Plans for French anchoring tax scrapped

The controversial plan to introduce an anchoring tax to much of the French coastline has been scrapped by the government.

In a bid to protect parts of France’s seabed, the French government had planned to apply a daily anchoring tax to more than 300 managed marine areas around the country.

Initially only set to be introduced off Corsica, the plans were extended throughout France and proposed to tax €20 per meter of yacht, per day. Meaning an average sized superyacht of 50m could see a charge of €1000 per day.

In May last year, the French senate voted to abandon the tax, which has now been supported by the French assembly following a meeting last week. The yachting industry launched a campaign against the bill, in which the government dropped article 18 of the NOTre bill, which covered the tax.

A spokesman for the European Committee of Professional Yachting, which has led the campaign against the charge said, “It is good news, especially as the yachting industry represents 1.5 billion euros in France including 720 million in Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur.”

Minister Matylise Lebranchu has now committed to finding another solution to preventing Bonifacio’s sea bed from being damaged by yachts, while also protecting the economy.