French Emissions Sticker

[AidanT]

Hi all (Especially those in France)

 

i know this is new for 2017, but is anyone aware of this? 

 

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-4151434/Paris-introduces-new-eco-sticker-vehicles.html

 

It would seem that the scheme will extend to other cities in France

 

Although my French is OK, (the English version of the site is not yet available) Can / Does anyone know how this may impact our cars travelling to France? I can't find out anything on exemptions if indeeed they do exist, the certificates as described I don't think would cover our vehicles

 

 

Aidan

[Pete Lewis]

just talking about this a few minutes  ago    only goes back to 97  what happens to pre 97   seems a bit unclear  ??

 

 

 

says pre 97?diesels are exempt  dont  must read it backwards dont see ant ref to older petrols 

must be missing something ....i wont be going anyway but its good to know all exclusions and even uk road bridge and tunnel tolls that are becoming automatic got you's if you ignore the signs 

 

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

"Diesel cars older than this are not eligible for a badge".... does that mean they're permanently banned or is it an age-related exemption and don't need one?

 

The number of black diesel cars we have locally - the front is the normal colour but the entire rear is just solid dull sooty black - won't do us any favours if our government is considering it....

[Guest]

Folks.

 

This may assist via The Sun or for more in depth try The Times; both papers produced an article within the last few days.

 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/living/2700781/driving-to-france-if-you-dont-have-this-new-emissions-sticker-you-could-get-fined-117/

 

There is a link within The Sun article where you can apply for one of these stickers.

 

Have just found this info on the link provided and gives a very good definition and interpretation:

 

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-4151434/Paris-introduces-new-eco-sticker-vehicles.html

 

Regards.

 

Richard.

[Guest]

This is the key information and you will note that classic cars or any petrol vehicle registered before 1997 will NOT be allowed a sticker, so you will need to choose your visiting locations carefully especially as the scheme will tighten even more so in 2020.

 

 

WHICH STICKER WILL I NEED FOR MY CAR? 

CRIT'AIR GREEN VEHICLES (GREEN AND WHITE STICKER)

- This is the lowest band restricted only for 100% pure-electric or hydrogen vehicles.

CRIT'AIR 1 (PURPLE STICKER)

- Only plug-in hybrid cars and Euro 5 and 6 petrol models (registered from 1 January 2011) fit into this bracket.

CRIT'AIR 2 (YELLOW STICKER)

- This category is for Euro 4 petrol-powered cars (registered between 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2010) and Euro 5 and 6 diesel models (registered from 1 January 2011).

CRIT'AIR 3 (ORANGE STICKER) 

- Euro 2 and 3 petrol cars (registered from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2005) qualify for this band. 

- Any petrol car registered before 1997 does not qualify for a Crit'Air sticker at all.

- Crit'Air 3 also includes Euro 4 diesel cars (registered between 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2010).

CRIT'AIR 4 (DARK RED STICKER)

- This group is only applicable to Euro 3 diesel cars, which were registered between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2005.

CRIT'AIR 5 (DARK BLUE STICKER)

- The lowest group only includes Euro 2 diesels, registered from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2000.

- Diesel cars older than this are not eligible for a badge. 

 

So, I currently have a diesel vehicle registered in April 2005 which means I will need to apply a Group 4 sticker - dark red.

 

 

In addition, these are the other towns / cities that will be embracing the system whereby an emissions label will be required:

 

Avignon, Faucigny, Glières, Bonneville. Arras, Lille, Annemasse, Le Havre, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Cannes, Reims, Clermont-Ferrand, Rouen, Champlan, Saint-Etienne, Côte Basque-Adour, Strasbourg, Dunkerque, Saint Maur-des-Fossés, Dijon, Toulouse, Epernay, Vallée de la Marne.

 

Interesting to see that Le Harve is quoted, that will make arriving at the port between 8am and 8pm a fun situation; especially if your car cannot qualify for a sticker !!

 

Reagrds.

 

Richard.

 

[Chris A]

 There are already over 200 towns/cities in Europe that this type of restriction. Germany started introducing them in 2008 for a total of  53 towns, so it isn't anything new.

Paris wants to reduce pollution and the number of vehicles, in particular diesels. They started with a system where on a day with high pollution levels only cars with a registration ending in an even number were allowed legally into the city, the next time it would be odd numbers only. 

 

This new system allows them to be more flexible, earlier this month they banned just the  lowest class i.e. the older vehicles. By the way old diesel coaches and lorries have been totally banned from Paris for almost 2 years now.

At the start extra police were put on duty to look out for those not complying with the odd/even rule, of course given a little time this has/will diminish although there is still a risk of being caught in a routine check or by a officer looking at parked cars, for example.

 

Vehicles that were registered before the oldest category date are banned, full stop.

 

On a day where the restrictions are applied the hard up student with his old Clio will have to stay at home, or even worse having gone into Paris on Monday when there was no restriction to see friends and stay over night how does he get home the next day if the restrictions are applied? I don't know and haven't read anything about this type of case.

