Or are the “douaniers” in France also responsible for immigration?
If the entry point is under Douanes responsibility, yes. In general the “entry requirements” mission takes operational precedence over the “levying customs duties” mission.
The (formerly known as) Police de l’Air et Des Frontieres has shrunk significantly in headcount and is only responsible for immigration at few locations.
The other difference is that the PAF is a police force operating on powers governed by the penal code. Customs operate under the Customs code and have significantly wider powers.
DGDDI(Douanes) & DCPAF(PAF) are different, they sit under two different codes & ministeres, Douanes are trained to do immigration for people while PAF can’t do customs for goods and have to seek Douanes for this, I am not sure how the split is done for PPF/PPA airports but I see more Douanes than PAF
Some Gendarmes are trained to do customs & immgration but it’s for few maritime ports
Ibra wrote:
The wording of Artcile12 is vague and it’s scope does not make sense: it mixes up DOM/TOM with Euro mainland (how many GA flights go to/from Belgium to New Caledonia using PoE/PPF airport with no permanent customs?), for sure the situation of DOM/TOM is different than metropolitan land but it does shed some light on how C&I treats “temporary Shengen OFF exception”, I had same story when planning out-return France/Spain/Melilla/Morocco, that trip need 6 PN emails to be on the safe side…
Thanks, (also for making the point I tried to make earlier for me ;-)). We have rights, as EU citizens, to travel freely within the common travel area. If one of the 27 decides to put border checks back in place, they can. (within a very strict upon agreed framework and temporarily and clearly defined to do a specific thing)
What I think we should not do, is allow them to install a climate of fear in us where we ask for PP or we give PN where such thing is not necessary within the Schengen area. Then we are essentially giving up the right. If something gets imposed within the Schengen area, its our duty to question that authority. If the French want to check me coming back here from within the area, they are free to do so. They have suspended certain aspects of Schengen – thought technically not entirely within the Schengen framework which will be an issue for them if they do end up in front of the European court.
There is nothing within the legal framework at the moment that OBLIGES us as pilots to give PN or request PPR. If you chose to do so at every occasion, maybe they will start expecting it in the future. I for one, won’t…. (to clarify if the airport requires PPR or PPN and that is stated within the AIP I of Course will)
Ibra wrote:
The wording of Artcile12 is vague and it’s scope does not make sense: it mixes up DOM/TOM with Euro mainland (how many GA flights go to/from Belgium to New Caledonia using PoE/PPF airport with no permanent customs?
I think you could very easily go from St Maarten Airport (dutch side) to the French side. Or travel from St Pierre to Miquelon (Possible by plane) etc…
I got this reply from Caen, who seem to be taking it seriously:
PPR not PNR.
LFHNflightstudent wrote:
Or travel from St Pierre to Miquelon (Possible by plane) etc…
That would be a France internal flight, not international. 
I can confirm this is not just a wild story. A friend of mine flew from Germany to Dijon a few weeks ago and had this exact same problem. He had to pay the fee before he could leave again.
jfw wrote:
Regarding the case of Dijon it is clearly mentioned in the AIP (which changed recently 25/03/21):
I don’t agree, It’s clearly stated that you need PN if you need customs, not that you need it intra schengen…
jvdo wrote:
I don’t agree, It’s clearly stated that you need PN if you need customs, not that you need it intra schengen…
Correct. The AIP entries document PNR lead time required when customs/police is needed, but say nothing about whether or when customs/police is needed or not….. that is, they say nothing about needing it for intra-schengen flights. The only exception of which I’m aware is La Rochelle which clearly says that it is also needed for intra-schengen.
It’s not just LaRochelle, for completeness on AIP entries with PN for ANY international flights, I will add Picardie, Brive, Limoges and few others but there are also few that are NOTAMed as with either PPR to Ops or PN to Customs
