France Fulfilment House Due Diligence Scheme

From 2020, France is looking at requiring fulfilment houses to undertake basic checks on their non-EU customers to help identify non or underdeclared VAT and duties. This would replicate the UK’s Fulfilment House Due Diligence Scheme.

In the UK, since 30 June 2018, all UK fulfilment houses providing imported goods storage for non-EU businesses have had to apply to join an approved HMRC register.  The scheme is designed to tackle import VAT and customs fraud, estimated to cost the UK between £1.0 and £1.5 billion per annum.  The plan was originally announced in the 2016 UK Budget. Registered fulfilment houses must keep certain records on their customers. Plus, carry out VAT registration checks on overseas customers.