Don’t forget your Crit’Air ‘clean air’ stickers.
If you’re planning a trip to or through France this summer be sure to purchase your ‘clean air’ windscreen stickers before you go or face an on-the-spot fine of £117. The stickers, which cost just €3.11 plus postage, are a legal requirement in some French cities and will be used to identify a vehicle’s emissions levels and in some cases, restrict access in order to improve air quality.
French ‘clean air’ stickers (Crit’Air vignettes) are part of sticker system that applies to all motor vehicles in certain areas of the country to identify what emissions they produce. There are six colours denoting how heavily the vehicle may pollute the air, which is determined according to its Euro emissions standard, ranging from green for electric and hydrogen powered cars to black for the older and most polluting diesel engines.
From the beginning of this year the stickers are mandatory for Paris, Lille, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Grenoble and Lyon although other towns and cities may join later this year and by 2020 it is thought there will be up to 25 areas which require stickers.
More information about the scheme, with a video, can be found on the France.fr website
There is also a helpful question and answer page on the RAC website
