Crit’Air sticker for a UK motorhome in France: class, price and ZFE

Does a motorhome need a Crit’Air sticker in France?

Not to cross France, but as soon as you enter a low emission zone. What the text says: the air quality certificate, the Crit’Air sticker, is compulsory only to drive and park in a low emission zoneAn area, called a ZFE in France (zone à faibles émissions), where a local authority restricts the most polluting vehicles according to their Crit’Air sticker., and to drive when the prefect, the State’s representative in the département, orders differentiated trafficA temporary restriction ordered by the prefect during a pollution episode: only vehicles with the permitted stickers may drive in the area it sets. during a pollution episode [1]. Outside these two cases, none of the texts we read requires it.

There are 6 stickers: the green one for electric and hydrogen vehicles, then classes 1 to 5, from the least to the most polluting; the oldest vehicles are not classified and cannot have one [1]. The classification is the same across France, but each local authority chooses which stickers it keeps out [2]. If you know London’s ULEZ, where a vehicle that falls short of the standard pays a daily charge [3], or England’s Clean Air Zones, which work on the same principle [4], the French logic is different: a ZFE bans the stickers it excludes, passes and exemptions aside, and fines the driver. Our guide to campervan trips puts this check in the road step; this page goes into the detail.

What this means for you, in a motorhome: the sticker must be displayed even when the vehicle is allowed in, and even if it has an exemption [2]. Parking in an active ZFE without a sticker, with a vehicle that could have one, is already an offence [1]: sleeping parked in a town with a ZFE means parking there, as our guide to sleeping in a campervan in France points out. The rule applies to every vehicle driving in the zone, wherever it comes from, and another country’s sticker, Germany’s Umweltplakette for example, does not exempt you: each country has its own classification [2].

Which sticker for a diesel or petrol motorhome?

It is read from the registration papers. The French order of 21 June 2016 first sorts the vehicle by category, as defined in article R311-1 of the Code de la route, the French highway code: a car is a category M1 vehicle, a light van an N1, and a heavy goods vehicle, bus or coach an M2, M3, N2 or N3. It then classifies it by fuel and Euro standard, entered in field V.9 of the registration certificate, or failing that by the date of first registration, in field B [6]. We found no line in it specific to motorhomes: their category decides.

On a UK log book, not everything is guaranteed to be there. The law lists what a V5C issued since 31 December 2020 must contain, unless the information is not available: among other things, the date of first registration in the UK and, where it applies, abroad, the make, type and model, the type approval number, the fuel type, the seating capacity, the unladen weight and the maximum authorised mass [7]. Neither the vehicle category nor the Euro standard is on that list, although the Secretary of State may specify other particulars [7].

So where do you find them? GOV.UK says your vehicle’s emission standard is in the log book or available from the manufacturer [4]. The Certificate of Conformity is the other place to look: it is where DVLA tells applicants registering a new vehicle to find its type approval category and its Euro status, generally shown as the exhaust emission level, for example Euro 6 [8]. DVLA describes the living features of a motor caravan as those of special purpose M category vehicles [9]. And if the Euro standard appears nowhere, the French form accepts ‘No EURO standard shown on the registration certificate’, and the date of first registration takes over [10, 6].

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In France, for the contrôle technique, the French roadworthiness test, Service-Public files the motorhome of up to 3.5 t among category M1 vehicles, with the car, and cites the national VASPVéhicule automoteur spécialement aménagé, a specially fitted motor vehicle: the national genre, entered in field J.1 of the French registration certificate, of vehicles converted for a particular use, such as motorhomes. genre in field J.1 of the French registration certificate [11]. An M1 motorhome follows the car table. In diesel, it gets Crit’Air 2 if it is Euro 5 or 6, registered since 2011; 3 if it is Euro 4, from 2006 to 2010; 4 if it is Euro 3, from 2001 to 2005; 5 if it is Euro 2, from 1997 to 2000 [12]. In petrol, Euro 5 or 6 gives Crit’Air 1, as do gas and plug-in hybrids, whatever their date [12].

Over 3.5 tonnes: does a motorhome become an HGV?

The Crit’Air order does not ask the question in tonnes: it classifies by category, those of article R311-1 of the Code de la route [6]. That article defines category M1 by the number of seats, eight at most in addition to the driver’s, with no mass ceiling; it sets a weight only for categories M2, M3 and N [13]. The EU regulation on vehicle type approval puts the motor caravanThe regulatory name for a motorhome: a category M vehicle with living accommodation, code SA. among category M vehicles [14]. The official order form, for its part, offers ‘Passenger cars (M1 category)’, with no mention of weight [10].

What this means for you: find the category before you look at the weight. If it is M1, the order puts you among cars, a category for which it sets no mass threshold; if it is N2, M2 or M3, you fall under the table for heavy goods vehicles, buses and coaches. The maximum authorised mass counts for your licence, as our guide to 4.25-tonne motorhomes explains; for the sticker, the category does. Do not expect it on every registration document: UK law does not require it on a V5C [7], and the EU directive on registration documents made it an optional entry, field J, like the Euro standard of field V.9 [15]. Fields J.1, the national genre, and J.3, the body in its national designation, are additions of the French registration certificate, absent from the directive [16, 15].

Where does the confusion come from? The same article R311-1 calls an M1 vehicle of 3.5 t at most a ‘voiture particulière’, a passenger car [13], Service-Public describes a heavy goods vehicle as one over 3.5 t [5], and in Paris, a ZFE plate shows a lorry marked ‘3,5t’ (photo below). But the Crit’Air order speaks of ‘cars’, meaning every category M1 vehicle [6]. We found no official page that deals separately with motorhomes over 3.5 t.

Where to order the sticker from the UK, and at what price?

On one site only: certificat-air.gouv.fr, which the French order of 29 June 2016 names as the only way to apply remotely [2]. For a vehicle registered in France, it costs €3.85, including €0.74 postage [5, 10]; for yours, both differ. The price covers the issuing service: it is not a tax [1]. GOV.UK’s checklist for driving abroad warns that emission stickers may have to be bought weeks before you go [18]: the ferry terminal is too late.

Vehicle registered in the UK or elsewhere outside France

• Online only, on the page for vehicles registered abroad [5]; the site exists in English [2].
• The price is €5.11 per vehicle: €3.11 plus €2 postage outside France [10].
• You need a legible photo or scan of the registration certificate, front and back, in PNG, JPG or PDF format, under 5 MB [10].
• The form asks for the category, for a motorhome one of ‘Passenger cars (M1 category)’, ‘Light utility vehicles (N1 category)’, ‘Buses and Coaches (M2 or M3 category)’ or ‘HGVs (N2 or N3 category)’; then the fuel, the Euro standard if the document shows it, and the date of first registration; one order covers 1 to 10 vehicles [10].
• The site announces a confirmation email within 4 hours, an emailed invoice showing the sticker, in effect a temporary certificate, within about 24 hours, then the sticker by post in around 10 days, to the address you give, with no separate time for delivery outside France [2].

Until the post arrives, the image on the emailed invoice proves the application and the vehicle’s classification, according to the official site [2]: keep it on board. For a hired motorhome, no text says who buys the sticker: the official site leaves it to the hire firm and its customer, and any penalty applies to the person driving [2]. Ask the hire firm before planning a stop in a town.

Where does it go? Inside, front visible from outside, on the lower right-hand corner of the windscreen [5, 2]; the official answer makes no exception for right-hand-drive vehicles. Clean the glass and let it dry: once stuck, the sticker tears if you try to move it [5].

Which cities restrict which stickers in November 2026?

First, the framework, which nearly disappeared. The abolition of the ZFE, voted in a law simplifying economic life, was struck down by the Constitutional Council on 21 May 2026, for a procedural reason and without a ruling on the substance [20]. Since then, a bill to abolish them was debated in the National Assembly on 8 October 2026, on a text the committee had rejected, with no adopted text in its file, and another has been in committee since 13 October [21, 22]. As of 8 November 2026, the ZFE therefore apply; a vote could change that, which is why their websites are worth re-reading just before you leave.

Today, 38 areas must have a ZFE, Paris and Lyon remain under the stricter regime, and elsewhere the minimum obligation targets unclassified vehicles; 25 ZFE are in force in mainland France [23]. The table covers the nine that keep out at least Crit’Air 4 cars, from each authority’s website, read on 8 November 2026. The Foreign Office’s travel advice for France, updated on 22 October 2026, names central Paris, Lyon and Grenoble, from 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday [24]; on the authorities’ own sites, those are the Grand Paris hours for cars, while Lyon applies its zone around the clock and Grenoble from 7am to 7pm on weekdays [25, 26, 27].

