France
Into France, import VAT never touches the border.
Hotel furniture from Türkiye enters France duty-free on an A.TR movement certificate, inside the EU–Türkiye Customs Union. Since 1 January 2022 French import VAT is reverse-charged on the importer's VAT return, automatically and mandatorily, so nothing is financed at the border; a valid French VAT number is the one prerequisite. Fire performance runs on the M-classification and, for upholstered seating, AM 18, quoted per specification. DFDS's published Yalova–Sète Ro-Ro crossing is about 76 hours.
We manufacture hotel interiors in Gemlik, Bursa — guestroom casegoods, architectural joinery and upholstery, with soft furnishings and lighting supplied in the same package and installation managed by us on site. French hotel projects already buy furniture across borders: France is the largest export market of the Italian furnishing industry, at €2.9 billion in 2025 (FederlegnoArredo, April 2026), and takes a quarter of Portugal's wood and furniture exports (AIMMP, March 2026). A Turkish bench enters the same market on the same duty — zero, on an A.TR — so what actually decides a programme is the fire classification, the VAT mechanics and the freight leg, and those get the page.
The border, settled
Duty-free on an A.TR
Hotel furniture is industrial goods and moves inside the EU–Türkiye Customs Union on an A.TR movement certificate, raised per consignment, approved by the chamber in Gemlik and vized electronically by Turkish customs. It enters France duty-free, wherever the board and the hardware came from.
Free circulation is not origin
An A.TR does not prove the goods are Turkish; it proves they are in free circulation. Where a content rule, a trade-defence exposure or your own onward re-export needs origin, the document is a certificate of origin, and we raise one on request. Ask for origin by name when origin is what you need.
Import VAT never touches the border
Since 1 January 2022, import VAT into France is reverse-charged on the VAT return, automatically and mandatorily: collection moved from customs to the DGFiP, the CA3 return arrives pre-filled with the customs data, and the one prerequisite is a valid French VAT number, whether or not the importer is established in France. Nothing is financed at the border. (douane.gouv.fr, 20 December 2021.)
EUDR from 30 December 2026
The EU deforestation regulation reaches furniture on 30 December 2026. The due-diligence statement is the importer's to lodge, and it cannot be lodged without harvest-plot geolocation for the wood in the product — data that has to come from the manufacturer, so we are building it now. (Verified 5 August 2026 against the Commission's EUDR pages.)
The freight leg, only where a source publishes it
A direct Ro-Ro to Sète, on DFDS's published schedule
DFDS runs a Yalova–Sète roll-on roll-off service with five sailings a week in each direction and a published crossing of about 76 hours, which puts a Turkish trailer on a French quay in just over three days. The page is DFDS's own and undated, so the sailing is confirmed when the programme is priced.
By road, on one forwarder's published band
A Turkish forwarder publishes 7 to 10 days for road freight to France (Hiper Logistics, page updated 1 January 2025). That is one company's band, not an index, and no city-level table for Paris or Lyon met our sourcing bar — so the number that goes into your programme comes dated from the forwarder.
What the schedule is built on
Containers are loaded in installation sequence and labelled by room number, so the site starts fitting from the first container instead of waiting for the last.
The M-classification, and AM 18 for the seats
A French public-building specification classifies interior materials M0 to M4 under the NF P92-501 family, and the ERP safety regulation of 25 June 1980 assigns the furniture articles: AM 12 puts curtains at M1 or M2 depending on the room, and AM 18 governs upholstered seating, which must satisfy the two criteria of its technical instruction rather than borrow the fabric's M-rating. We quote the build-up against the article and class the specification names, with test evidence on the composite as built. (Verified 29 August 2026 against Légifrance and LNE's published guide.)
Fire-rated upholstery: how it is actually evidenced →Working language
Correspondence runs in English; Turkish, Arabic and Russian are also working languages on our side. Drawings need no language: send the CAD set and the specification as they are, and the reply comes back in English with the questions numbered.
Who does what at the border
You or your customs agent are the importer of record; we quote DAP to the named place. Union Customs Code article 170(2) requires the declarant to be established in the Union, so the entry legally sits on your side, and we support it with the A.TR, the commercial documents and the answers your broker asks for. We manufacture, export-clear at Gemlik, carry the freight, and manage the installation through to a finished room.
How a French project runs
BOQ and drawings
Your bill of quantities and the architect's drawings, in whatever form they exist.
Standards named up front
Fire class, ignition sources, strength level — fixed before production, because they are build-up decisions.
Model room
Built and approved before the line opens. Eight model rooms are in our showroom in Gemlik.
Production and QC
Under our own production management in Gemlik: machining, veneer, finishing and upholstery in one building.
A.TR and delivery
The certificate raised per consignment, containers sequenced and labelled by room number, DAP to the named place.
Installation
Managed by us on site, through to the punch list.
Common questions
- Do we need a EUR.1 for France?
- No. For any EU member state the instrument is an A.TR movement certificate: hotel furniture is industrial goods and moves duty-free inside the EU–Türkiye Customs Union. EUR.1 is for FTA partners outside the Customs Union, such as the UK and the Western Balkans.
- What duty will we pay?
- None — the A.TR settles it. The number that does land on the entry is import VAT, reverse-charged on your French VAT return since 1 January 2022 rather than paid at the border. The CA3 arrives pre-filled from the customs data; the one prerequisite is a valid French VAT number.
- How long is the freight leg?
- DFDS's published Yalova–Sète Ro-Ro crossing is about 76 hours, five sailings a week each way, and one Turkish forwarder publishes 7–10 days for road freight to France. Both are the companies' own figures, so the number in your programme comes dated from the forwarder for that departure.
- Can you meet AM 18 for the seating?
- Name it in the specification and the build-up is engineered to meet it, with test evidence produced against the approved composite. Fire performance belongs to the build-up — this foam, this interliner, this fabric — not to the company, so it is decided at material approval and lapses if the fabric is substituted.
- What are your lead times?
- Set per project against scope and materials, and fixed in the offer together with the delivery date.
Send the BOQ.
A bill of quantities or a drawing set is enough to start. We come back with the scope we cover, the standards we would specify against, and what the first room takes to build.