six questions about Low Emission Zones, which make motorists and elected officials groan

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ZFE: three letters designating the Low emission zones which will upset – or are already upsetting – certain French cities and their inhabitants. Their goal ? Reduce air pollution in selected urban areas. The method ? Prohibit access to the most polluting and oldest vehicles. The government held on Tuesday 25 October, its first follow-up committee for these ZFEs, and notably announced its desire to set up “automated sanction control” through radars from the second half of 2024. To see more clearly, franceinfo returns to the subject in six questions.

1Where do these EPZs come from?

EPZs are provided for by law. Any municipality can create one. But their introduction has become mandatory in urban sectors where the air quality limit values ​​have been exceeded, since the mobility orientation law adopted in 2019. The climate and resilience law adopted in July 2021 provides that all agglomerations of more than 150,000 will have an EPZ by 2025.

2What are they for ?

The main purpose of these zones is to reduce air pollution. Traffic restrictions imposed on the most polluting vehicles aim to speed up “the renewal of the fleet towards less polluting vehicles”, explains the official Public Life website. They also aim to encourage transfers to other means of transport that are more respectful of the environment.

In mid-October, the courts condemned the State to pay two fines of 10 million euros because, despite certain improvements, the limit thresholds for air pollution with nitrogen dioxide are still exceeded in several areas of France, particularly in the urban areas of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. “More than 40,000 deaths [par an] in our country are directly related to this poor air quality. One of the levers is the Low Emission Zones”argued Christophe Béchu, the Minister of Ecological Transition, to the National Assembly, the day after this conviction.

3Where are they?

For now, EPZs exist in eleven cities. The first emerged in Lyon, Grenoble as well as in the Paris conurbation. The EPZ of Grand Paris is the largest in France, encompassing the 77 municipalities surrounded by the A86. The list of existing ZFEs is completed by Aix-Marseille, Nice, Toulon, Toulouse, Montpellier, Strasbourg, Rouen and Reims. From here to 2025, 45 agglomerations of at least 150 000 inhabitants will be affected.

4Which vehicles are prohibited in EPZs?

This system distinguishes vehicles according, in particular, to their age, according to a progressive national calendar. From January 1, 2023, Crit’Air 5 vehicles (diesel vehicles produced before 2001) will no longer be able to drive in these areas. On January 1, 2024, it will be the turn of Crit’Air 4 (diesel before 2006), then Crit’Air 3 (diesel before 2011 and petrol before 2006) on January 1, 2025. The ban on Crit’Air 2 (all diesel vehicles, and petrol vehicles produced before 2011), will have to be taken no later than 2027, for possible application in 2028.

Buthe rules vary from city to city, and some are stricter than the national standard. The perimeters are sometimes limited to the hypercentre, but sometimes include the majority of the agglomeration. The pace of application is not uniform, as is the financial aid. Finally, two-wheelers are not systematically targeted.

The Greater Paris ZFE thus applies to vehicles categorized Crit’Air 5, 4 and unclassified (i.e. diesel vehicles manufactured before 2006, and gasoline vehicles prior to 1997), and restricts their circulation Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The conurbations of Lyon and Rouen have banned Crit’Air 5 cars since September 1, as has Marseille, which plans to carry out the first checks in early 2023. Reims also prohibits its city center from Crit’Air 5, and will ban Crit ‘Air 4 from January 1, 2023.

In Nice, the ZFE was officially born on January 31 in the center and on the Promenade des Anglais, but for the moment only concerns polluting heavy goods vehicles. Its gradual extension to cars is planned from January 1, 2023. Toulouse has also started by banning the most polluting trucks, vans and vans from the heart of the agglomeration. Cars and two-wheelers certified Crit’Air 4, 5 and not classified will be prohibited from January 1, 2023.

Strasbourg, which already had a “mini ZFE” applied to heavy goods vehicles in the hypercentre, banned Crit’Air 5 vehicles and non-classified vehicles throughout the territory of the agglomeration on January 1. This first year is considered there as educational: there will be no verbalization before January 1, 2023, but controls aimed at explaining the measure.

5What are the penalties provided?

This is the subject of the clarifications provided by the government this week. No automatic sanction has been taken so far. But the executive intends to tighten the screw. “We must do our utmost to ensure that automated penalty control is developed as quickly as possible”said the Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, on Tuesday, while calling not to wait for this automation to sanction.

The Minister of Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, does not close the door to the use of gates or cameras. For the moment, nothing has been decided, the minister declaring that the “technical characteristics of the selected projects will be presented when they are known”.

Offenders are liable to a third class fine, i.e. a fixed fine of 68 euros, specifies the Ministry of Ecological Transition.

6Why are these areas criticized?

For their detractors, the establishment of these zones will exclude certain categories of the population from city centres, in particular the poorest, who cannot afford to buy recent cars. A well-founded warning, since 38% of the most precarious households have a Crit’Air 4 or 5 car, according to the “People’s Mobility” survey carried out by INSEE in 2018 and 2019.

“It is also the inhabitants of rural and peri-urban municipalities who most frequently own the most polluting vehicles”note in their summary the deputies who carried out a “flash mission” on “accompanying measures for the implementation of Low Emission Zones”. “You will end up with a colossal bazaar all over France”believes the spokesperson for the Drivers’ Defense League, Alexandra Legendre, questioned Wednesday on BFMTV.

Some elected officials concerned complain of being isolated. “With Low Emission Zones, the State got rid of the problem on the backs of local elected officials”, estimated on franceinfo Jean-Luc Moudenc, the mayor of Toulouse, also vice-president of the association France Urbaine.

“We ask for the re-involvement of the State, in particular to support the most modest people.”

Jean-Luc Moudenc, Mayor of Toulouse

on franceinfo

The government claims to be aware of the problem, and puts forward its solutions. The executive has provided aid so that the ZFEs “are not areas of social exclusion”, assured Clément Beaune, Monday on franceinfo. The Minister Delegate for Transport recalled that the most modest French people would benefit from an increase of 6,000 to 7,000 euros of the bonus paid for the purchase of an electric vehicle, which he sees as “an important encouragement”. The development of a zero-interest loan guaranteed by the State to obtain an electric vehicle, “vsis also to support the implementation” EPZs, he argued.

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Nothing says that these individual aids will be enough. Quoted by France Inter, Eric Piolle, the EELV mayor of Grenoble, is asking the State for more resources to develop public transport as “Metropolitan RER”of the “carpooling lanes so you are not alone in your vehicle” and infrastructure for cycling.

For some observers, the path to EPZs is a politically inflammable highway. “The movement of ‘yellow vests’ is before usestimated Mathieu Flonneau, historian of mobility, on Public Senate. We are not immune to the great refusal from road hauliers, users or taxis, for whom the automobile is a work object.


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