 

On the other hand, although I said "Vehicles that were registered before the oldest category date are banned, full stop." Cars that are registered as "collection" are exempt and don't have to worry about the restrictions, this is buried way down in the text. Associations here fought hard to have this exemption.

 

My 13/60 is registered as  "collection" so ,heaven forbid, should I wanted to wizz round the Arc d'Triumphe with the coaches, busses and taxis I can.

Old cars (over 30 years old) don't have to be registered as "collection" it is an option open to owners, provided the vehicle is pretty much standard.

 

My advice is don't go to Paris use the "Route Departmentale" instead and enjoy open road cruising where aver you want to go.

 

Boy is this long or what, glad I don't pay by the word!

[Chris A]

Richard - That list of towns is a list of those "maybe, thinking, possibly, perhaps we might do something" so don't worry too much -yet.

 

Each town that introduces a system like this is free to determine how they use it so Paris might restrict traffic to classes 1 & 2 and on the same day Lille not apply it at all. They are also able to set their own fines.

 

As I said above take the yellow roads which are great fun for our classics.

 

[Guest]

Chris.

 

Useful update, thanks.

 

So, am I right in thinking that classic cars are exempt BUT ONLY if they are classic cars registered in France - i.e. "Collection" ??

 

I'm not sure the French authorities will be kind enough to allow blanket cover for classic cars pre-se outside France; it would be an administrative nightmare.

 

Yes, give me the French country roads any day !!

 

Regards.

 

Richard.

[Chris A]

Here in France if you have a vehicle over 30 years old you can opt to have it registered as a "Véhicle de collection" as long as it is fairly standard. There are two registration documents, the "carte grise" For a classic it is the CGC "Carte grise de collection" for your ordinary modern or old car you don't want or doesn't pass muster as a classic it is the CGN "carte grise normale". The document clearly states which it is.

 

Because of the two categories the powers have agreed that vehicles on a CGC are ok as a way of making it easy for Monsieur Plod to differenciate between an old car from before 1997 and a real classic.

 

What would he do to a foreign registered "classic"? My guess is.

1. Not stop the car in the first place.

2. If he did accidentally stop one, a) wave it on as if you had stopped to pester him while he was busy on state business. Smile and give you the thumbs up saying "Buttyfool voiture"

 

I think other countries have different registrations for Classics (Germany, Switzerland & Austria come to mind but don't quote me on it)

 

Unless you run over Monsieur Plod's foot I doubt that a UK registered car that looks to be over 30 years old or has a first registered date that backs it up will have a problem.

 

 

[AidanT]

Thanks Chris. You have put my mind at rest. I won't be going to Paris anyway, just a cruise down to the grand prix de Tours via A roads

 

 

Aidan

[Chris A]

Thanks Chris. You have put my mind at rest. I won't be going to Paris anyway, just a cruise down to the grand prix de Tours via A roads

Aidan

The 'A' roads are in fact 'N' roads the ones you want are the 'B' roads which are the 'D' roads, all clear so far?

There are of course the 'C' roads but they get a bit small.

 

I assume you know the significance of the N,D and C?

 

N.B.

Any of you thinking of asking what they mean and the differences, think twice as I could make War and Peace look like a short pamphlet.????

[Pete Lewis]

Oh go on dont spoil the fun now youve explained so well

(I worked in Lyon Renault Trucks St Priest for a year before I retired)

With a flat near the Pencil tower.in Part dieu

[Chris A]

 Well you asked.

 

The N roads are really called RN which stands for Route Nationale. These are the trunk roads and keep the same number where ever they go throughout France. On a map they are red, as is the background colour on the panels and the mile (kilometre) stones (pierres). The N7 for example runs from the outskirts of Paris all the way to the Mediterranean coast, it is a mythic route the French version of say the American Route 66. People are now starting to use it again as a nostalgic trip, there is a motorway the A7 that replaces it now. Did I mention how the motorway system operates? Oh well next time maybe. These trunk roads are maintained by the state, in short.

 

Next down the pecking order are the D roads these can be quite small local roads or quite good and less used main roads. The background colours on signs and map colour is yellow. To give them their full name they are Route Départmentale or RD. The fun thing with these is that they are maintained by the Départment (County) – I said fun?

Well the number can and almost always does change as you cross into another department. Take the road that passes by our village, I often do naturally, it is the D931 here in the Orne after about 10 kms it crosses into the Sarthe (yes of Le Mans, famed for its rillettes) where it becomes the D300, there is no junction no customs post nothing. We have actually, a few years ago now, been on a road that zig zaged across two county boundaries so every kilometre or two it changed number back and forth and back again.

 

A good few years ago a number of N roads were downgraded to D roads, meaning that as well as their upkeep being handed over to the department they had D numbers rather than N numbers, for example a stretch near us is the N12, downgraded to the D912. Adding a 9 was a common practice. For quite a few years road signs were not replaced, so your map if up to date would call it the D912 and it would be in yellow but in reality the signs were still in red and labelled N12...There is still the odd one about in some (very) rural areas.

 

Next in line are the C roads, RC, they are roads belonging to Communes. They work on the same principle as Ds but communes take over, yes every time you cross into a new commune they have their own numbering system. The C1 in one commune has nothing, or rarely, to do with the C1 of the next door commune.

