparency and having all costs laid out upfront, so having to deliver unexpected news was not my favourite moment.

The customs paperwork (aka: death by email)

This is where things got frustrating.

I assumed the customs agent would say something like:

“Oh yes - curtains and curtain poles - just tell us what’s in the van and off you go!”

Nope.

Instead, what followed was weeks of back-and-forth emails, with new requests coming in one at a time. In total, about 10 days of unnecessary to-ing and fro-ing, simply because we weren’t given a full list of requirements at the start.

As a planner who needs all ducks firmly in a row, this nearly finished me.

It was also stressful because we couldn’t book the shuttle crossing without the completed paperwork. We wanted to travel on Monday 26th, but due to delays we didn’t receive everything until late on the Friday before.

Not ideal.

The agents were efficient in some ways, but not at all hand-holding or reassuring, which did nothing for my already heightened stress levels.

What paperwork did we actually need?

Here’s the full list, so you can (hopefully) avoid the same frustration:

1. An invoice to the client

French delivery address
Commodity codes for each item
Country of origin for each item (supplied by our curtain supplier)

2. Commodity codes & weights

This bit really threw me.

Curtains are made up of fabric, lining, trimming, buckram, pin hooks…

Did I need a code for each of these?!

I opted for the main fabric code (and initially trimming too — which turned out not to be needed).

Each box then had to be weighed:

Weight with packaging
Weight without packaging

…for each commodity code

We ended up weighing 17 parcels using our bathroom scales, subtracting my husband’s weight to get an accurate reading in kilos. Extremely glamorous.

Again, this information was requested piecemeal, which was maddening.

POA… sorry, what now?

At some point I was asked for a POA.

Price on application?

No.

'Power of Attorney'.

Cue panic.

What is it?

Who fills it in?

Why do we need it?!

In short: it’s the client giving permission for the customs agent to act on their behalf and invoice them for the tax. Which makes sense, otherwise you could land someone with a tax bill they hadn’t agreed to.

The agent provided the form, my client signed it, and that was that.

Paying the tax (watch the exchange rate!)

The customs agent invoiced my client for the tax and broker fees.

They paid via IBAN, but once the money landed, it was £27 short, likely due to exchange rates.

At this point, time was tight and I just paid the £27 myself rather than delay things further. Lesson learned: check the exact amount in pounds before paying.

Vehicles, vans & the shuttle 🚐🚆

You’ll need:

Your vehicle registration number for the customs paperwork

If you’re hiring a van (as we did), make it very clear that this information is essential and must be correct.

When booking the Eurotunnel:

👉 Book as freight, not a passenger

Follow the freight signs at Folkestone - number plate recognition gets you through the barrier. You hand over your paperwork (ENS and GMR - this is what the customs agent will email to you, print it out if you can!), passports are checked, and then you board the shuttle with the lorries.

Important note: freight carriages are open.

We sat in the van like absolute lemons until someone told us to get out and onto the bus with the truckers. We were given a chocolate waffle (random) and sat there for the 35-minute crossing, feeling wildly out of place.

Amber status 😢 (don’t panic)

On the train, screens display number plates:

Green = off you go
Amber = customs check

We got amber.

ChatGPT had specifically told me not to panic, you’ve done nothing wrong! but my adrenaline still spiked.

We followed the signs (not hugely obvious), parked up, and went into the customs building. I was braced for a full vehicle inspection, but instead it was just… chairs. And waiting.

There was one extremely irate British truck driver loudly swearing about French customs staff, which gave me secondhand embarrassment and made me determined to be extra polite.

When it was our turn, I handed over my beautifully organised folder (obviously). We waited… and about 20 minutes later, were handed everything back and told we were free to go.

Reader, I could have cried.

All the worries (for nothing)

In the run-up, my brain had been spiralling: