Crit'Air sticker for UK drivers: cities, price and how to order

The Crit'Air sticker is the round French air quality certificate that classes every vehicle from 0 (electric) to 5 by its exhaust emissions. A UK-registered car must display one to drive or park in an active low-emission zone, such as Paris, Lyon or Grenoble, and during pollution-episode restrictions. It costs €5.11 (about £4) on the official site.

The French name is certificat qualité de l'air, and the zones are called zones à faibles émissions (ZFE). There is no national requirement: away from these zones and outside a pollution alert, you can drive anywhere in France without a sticker. The trap for British drivers is that the obligation follows the zone, not the car. A recent petrol car that is allowed everywhere still needs the sticker on its windscreen inside an active zone, because driving there without one is an offence in itself.

Your class depends on the type of vehicle, the fuel and the Euro emissions standard, or, when the standard is not given, the date of first registration. A vehicle keeps the same class for its whole life, and the sticker stays valid as long as it is legible. The table gives the class of a car by fuel and date of first registration.

Twenty-five French cities and metropolitan areas run an active low-emission zone, according to the French government's official list of low-emission zones. The strictest, where Crit'Air 3, 4, 5 and unclassified cars are banned, are Paris and Greater Paris, Lyon, Grenoble, Strasbourg and Montpellier.

Each city sets its own perimeter, hours and banned classes, which is why two cities an hour apart can treat the same car differently. Paris restricts cars on weekdays from 8am to 8pm only, while Strasbourg applies its rules 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The table sums up what each zone does to a car, the vehicle most UK visitors drive.

Remember the rule behind the table: in every one of these zones, while it is active, a car must display its sticker, even in a city that only bans unclassified vehicles. So a 2019 petrol hatchback driving through Bordeaux is allowed in, but only with its Crit'Air 1 on the windscreen.

Some cities open a new step with a teaching period (période pédagogique), when officers explain the rules instead of fining, and these dates move often. The zones themselves are also contested in Parliament: a law passed in 2026 tried to abolish them, but according to the Constitutional Council's decision 2026-903 DC of 21 May 2026, that article was adopted by an unconstitutional procedure and was struck out, so the zones remain in force. Check the city's own website in the week before you travel.

During a persistent or intense pollution peak, the préfet (the State's representative in the area) can impose temporary traffic restrictions, called circulation différenciée, that keep the most polluting Crit'Air classes off the roads. These alerts can cover towns outside the permanent zones.

When the alert is on, the restricted classes are set in the prefectural order, and driving without a sticker is an offence. The French Ministry of Ecological Transition sends drivers to the national Vigilance Atmosphérique tool, which shows each alert as soon as a préfet decides it, and to the prefecture's website for the details of each measure. GOV.UK's travel advice for France adds that checks can happen at any time, depending on pollution levels.

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  Order the sticker before any long drive in France: Even if your route avoids every low-emission zone, a pollution alert can make it compulsory where you are.
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  Check the alerts the evening before: On the Vigilance Atmosphérique tool or the website of the prefecture of the area you will drive through.
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  Plan a park-and-ride if your class is banned: Many zones keep their park-and-ride car parks open to every car, as Nantes and Montpellier do.

You order the sticker for a UK car online on certificat-air.gouv.fr, choosing "Vehicle registered abroad", with a photo or scan of your V5C registration certificate (logbook) and a payment card. The site has an English version, takes about 5 minutes and accepts up to 10 foreign vehicles per order.

A French order of 29 June 2016 names certificat-air.gouv.fr as the only way to apply remotely for the certificate. Any other website is at best an intermediary that places the same order for you, at a higher price.

1. Open certificat-air.gouv.fr and switch the language to English if you wish.
2. Choose "Vehicle registered abroad" as the registration origin of your vehicle.
3. Enter the vehicle details: type of vehicle, fuel, registration number, date of first registration and, if you know it, the Euro emissions standard. Without the Euro standard, the date of first registration decides the class.
4. Upload a legible photo or scan of your registration certificate: the site asks for one for every vehicle.
5. Give the postal address where the sticker should go: for a vehicle registered abroad, it is sent to the address you enter.
6. Pay by Visa, Mastercard or PayPal (PayPal is accepted for vehicles registered abroad).
7. Keep the emails: a confirmation within 4 hours, then an invoice within about 24 hours showing an image of your sticker and its class.

