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    France fails to inform visitors on new vehicle access restriction

    26 July 2018

    French authorities need to urgently put in place a central, multilingual website or similar resource to inform the public about the Crit’Air traffic access restrictions. FIA Region I and its members have called on the French government to swiftly redress this gap of information.

    FIA Region I Programmes Director, Olivier Lenz, said: “Millions of tourists are about to spend their holidays in France and the French government has not created a single point of information that explains when and where the Crit’Air stickers are required. Tourists and visitors alike need a single resource that offers comprehensive information on traffic restrictions and the specific conditions under which the Crit’Air sticker affects access.”

    Until recently, these traffic restrictions have been limited to Paris and a few large cities, the number of schemes has significantly increased over the past few months. As a result, the information is scattered, insufficient, lacks clarity or is not up to date, especially for temporary traffic restrictions. FIA Region I believes that foreign motorists travelling through France cannot be expected to search for information on local websites, often only available in French.

    FIA Region I has called on the French government for an appropriate solution to be implemented as soon as possible in the interest of all. FIA Region I and its members, motoring and touring Clubs, are offering to use their Europe-wide network to broadly disseminate the information to tourists and travellers.

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    Note to editors

    About FIA Region I

    The FIA Region I office, based in Brussels, is a consumer body representing 107 Motoring and Touring Clubs and their 38.5 million members from across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The FIA represents the interest of these members as motorists, public transport users, pedestrians and tourists. The FIA’s primary goal is to secure a mobility that is safe, affordable, sustainable and efficient. With these aims in mind, FIA Region I’s work focuses on Road Safety, Consumer Protection, Environmental Protection, and the promotion of Sustainable Motoring. www.fiaregion1.com

    What is Crit’Air?

    Crit’Air is a French air quality certificate that is a self-adhesive sticker to stick on the vehicle. It indicates a vehicle’s environmental class according to its emissions of atmospheric pollutants. There are 6 classes of certificates. The air quality certificate promotes the least polluting vehicles. The air quality certificate is mandatory to circulate in restricted traffic zones established by certain communities or to circulate when the authorities establish differentiated traffic conditions during certain episodes of pollution.