Q.E.D. or rather C.F.Q.D. as we say here.  

 

[Pete Lewis]

so there's a semblance to the  Brits in ministry of transport but when handing over the A trunks routes  and De trunked them to local councils they chopped up a good system of road numbering and managed to cogitate a complete mixture of numbers so trying to follow the old  sensible  and has become pretty impossible in most areas    so to me  France had a more sensible less bureaucratic  approach,   if it works dont break it .

well done 

 

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

 

 

On a day where the restrictions are applied the hard up student with his old Clio will have to stay at home

Or even worse... get a car that's less polluting or complies with the rules... yes I know there'll be the odd hard-luck story which is overinflated by the press, people will be starving, unemployed or sold into slavery, but in the main it's not the driver, it's the vehicle that causes the pollution, and there are many cheap petrol vehicles out there for the taking. Students can pollute the air just as easily as the rest of us... (must be the diet of baked beans... :0.  )

[Chris A]

Or even worse... get a car that's less polluting or complies with the rules... yes I know there'll be the odd hard-luck story which is overinflated by the press, people will be starving, unemployed or sold into slavery, but in the main it's not the driver, it's the vehicle that causes the pollution, and there are many cheap petrol vehicles out there for the taking. Students can pollute the air just as easily as the rest of us... (must be the diet of baked beans... :0.  )

 

According to the French equivalent of Which? the ban concerns 870,000 vehicles in the "Greater Paris Region". Another site talks of 300,000 to 600,000.

The Paris council claims it affects 1% of the cars going into Paris.

These are cars banned from ever setting a wheel in Paris not those affected by the occasional restriction due to pollution levels being high on a particular day.

 

Where will Paris and others stop? Maybe all vehicles that don't meet Euro 5 or 6 i.e. before 2011. Think about it any car that is older than 5 years would only have scrap value. Ouch!

[Gully]

I have no issues with cities bringing in legislation to limit air pollution - the ones that do generally have pretty good public transport infrastructure. The problem is when it starts to roll out into towns served only by appallingly depleted bus routes, which is sadly the direction of travel...

 

Gully

[Chris A]

Or, as is the case in my 3 local towns - NO public bus services serving the local areas.

[Guest]

Hello.

 

Received my air pollution certificate today via email.

 

All very efficient and total cost was £4.80 taking account of debit card transaction and exchange rate etc.

 

From submitting the application to receipt it has taken exactly 28x days, I think it is fair to assume that the closer to the holiday season the longer the turn-around period will be. Add to that the increased commonality of the system, it will only add to the turn-around time I presume.

 

If you are applying for one of these emission discs you will need to have your V5 to hand and the French processing department will also require a jpeg copy of your Log Book; it should also be noted that the maximum file they will accept is 200KB which is not very big so worth getting that jpeg sorted before hand I would say.

 

The online application procedure is very straight forward and if your French is not too hot, you can have a translated application form in English.

 

On completion of the application you will be given a reference number, ensure you note this as a confirmation email is not sent (despite saying there would be one) and there is no other opportunity to access the reference number once the application is submitted.

 

Hope the above facts are useful ??

 

Regards.

 

Richard.

[AidanT]

Morning Richard

 

From previous comments on this thread it does not seem to be a requirement for our cars so is this for your modern?

 

Also just to check but "log book"? Is that not the v5 these days as I don't have any other registration document? (I may just be reading the above incorrectly)

 

Aidan

[Guest]

Hello Aidan.

 

Yes it is for my modern and yes you are correct in saying the V5 is the same as the Log Book / Vechile Registration Document.

 

I know some members on here may visit France in a modern, so thread updated for reference purposes and a guideline.

 

Sorry, I should have said modern in my post #19.

 

All the best.

 

Richard.

[ludwig113]

its very easy to apply and cheap. sorted my modern as well, as i've been known to just get in my car and drive to paris.

[Eddie]

Applied for the sticker for my modern (ish) Skoda yesterday. Website was fairly easy to understand (there is an English version) but you have to scan and attach your V5C which was fiddly.

[Guest]

Hello.

 

Just to add to the thread, I have now received the full windscreen display emission disc via post after 5-6 weeks; the small disc received via email is just to tie you over.

 

So, all-in-all a very simple & straight forward process.

 

If you are intending to go to France in your modern this summer, I would certainly think about getting started to register your vehicle as the requirement to display a disc commences from 31st March 2017.

 

All the best.

 

Richard.

[Chris A]

The discs aren't required everywhere, just a few cities and there again not every day.

 

In September I'll be taking Mrs Me to Orly airport I still haven't made my mind up whether I'll bet the sticker or not, the devil in me says no on principle but the coward will probably buy it, less than 5 Euros, even though we won't go through Paris on be within the control zone.

 

Best recommendation to you all: come and visit rural France, open roads, no traffic and 4 course lunch with coffee and 1/4 litre of wine for 13 Euros in my neck of the woods.

 

Oh, next weekend is the 53rd Foire au boudin in my local town (I'll let you do the translation)