Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Nantes, Marseille — we book France-bound documents, personal parcels and samples at our HSR Layout counter and hand them into DTDC's international network. There is no rate table here on purpose. We do not hold an international card, and quoting a per-kilo figure we could not honour would be worse than admitting that.
Tariff classification, valuation and import formalities in France come from the European Union rulebook rather than a French one — the same schedule that governs a parcel into Germany or Spain governs a parcel into Lyon. La douane applies it, and France sets the tax that rides on top: TVA at 20%, with a 5.5% rate on books and most food.
Two EU-wide reliefs matter for the parcels we actually book. Customs duty is generally not charged where the goods are worth under €150, and an occasional, non-commercial gift between private individuals is free of both duty and tax up to €45. Neither relief excuses you from VAT on anything larger: the old exemption for low-value consignments was withdrawn across the Union in 2021, so tax is assessable from the first euro of declared value. The relief you can rely on is honesty, not a small number in the value box.
The genuinely French complication is geography. Guadeloupe, Martinique, La Réunion, Mayotte and French Guiana are France and they are in the EU, but they sit outside the EU VAT territory and levy their own octroi de mer on incoming goods. A parcel to Saint-Denis or Fort-de-France therefore clears on different terms from one to Paris, and the recipient’s bill will not look like a mainland bill. Tell us at booking if that is where it is going. Monaco, by contrast, is handled as part of France.
Address it as the French do — number first, then the street, then the five-digit code before the commune. Give us a mobile number and, for a business consignee, their EORI.
Unsure where your item falls? Ask us before the carton is sealed, not after.
Apostilled degrees, transcripts, birth certificates and campus correspondence for people admitted to French universities and grandes écoles. An envelope has no value to reassess and no ingredient list to check, which is why documents are the least troublesome thing we send anywhere.
Clothing, festival gifts, books and factory-sealed dry food to relatives and students in France. Where the parcel really is a gift between two private people, say so plainly and keep it within the €45 relief; where it is not, put the true value on the invoice and let customs assess it.
Textile swatches, components and small trade samples from Bengaluru suppliers. These need a commercial invoice with quantities, values and a description that classifies cleanly, plus the consignee's EORI number — we build that at the counter so nobody is chasing paperwork later.
We will tell you once we know where in France it is going, what the box weighs, what it measures — the larger of those two governs the price — and what is inside it. We publish no international figure because we hold no international card, and any site that quotes you a flat per-kilo rate for France is quoting something it has invented.
We have no verified transit data of our own for this route, so we do not print a number for it. Ask when you book and we will tell you what the chosen service undertakes to do.
DTDC's. We are an authorised DTDC booking partner working from HSR Layout — your consignment moves on a genuine DTDC air waybill and is trackable at dtdc.com.
No. Perfume, attar, oils, gels and aerosols are refused on every route we book, French or otherwise. It is our standing restriction and we do not make exceptions for a sealed bottle.
No, and it is worth knowing before you send. The overseas départements sit outside the EU VAT territory and charge octroi de mer on arriving goods, so the treatment and the recipient's bill differ from a mainland delivery. Tell us the destination at booking so the paperwork is right the first time.
She may be. TVA at 20% applies to the declared value of the goods, and duty as well once the consignment is above €150. A genuine gift under €45 escapes both. We cannot waive any of it and will not pretend the outcome is in our hands.
Send the weight, the dimensions and a photo of the contents. You will get a real quote, the paperwork done here, and free collection anywhere in Bengaluru.
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