Outdoor signs and advertising are now under the control of mayors

“It is obviously easier” for local stakeholders “to be able to see that an illegal sign was erected overnight,” explained a representative of the Ministry of Ecological Transition.

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Posters of commercial signs on large format advertising panels along the national road at the entrance to Bourg-de-Péage (Drôme), May 7, 2021. (NICOLAS GUYONNET / HANS LUCAS / AFP)

The conformity of outdoor advertising and signs will now be controlled by the mayors, to whom this has been entrusted. “police power” to January 1, 2024, formalized a decree published Sunday December 31 in the Official Journal. This decree follows a provision of the Climate and Resilience law of 2021 and provides for the transfer of a certain number of skills to mayors or presidents of intermunicipalities in matters of outdoor advertising.

These will now have “the responsibility for receiving prior declarations and processing requests for authorization to install advertising, signs and pre-signs, but also on-the-ground control, implementation and monitoring of sanctions”according to a publication from the Association of Mayors of France (AMF) on its site.

Previously, this power of advertising was shared between the prefect and the mayor – except when the municipality was covered by a local advertising regulation, in which case it already fell to the mayor, the AMF further explained during a November webinar. “He’s obviously better off.” for local actors “to be able to note that an illegal sign was erected overnight or that a sign not necessarily corresponding to the rules of local regulations was also installed, rather than surveillance provided from the capital of the prefecture”estimated a representative of the Ministry of Ecological Transition during this online event.


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