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Old diesel cars banned from Paris from July 1st

The Local France
The Local France - [email protected]
Old diesel cars banned from Paris from July 1st
Photo: AFP

From July 1st diesel cars made earlier than 2006 will be banned from the French capital on weekdays.

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Any vehicles carrying the Crit'Air 4 stickers (denoting the most polluting vehicles) will not be able to enter Paris on weekdays from July 1st 2019 in an effort to reduce pollution in the French capital.  
 
This means that from that date no diesel vehicle older than 13 years old (2006), as well as motorbikes registered before July 1st 2004, will be able to enter Paris from Monday to Friday between 8am and 8pm.
 
The rule will hit light trucks as well as cars and is set to impact about 800,000 vehicles in the greater Paris region of Île-de-France, according to a report in BFMTV, although the ban only applies to Paris itself, not the areas outside the périphérique.
 
The people of the department of Seine-Saint-Denis to the north of Paris will be hardest hit if they want to go into Paris, with an estimated 128,015 of the car users in the area driving a Crit'Air 4 labelled vehicle. 
 
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The goal of authorities in the French capital is to ban diesel vehicles completely by 2024. 
 
"The quality of the air is improving in Ile-de-France, but we want to speed up the process. It's a question of public health," Christophe Najdovski, deputy transport director for the city of Paris told the French press. 
 
More precisely vehicles falling into this category will be banned from the city between the hours of 8am to 8pm during the week. 
 
"They can do it outside of these hours. We do not want to ban but simply limit polluting vehicles during the day," Najdovski added. 
 
If you're caught breaking the new rule, you risk a fine of up to €68 if you are driving a car or on a motorbike, and a fine of up to €135 for trucks.
 
According to a 2018 study by Airparif, which monitors pollution in the capital, this new step will reduce nitrogen oxide (NO2) emissions by 23 percent, which according to the Town Hall would have taken five years to achieve without taking this action.
 
Crit'air stickers were brought in as a way of tackling pollution, essentially by stopping old polluting cars from driving at peak times, back in 2017. 
 
Any cars - including foreign ones - not displaying a Crit'air sticker risks a fine of up to €68.
 
There are six categories and colours, depending on the year of the vehicle's registration, its energy efficiency, and the vehicle's emission quantity.
 
The stickers range from "green" for electric or Hydogen vehicles, to a level 5 sticker for the most polluting vehicles. 
 
Here's a look at the stickers together with the full descriptions (or download the English PDF version here). 

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