jbfoodie, you will have to arrange for a USDA permit to grow these yourself. You also will have to arrange for the importation. (That may involve a Customs broker, but not necessarily.) You may have to pay inspection fees on both the French end and also the US end (although I very much doubt that on the US end). On the French end the plants will have to be inspected by an inspector so authorized by the relevant French ministry. That inspector will fill out and complete a "phytosanitary certificate" (a fancy name for a plant health certificate). Then the plants will have to be shipped to one of the ports with a USDA Plant Inspection Station where the plants will be inspected again. The intent is to make as certain as possible that each plant is not harboring an unwanted pest. San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco are the California ports with such stations. If you use one of those ports it would be best if the plants were sent on a direct flight from Europe to that particular California port. If they arrive at another US port first there may be a question about whether they will be allowed to proceed or not.

I've ordered one package from Thailand and had no problems here in Texas, but in that package were some extras I ordered for someone in CA who had had their cuttings confiscated. She got hers from me with no problems. It stinks that I had to circumvent the import laws, but they were cuttings only from a reputable seller who had obviously treated them with something--fungicide?--before shipping. James, I sent you an email since my card was returned to me as undeliverable. Hopefully you got the message and my new email address!

I've had no problems with UK customs or otherwise in receiving quantities of heirloom seeds in the UK from US friends. Indeed, there are no significant problems with posting garden seeds throughout the EC. Problems arise, as you know, when mailing seeds into the US (plus Australia and several other nations). The phytosanitation laws have been sharply enforced in the US since around 2006. This is not so much to keep out disease, which is rarely found on garden seeds properly prepared, but to block the importation of invasive weeds. Nor does it help to smuggle seeds into the US in hollowed out copies of Sherlock Holmes. US Customs have now become wise to this. It is more effective, I find, to slip them between the pages of Edgar Allen Poe's The Purloined Letter :)

I think the duty at the US/Canadian border is different than when you're coming back from Europe. If you go over the limit, you pay duty on the entire purchase, not just the amount you went over (i.e., you're allowed $200 and you come back with 250 - you pay duty on 250, not on just 50). Also, some items are exempt from the duty free (which included stuff from France, so I was worried about my Staub pots) and in that case, you pay the entire purchase price as duty (so you've doubled your cost). Here is a quote from the linked official Dept of Homeland Security website: Increased Duty Rates Items from Certain Countries Under what is known as its "301" authority, the United States may impose a much higher than normal duty rate on products from certain countries. Currently, the United States has imposed a 100 percent rate of duty on certain products of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, The Federal Republic of Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the Ukraine. If you should bring more of any of these products back with you than fall within your exemption or flat rate of duty, (see below) you will pay as much in duty as you paid for the product or products. Customs Duty Information