Customs, duty free and animals 

The Customs and Immigration Office is situated at Maritime House, La Route du Port Elizabeth, St Helier, Jersey, JE1 1JD.

The Jersey Customs Drugs Line can be contacted on 0800 735 5555.

Customs and immigration

The designated Ports of Entry in Jersey are St Helier or Gorey. All visiting vessels requiring customs or immigration clearance must make inward entry at either of these ports.

The only visiting vessels that need formal customs or immigration clearance are those which have:

• non-European Economic Area nationals on board
• goods to declare. These include prohibited or restricted items such as controlled drugs, firearms or dutiable goods in excess of duty free allowances
• arrived from outside the European Economic Area

Vessels meeting any of these criteria must fly the yellow 'Q' flag as soon as the territorial waters of the Bailiwick of Jersey are entered. The 'Q' flag must remain flown until clearance has been received by a Customs or Immigration Officer.

If a 'Q' flag is flown, notice JCE 112 (Customs and Immigration Declaration) should be completed within 2 hours of arrival and deposited either in the Customs boxes provided at the head of the marina access ramps or at the Customs and Immigration Office.

Even if you don’t fly the ‘Q’ flag, a Customs or Immigration Officer may request that you fill in notice JCE 112.

Duty free

Duty free goods are available to local and visiting craft upon departure from St Helier.

The independent operator ‘Boat Fayre’ provides a door-to-door ordering and delivery service to yachts.

Information about personal duty free allowances for alcohol, tobacco and other goods when arriving in Jersey (including the alternative allowance) is available on the States of Jersey website.

Pets and animals

Boats with animals on board arriving from Guernsey and the UK

Boats with animals on board arriving from Guernsey and the UK must go to pontoon numbers 4 and 5 outside St Helier Marina, and inform the Duty Assistant Harbourmaster (AHM) and St Helier VTS on VHF Channel 14.

Boats with animals on board arriving from other territories / countries

If you have an animal on board your vessel and you are arriving from other territories / countries, you are required by law to ensure that:

a) the animal is at all times restrained, and kept securely confined within a totally enclosed part of the vessel from which it cannot escape
b) the animal does not come into contact with another animal, other than an animal or contact animal with which it has been transported to the Bailiwick of Jersey
c) under no circumstances is the animal permitted to land, other than under a licence issued by the Environment Division of the Planning and Environment Ministry of the States of Jersey

In cases such as these, you will be asked to moor on an isolated pontoon or special berth. This will reduce the possibility of contravention of b) and c) above. You must still comply with a). The pontoon / berth may be observed by CCTV.