A Crit’Air sticker is France’s air-quality certificate, a small colored sticker that places a vehicle in one of six classes, from 0 to 5, by its emissions of fine particles and nitrogen oxides. You need it to drive in a low-emission zone set up by a local authority, and whenever a prefect introduces differentiated traffic during a pollution episode.[1] With a rental car, three questions decide what you do: does the car already have one, who orders it if not, and what changes when the car comes from outside France.
Where do you need a Crit’Air sticker in France?
You need it inside a low-emission zone, called a ZFE-m in French, and on the roads a prefect names during a pollution episode. The official Crit’Air site says the certificate is compulsory for vehicles driving and parking in the low-emission zones that local authorities decide on, and that every road vehicle making a trip in such a zone can be affected. It adds that the sticker is required even for vehicles and drivers that have an exemption from a zone’s restrictions.[2]
Each zone sets its own classes and hours. The government’s low-emission zone portal sets out the rules zone by zone. In the Grand Paris zone, which covers 77 municipalities, the restrictions apply on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and reach Crit’Air 3 vehicles; the cars concerned may still drive from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., at weekends and on public holidays. In the Lyon metropolitan zone, Crit’Air 3, 4, 5 and unclassified vehicles may neither drive nor park inside the perimeter, and from 1 January 2028 the central perimeter adds Crit’Air 2. The Strasbourg zone covers the 33 municipalities of the Eurométropole, apart from a few transit roads, and applies around the clock, seven days a week; it bans the same classes, and from 2028 Crit’Air 2 vehicles follow in Strasbourg, Schiltigheim, Ostwald and Holtzheim.[3]
Zones change by local decision, so look up the zone on your route before the trip; the official Crit’Air site links to the national map of zones. Each of Paris, Lyon and Strasbourg has a zone, so if you collect a car in one of them, settle the sticker question before you drive off.
Does a rental car in France come with a Crit’Air sticker?
It may, but no rule says it must. The official Crit’Air site answers this exact question for rented and leased cars: the responsibility for buying the sticker is left to the relationship between the rental company and the renter, because the rules do not mention it, and in case of a penalty, the penalty applies to the driver of the vehicle.[4]
That makes the check at the desk your job. Ask whether the car has a sticker and which class it shows, then look for it on the windshield before you drive into a zone. A sticker for a car on French plates is ordered with the car’s registration certificate, which the rental company holds, so ask the company whether it has ordered one.
You cannot bring a sticker from another car either. There is one Crit’Air sticker per vehicle, issued for that vehicle.
How do you get a Crit’Air sticker for a car registered abroad?
A car rented in Germany, Switzerland or Italy and driven into France needs a sticker in the same zones as a French car. A postal application exists only for cars registered in France, so for a car registered abroad you order online, on the official site, certificat-air.gouv.fr, under the option for a vehicle registered abroad. The site itself warns against intermediaries and fraudulent sites, so do not order through anyone else.
You need a legible photo or scan of the car’s registration certificate, so ask the rental company for one before you set off. The price for a car registered abroad is 3.11 euros plus 2.00 euros of postage outside France, 5.11 euros per vehicle.
The timing matters more than the price on a short trip. After the order, the official site sends a confirmation email within 4 hours, an electronic invoice with a facsimile of the sticker within about 24 hours, and the certificate itself by post within about 10 working days.[5] The facsimile serves as proof of your request and of the car’s class while the sticker is still in the post, so keep it with the car.
If you drive your own car with foreign plates, the route is the same: the vehicle registered abroad option on the same official site.
Order as soon as you know which car you are getting. A sticker posted to an address abroad may arrive after a one-week trip has ended, and the facsimile is what you have in the meantime.
Which Crit’Air class is your car?
The class depends on the type of vehicle, its fuel and its Euro emission standard, or the date it was first registered. For a car, it works out as follows.
| Class | Color | Cars in the class |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Green | Electric and hydrogen, any date |
| 1 | Violet | Gas and plug-in hybrid, any date; petrol Euro 5 and 6, from 2011 |
| 2 | Yellow | Petrol Euro 4, January 2006 to December 2010; diesel Euro 5 and 6, from 2011 |
| 3 | Orange | Petrol Euro 2 and 3, January 1997 to December 2005; diesel Euro 4, 2006 to 2010 |
| 4 | Burgundy | Diesel Euro 3, 2001 to 2005 |
| 5 | Gray | Diesel Euro 2, 1997 to 2000 |
| Unclassified | No sticker | Petrol and diesel Euro 1 and earlier, before 1997 |
So any petrol car first registered from 2011 is class 1, and any diesel from 2011 is class 2. A recent rental car is outside the current bans in Paris, Lyon and Strasbourg, but the 2028 steps in Lyon and Strasbourg will reach class 2 diesels. The sticker does not expire: it stays valid as long as it is legible.
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What is the fine for driving without a Crit’Air sticker?
Driving in a low-emission zone with a vehicle that is not allowed there, or without a Crit’Air sticker, can be fined up to 450 euros, and in general it is a fixed fine of 68 euros. The same fine applies if you ignore the restrictions of differentiated traffic during a pollution episode.[6]
The fine falls on the driver. The official site says a penalty applies to the driver of the vehicle, so a rental car without a sticker becomes your risk the moment you drive it into a zone.
Do you need a German emissions sticker as well?
Yes, if your route enters a German environmental zone, because Germany runs its own system. Its sticker, the Umweltplakette, comes in one of three colors, and since 2012 only vehicles with a green sticker may drive in the existing zones. The sticker is valid in every environmental zone in Germany, not just in one city, and it must be clearly visible on the windshield. Driving in a zone without a sticker or an exemption is an administrative offense, currently fined at 100 euros.[7]
Fewer cities need it than before. The Umweltbundesamt, Germany’s federal environment agency, says many cities have already lifted their zones and counts 35 still in place. Stuttgart is listed as active in its map and list of zones, and the same list shows restrictions for older diesels there: Euro 4 across the whole zone and Euro 5 in the small zone. A green sticker alone does not settle the question for an older diesel.[8]
For a rental car, ask the same question as in France. A car registered in Germany shows a green sticker on the windshield if its keeper ordered one, and a car rented in France needs a green German sticker before it drives into a German zone, because the French sticker belongs to the French system.
What else should you know before a drive through France?
The Crit’Air sticker is one rule among several. The speed limits, documents and safety kit for a French road trip are in our guide to driving in France, and the rules for renting a car in France give the short version for the country. French motorways charge tolls rather than selling a pass, which our guide to toll roads in Europe with a rental car explains. If the trip continues east into the Alps, Austria and Switzerland sell a motorway pass of their own, covered in our guide to the Austria vignette and Swiss vignette.
