In the absence of sanctions and in the nebula of exemptions, no car will remain in the garage. Each city applies its own rule. Overview of the region, in these perimeters of “low emissions zones” and variable geometry.
The law of August 22, 2021 on the fight against climate change made the establishment of ZFEs compulsory in all urban areas with more than 150,000 inhabitants before December 31, 2024. Low Emission Zones (ZFEs), numbering twelve so far, have extended to around thirty urban areas since this Wednesday, January 1, 2025.
Two of them are obliged to prohibit the circulation of cars with a Crit'Air 3 sticker (i.e. dating from before 2011 for diesel cars and before 2006 for gasoline cars), namely the urban areas of Paris and Lyon.
Those of Montpellier and Grenoble are joining them voluntarily, by deciding to put in place a restriction on the circulation of Crit'air 3 vehicles from January 1 even though they are not required to do so, as they cannot, explains we, resist strong ecological convictions.
Marseille and Toulouse authorize the Crit'air 3
Since 2022, the air quality of these territories having improved, the application plan concerning the circulation of polluting vehicles has evolved. Marseille, Strasbourg and Rouen finally let Crit air 3 vehicles circulate in their ZFE beyond January 1, 2025, choosing to apply other levels of restrictions.
Some only prohibit cars registered before 1997 and not classified, others Crit'air stickers 4 and 5.
Toulouse Métropole has for its part adopted a measure relaxing the ZFE, allowing a Crit'Air 3 vehicle to circulate at least until December 31, 2025.
In Montpellier, no sanctions are planned
Since January 1, Crit'air 3 vehicles and beyond, i.e. 60,000 vehicles in the metropolis, are no longer authorized, like Paris and Lyon. At least on paper. 11 municipalities have been affected since 2022, so this is nothing new: Castelnau-le-Lez, Clapiers, Grabels, Jacou, Juvignac, Lattes, Le Crès, Montpellier, Saint-Jean-de-Védas, Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone , Saint-Brès and Castelnau-le-Lez.
From exemption to verbalization
“Any person checked with a Crit'Air 3 vehicle in Lyon, Villeurbanne, Caluire-et-Cuire, Bron and Vénissieux, will receive a class 3 fine. That is 68 euros for a light vehicle, and 135 euros for a heavy vehicle of type truck”. True or false? In Lyon, as everywhere else, without signs to prohibit access or indicate entry into an ZFE, point of possible fines. Which would amount to issuing a fine for prohibited parking in the absence of adequate signage.
In Lyon, however, the rate of fines increased between June and August 2024, where centrist elected official Laurence Croizier reported to the municipal council that “4,700 fines had been drawn up”, the vast majority “for the absence of a Crit sticker”. 'Air on the windshield.' Failure to carry the sticker is punishable by a fine of €68. To avoid this, it is better not to delay in ordering yours on the official website of the ministry for the sum of €3.81. The real ax will fall in the second half of next year when radars with automatic license plate reading will be installed at key points in the city. To verbalize, you still need the power, through signage or radars supposed to accompany the deployment of ZFEs, which is far from being the case. These radars responsible for sanctioning non-compliance with the imposed rules will begin their experimentation. From mid-2025, the Greater Paris metropolis will, for example, be equipped with educational radars, which will warn motorists of their potential infraction. Before really verbalizing by 2027!
Fines for illegal presence in an EPZ are therefore not for the immediate future. A string of disparate exemptions exists, but here too, it will be necessary to juggle from one EPZ to another. In Bordeaux, for example, a person suffering from a long-term illness can continue to travel for three years, regardless of their sticker. While in Rennes, the measure will not apply to certain traders and workers working staggered hours. In Montpellier, whether the vehicle is Crit'Air 3, or even 4 or 5, it can continue to circulate, but on condition of being a declared “small driver”, producing the last two technical inspections attesting to annual mileage less than 8,000 km with a sworn commitment not to travel any more! Open to individuals and professionals, a 52-day pass per year can be activated, the equivalent of one day per week. It is therefore better to find out about the restrictions, city by city, before venturing there, whether you are a professional or a simple tourist. Especially since in the event of a pollution peak, temporary measures can be decided. 2025 is therefore described as an “educational” period everywhere, giving motorists time to adapt. Or not. It seems that flexibility and the multiplicity of exemptions have marked the end of EPZs, even before they were born.
It is not until July 1, 2026 that all 31 municipalities in the Metropolis will have to comply. Frédéric Lafforgue, mayor of Castelnau-le-Lez, which borders Montpellier, proposed in December to “suspend the current calendar”. Supported by the mayors of twenty municipalities, a moratorium will be voted on in the metropolitan council on February 13 aimed at postponing the establishment of an ZFE which is accused of imposing constraints without offering viable solutions.
Maintained but not controlled, and without any sanction for the offenders, Michaël Delafosse accepts his “yes but no”: “No fines will be issued.” At least not in the absence of signs indicating entry into the ZFE. To be continued.
Regarding motorized two-wheelers, the display of a Crit'air sticker has no longer been required since January 2024. All can circulate without restriction in the Montpellier ZFE.
Nîmes adopts in 2025, Perpignan postpones to 2026
The two cities are part of the new EPZs created on January 1, 2025, among the 30 others in France. But Perpignan postpones its ZFE until 2026, although the first vehicle ban measures are not very restrictive. During the community council in September 2024, the vice-president in charge of the environment and ecological transition, Marc Médina, announced the postponement of the application of the ZFE to January 1, 2026.
For Nîmes, it is therefore a question of respecting the very first step, namely the exclusion of so-called unclassified vehicles, that is to say registered before 1997 for cars, (i.e. less than 3% of the cars in the fleet driving in Nîmes; 12% of heavy goods vehicles).
To be in tune in Perpignan as in Nîmes, all you need is to have affixed a Crit'air sticker to your windshield.
As in Montpellier, Nîmes will not issue fines
Several routes are exempt: motorway network (A 9, A 54), national roads (N106, N113), routes serving the industrial zones of Grézan (D 999) and Saint-Césaire (D40, D613), which allows access to the University Hospital, and the departmental roads allowing route continuity outside the Low Emission Zone to be maintained.
Béziers: not affected
ZFEs exist in towns with more than 150,000 inhabitants. For the moment, only the metropolis of Montpellier is concerned in Hérault, but not the commune of Biterroise, with its 82,530 inhabitants.
“The art of putting citizens in violation”
Detractors It is a “gas factory” that the detractors of the ZFE denounce, in particular the 40 million motorists association which calls for “the pure and simple repeal of the ZFE”, believing that these zones constitute “time bombs social”. “Who will still be able to ride tomorrow?”, they ask. “What's incredible about the ZFE perimeter is that a zone entry sign can appear anywhere, at any time. Example on a motorway: no possibility of turning around, no park and ride.” For the association, it is “the art of voluntarily putting citizens in violation.” “The absurdity of ZFEs is also the fact of banning vehicles from metropolises that successfully pass technical inspection, when this includes reinforced pollution control since 2019.” We also see a “death of city centers already well underway”, when we do not hesitate to reclassify the acronym ZFE as “highly excluded zone”.