And motorways? There is no single rule. In the Grand Paris, the A86 and its interchanges are excluded from the ZFE [25]; in Strasbourg, the A4 and the A35 north of the Vendenheim interchange, the M35 and the M353 let you bypass the zone [30]; in Marseille, the A55 flyover and the tunnels remain open to all [37]. In Lyon, on the other hand, the M6 and M7 and the ring roads are part of the zone [26], and the ministry includes the national network (A1, A25 and others) in the Lille ZFE [31]. A route that skirts a city is therefore checked on each ZFE’s map.

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Exemptions and passes: what a motorhome can apply for

A banned sticker is not always a closed door. Several authorities provide an exemption for vehicles whose French registration certificate carries the VASP genre, and three name motorhomes. Strasbourg lists ‘street washers, sweepers and motorhomes’ among the VASP vehicles that can get an exemption of 3 years at most, on application [32]; Montpellier gives the example of ‘a van converted into a motorhome’, with VASP in field J.1 [33]. Toulouse lets VASP motorhomes and vans drive ‘for 3 years from the date on which the restrictions concerning them came into force’ [36]; as those restrictions date from 2022 and 2023, ask the Métropole whether yours still runs. The Métropole du Grand Paris grants private individuals a renewable 3-year exemption for VASP vehicles, on presentation of the registration certificate [25].

These exemptions rest on the VASP entry, a field of the French registration certificate. We found nothing on these pages that says whether a motorhome registered abroad can claim one: ask the authority before you drive in.

For an occasional visit, most offer a pass, to obtain before driving in. The Métropole du Grand Paris grants 24 days a year, provided you register the vehicle at least 15 days before its first use, then declare each date at least 24 hours ahead [28]. Strasbourg allows 24 passes of 24 hours a year [32], Rouen 24 days per calendar year, free [35]. Lyon grants up to 52 driving rights a year with its ‘petit rouleur’ exemption, Toulouse and Montpellier up to 52 days a year, Marseille up to 52 day passes, requested by email [29, 36, 33, 37]. None of the pages we read says whether these platforms accept a vehicle registered abroad: check when you register.

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Pollution peaks: when the prefect restricts traffic

A ZFE is permanent; differentiated traffic lasts only as long as a pollution episode. The order of 7 April 2016 allows the prefect to restrict the most polluting vehicles according to the Crit’Air classification, over the area set by the prefect’s order, an inter-prefectoral one when the episode covers several départements [38]. We read no text that limits this measure to cities with a ZFE.

While the measure lasts, the sticker is compulsory to drive in the area, and ignoring the restriction costs the same fine as in a ZFE [5]; driving without a sticker is also an offence there [2]. The measure is announced by the media the day before, before 7pm [5], and the Vigilance atmosphérique map (in French), which the ministry points to, lists the procedures in force [1].

Fines and checks: what you risk, city by city

The Code de la route punishes ignoring a ZFE or differentiated traffic as a 3rd-class offence with a category M1, N1 or L vehicle, and as a 4th-class offence with an M2, M3, N2 or N3, and the vehicle can be immobilised [39]. The fixed fine is €68 for a light vehicle and €135 for a heavy goods vehicle, whether you drive with a banned sticker or with none; displaying a sticker that does not match the vehicle costs €135 [1]. The fine can go up to €450, and the vehicle can be impounded [5]. Here again, the category counts: an M1 motorhome falls into the 3rd class.

In practice, enforcement moves at different speeds, and automated number-plate checking is not announced as operational on any of the pages we read. In Toulouse, the Métropole warns that the fine for a missing sticker and the one for a banned vehicle can be combined [36].

Before driving into a city: the five checks

1. Find the category, the fuel and the Euro standard (or the date of first registration) on the V5C or the Certificate of Conformity, then check the class with the official simulator.
2. Order the sticker on certificat-air.gouv.fr only, early enough to receive it, and keep the emailed invoice on board in the meantime.
3. List the cities on your route and open each ZFE’s website: banned stickers, hours, excluded roads.
4. If your sticker is banned: request the pass before driving in, ask about an exemption, or park outside the zone.
5. The day before, check whether differentiated traffic has been announced in the départements you cross.

Check before you leave, then: the website of each ZFE on your route, the day before rather than the month before. We re-read these texts on 8 November 2026; a bill under discussion or a local order can change them, and a rule is always read with its date.

Worth watching

A UK motorhome owner goes through the official application for a Crit’Air sticker, screen by screen, including the upload of the registration document.

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Arnaud Couderc

Fact-checking, regulations and safety

Arnaud Couderc reviews our contributors’ articles and writes for Outfarer about regulations, safety, fishing, the sea and outdoor pursuits. He traces every rule back to its official text and every figure to its source, so that you set off with sound benchmarks.

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