French hotel owners, groups and agenceurs (fit-out firms) can source guestroom furniture, headboards, seating and joinery from Turkey with no duty and a road-and-ferry leg of a few days. In French the job is mobilier hôtel, or mobilier CHR (cafés, hôtels, restaurants) when the order also covers a bar or a restaurant. Rovers reads the BOQ (DPGF or descriptif) and the drawings, prices every line with the Turkish partner factory that fits, issues shop drawings and samples for approval, follows production, inspects before packing, delivers to site and installs.
Duty and the A.TR
| Item | What applies | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Customs duty, wooden furniture (9403 50, 9403 60) | 0% third-country rate; 0% under the customs union | EU tariff (TARIC) via UK Trade Tariff XI view |
| Customs duty, upholstered seats with wooden frames (9401 61) | 0% third-country rate; 0% under the customs union | Same |
| Proof of free circulation | A.TR movement certificate, issued by Turkish customs at export | European Commission, Access2Markets |
| Import VAT (TVA) | Charged at entry at the French rate; recovered by a VAT-registered buyer | French customs at clearance |
Other lines (metal frames, lighting, mattresses, curtains) have their own codes and are checked one by one on the quote.
Getting it to site
| Route | How it runs | Planning figure |
|---|---|---|
| Ro-ro and road | Trailer loaded at the factory, ferried from Yalova to Sète, then driven to site | About 80 hours at sea, 5 sailings a week (DFDS) |
| Ro-ro from İzmir | Same, from the Aegean | Weekly (DFDS) |
| Full truck through the Balkans | Factory to site by road, one border at Kapıkule | Quoted per load |
| Container | Sea to Marseille-Fos, then truck | For large single deliveries; quoted per sailing |
Yalova is across the Sea of Marmara from Istanbul, close to the furniture factories around Bursa. A trailer loaded there reaches the hotel’s loading bay without being reopened, so each one can carry one floor or one room type, packed in the order the site installs.
French fire rules for hotel furniture
A hotel open to the public is an ERP (établissement recevant du public), type O. The fire rules are set by the arrêté of 25 June 1980, and the building’s fire officer reads them against the furniture.
| Item | What the rule asks | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Rows of seats (meeting rooms, restaurants with fixed rows) | Seat structures in M3 material, or wood and wood boards 9 mm thick or more; upholstered seats meet the two criteria of the technical instruction on upholstered seats; rows fixed or linked so they can’t tip | AM 18 (Légifrance) |
| Seat covers | Kept closed and in good repair; the maker gives the operator a care sheet, and a new cover must not change the seat’s fire result | AM 18 (Légifrance) |
| Large furniture and main fit-out (reception desks, bars, fixed joinery) | M3 material | AM 16 (market data, Panachats) |
| Upholstered seating, test method | NF D60-013, a cushion fire test on the seat as built | Market data, Panachats |
| M class and Euroclass | M3 is roughly D-s2,d0 under EN 13501-1; the fire officer decides the match | Market data, Panachats |
Two practical points follow. The fire test is run on the build that ships: frame, foam, interliner and the chosen fabric. If the fabric changes, the test is booked again. And the care sheet for each upholstered model goes into the handover file, because AM 18 makes the operator keep the covers as tested. Where a French spec names EN 1021-1 and EN 1021-2 instead, those are booked the same way. Board and finished pieces are matched to Regulation (EU) 2023/1464, which sets 0.062 mg/m³ of formaldehyde for furniture from 6 August 2026.
Headboards and the CHR order
The tête de lit hôtel (hotel headboard) is often the biggest single item in a French guestroom: an upholstered or timber panel, sometimes wall-wide, with reading lights, sockets and USB points built in. It is drawn, wired and tested as one piece; see beds and headboards. On a CHR order the same quote can cover the restaurant and bar: banquettes, bar fronts and stools, tables and the reception desk; see public areas.
Documents and terms
- Commercial invoice and packing list, one line per item code, room type and floor.
- A.TR movement certificate; CMR consignment note for the road leg.
- The French importer’s EORI number and the customs declaration, filed by the importer’s customs broker.
- Fire test reports and care sheets per upholstered model, in the handover file.
- Incoterms 2020: DAP site for a delivered price; FCA Turkey for a buyer with a forwarder.
What to send us
Send the DPGF or BOQ, the drawings, your fire safety notes from the bureau de contrôle, the site postcode and the date the rooms must be ready. No BOQ yet? The drawings or a room count are enough for a first priced schedule.
- European Commission, Access2Markets: EU–Türkiye Customs Union (A.TR movement certificate) · accessed 2026-10-04
- UK Trade Tariff, Northern Ireland (EU tariff) view: 9403 50 00, 9403 60 10, 9403 60 90, 9401 61 00 — third-country duty 0.00%; Türkiye customs union 0.00% · accessed 2026-10-04
- DFDS Türkiye: ro-ro lines (Yalova–Sète, 5 sailings a week, about 80 hours; İzmir–Sète weekly) · accessed 2026-10-04
- Légifrance: Arrêté du 25 juin 1980, Article AM 18, rangées de sièges (version in force from 4 Nov 2023) · accessed 2026-10-04
- Market data: Panachats, classement au feu des mobiliers dans les ERP (19 Mar 2026): AM 16 gros mobilier M3; NF D60-013 cushion test; M3 roughly D-s2,d0 · accessed 2026-10-04
- EUR-Lex: Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1464, formaldehyde (0.062 mg/m³ from 6 Aug 2026) · accessed 2026-10-04
- CEN: EN 1021-2:2014 Ignitability of upholstered furniture (part 1: cigarette; part 2: match flame equivalent) · accessed 2026-10-04
- ICC: Incoterms 2020 · accessed 2026-10-04