When the sticker arrives, put it inside the car, on the lower right-hand corner of the windscreen, so that its front can be read from outside. On a motorbike, it goes on the front of the fork. A German, Austrian or other foreign emissions sticker does not count in France: the classifications differ, and only the French certificate is accepted.

The sticker for a UK-registered vehicle costs €5.11 (about £4) on the official site: €3.11 (about £3) for the certificate plus €2.00 (about £2) postage outside France. It arrives by post in about 10 days, and the invoice emailed within 24 hours serves as proof until then.

Order at least three weeks before you leave, for example when you book your ferry to France. The 10 days are the official site's own estimate for a sticker sent by second-class post. GOV.UK's driving abroad guidance also warns that emission stickers for European cities may need buying weeks before you travel.

Left it late? The invoice with the image of your sticker is the official stand-in until the real one arrives, so print it or keep it on your phone. A sticker ordered once stays valid for as long as you keep the car and it remains legible, so a family that crosses to France every summer pays only once.

The official site is the one whose address ends in .gouv.fr and shows the French ministry's logo: certificat-air.gouv.fr. The French Ministry of Ecological Transition warns that websites with no link to the ministry act as intermediaries and sell the sticker at a price well above the real one.

The official site itself carries the same warning: beware of intermediaries and fraudulent sites. A reseller places the same order you can place yourself in about 5 minutes, and charges you more for it. Their names change often, so we do not list or link any of them.

Driving without a sticker in an active low-emission zone or during a pollution alert means a fine of €68 (about £57) for a light vehicle such as a car, and €135 (about £110) for a heavy goods vehicle. The same fine applies to a car whose class is banned in the zone.

In a hire car, the French rules do not say whether the hire firm or the customer buys the sticker: it is a matter for the hire contract. The fine, however, is for the person driving. Ask the hire company before you collect the car if you plan to drive into Paris, Lyon or another zone. The other papers a UK driver needs in Europe, from the licence to the UK sticker, are in our guide to driving in Europe from the UK.

• Do I need the sticker to drive through France on the motorway?

  Not as a general rule: the sticker is only required inside an active low-emission zone or during a pollution alert. Watch out near cities whose zone includes major roads, such as Lille (A1, A25, A22, A27, A23) and Lyon (M6-M7 and the ring roads).

• How much does a Crit'Air sticker cost for a UK car?

  €5.11 (about £4) per vehicle on certificat-air.gouv.fr: €3.11 (about £3) for the certificate and €2.00 (about £2) postage outside France. A site that charges more is not the official one.

• How long does the sticker take to arrive in the UK?

  The official site gives about 10 days by post. Order at least three weeks before you leave, and keep the emailed invoice, which shows an image of your sticker and serves as proof until it arrives.

• Is the sticker compulsory in Paris?

  Yes, from Monday to Friday between 8am and 8pm in the Greater Paris zone (77 towns). Crit’Air 3, 4, 5 and unclassified cars are banned there at those times; evenings, weekends and public holidays are free.

• Which Crit'Air class is my diesel car?

  A diesel car first registered from 1 January 2011 (Euro 5 or 6) is Crit’Air 2. From 2006 to 2010 (Euro 4) it is Crit’Air 3, which is banned in Paris, Lyon, Grenoble, Strasbourg and Montpellier.

• Does an electric car need a sticker?

  Yes, inside an active zone or during an alert, an electric or hydrogen car must display the green Crit’Air 0 sticker. No current zone bans it, but driving without the sticker is still an offence.

• Is a German or Austrian emissions sticker valid in France?

  No. Each country uses its own classification, so a foreign sticker does not replace the French certificate where it is required.

• Who pays for the sticker on a hire car?

  French rules leave it to the hire contract between the company and the customer. Any fine goes to the driver, so check with the hire company before you drive into a zone.

• How long is the certificate valid?

  For the life of the vehicle, as long as the sticker stays legible. A car keeps the same class all its life, so you buy it once.

• Can I buy the sticker when I arrive in France?

  Not at the border. The sticker is ordered on certificat-air.gouv.fr, the only official way to apply remotely, and comes by post within about 10 days, so order it before you leave the UK.