The tiresome topic of environmental badges! Yes, they also exist in France and no, the German one is not recognized. Now the question remains as to where you really need one when you drive to France.
Here you can find out about the current (as of 03/23) regulations on the environmental badge and diesel cars.
- Freeways:
In some larger French cities, the environmental badge is mandatory. However, there are various departments that have declared their areas to be "temporary environmental zones", which in turn means that the environmental badge may be compulsory in some cases if the air is extremely polluted and the worst polluters are banned from driving.(Côte d'Or (Bourgogne), Drôme, Loiret (Orléans), Haute-Savoie, Creuse, Puy de Dôme (Auvergne), Haute Garonne (Toulouse) Gers, and Hérault). However, this will most likely not apply to the highways that run through the departments. However, the information from the authorities is patchy in this respect, so you can't really be sure.
So if your route passes through one of the above-mentioned departments and you want to be on the safe side, we recommend that you purchase an environmental badge for France. This costs €4.61 if you order it directly from the French website. - Cities:
If you have to pass through Paris on your way to your vacation or would like to visit the following cities, you will need an environmental badge. Lyon, Grenoble, Lille, Toulouse, Reims, Strasbourg, Nice, Marseille, Aix-en-Provence and Rouen on weekdays between 08:00 and 20:00.
On days with high air pollution, it applies here: Angers, Annecy, Bordeaux, Chambers, Chartres, Clermont-Ferrand, Nancy, Montpellier, Orléans, Pau, Poitiers en Valence. - Diesel vehicles:
In more and more cities (above), cars with the lowest environmental badge category are no longer permitted or are only permitted at weekends or in the evenings.
In Paris, for example, old diesel vehicles and petrol cars may not be used at all. All category 4 and 5 vehicles (diesel before 2006, petrol before 1997) are completely banned, including on the ring road and the outer ring road (A86)!
Vintage cars (+30 years old) with French license plates are an exception. From mid-2023 (July), diesel vehicles before 2011 and petrol vehicles before 2006 (environmental badge category 3) will be included in the ban. - Freeway ring roads around cities
up to the périphérique around Paris you must have an environmental badge, also around the outer ring road A86, although the freeway itself is exempt. The individual zones are signposted.
In other cities, the sticker requirement does not apply to the ring roads. - Fines:
The fine for driving in an environmental zone without a sticker is € 68. - Purchase of the environmental sticker:
The environmental sticker for France is called Crit'air and costs € 4.61 incl. shipping. It is valid indefinitely.
You can only buy the sticker (for this price) here https://www.certificat-air.gouv.fr and the delivery time is approx. 3 to 4 weeks. If you have not yet received the sticker before you start your journey, the e-mail confirmation on the dashboard is sufficient.
You can also buy the sticker here for a service fee, but this will be considerably more expensive https://www.vignettebestellen.de/produkte?utm_source=frankrijk.nl&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=milieustickers - As the regulations are constantly changing, it is advisable to keep an eye on the official Crit'air website (see above)!
Photos: Pixaby, Crit'air,
Source: Crit'air, France-webazine, Adac