The second half of 2024 was a turbulent period in France, politically speaking, with snap elections, a deadlocked parliament, a toppled prime minister and the worst political crisis since 1958.
All of which means that few new laws got passed, and of those that did there is some uncertainty about when they will go into effect.
There are, however, some legal changes that we know will come into effect, covering property owners, travellers, doctor's patients and others.
So here's a look at the new laws in France in 2025, beginning with those that have a confirmed start date;
Holiday rentals
Starting on January 1st a tough new law imposes various restrictions on people renting out short-term tourist rental properties in France. This includes people renting out their home for a few weeks of the year on Airbnb, second-home owners who rent out their home on a short-term basis or anyone running a Gîte or holiday met business - full details here.
Wildfire prevention laws
Another one for people who own property in France - from January 1st people looking to sell or rent property in areas susceptible to wildfires in France will have a legal obligation to inform would-be buyers and renters of prevention requirements from the very start of the transaction.
Prospective tenants and buyers will need to be informed whether the property is subject to forest fire prevention requirements, or obligations légales de débroussaillement, "at each stage" of the sale or rental process - supplementing rules already in place that require property owners in high-risk areas to do yearly fire-prevention work. More information here.
Travel ID
Anyone using public transport in France will have to carry proof of their address, in case of inspection by transport officials as authorities clamp down on ticket fraud. Under current rules, passengers must be able to produce ID enabling officials to check that the name on their ticket matches their identity. From January 1st, the requirement extends to include postal addresses. More information is available here.
Paris car and public transport changes
Owners of older vehicles will no longer be permitted to drive in Paris or the capital's inner suburbs for most of the week from January 1st, 2025, as a repeatedly delayed car ban finally comes into force in the French capital. Don't forget that the 'car ban' in the central four arrondissements of the capital is already in effect (although this one has a lot of exemptions).
Moving to public transport and there are wide ranging changes to prices and ticketing in and around Paris, expected to take effect from January 2nd, 2025.
UK's ETA visa
From January 8th 2025, non-EU citizens who are travelling to the UK will require the new £10 ETA visa waiver - this would include, for example, Americans, Canadians or New Zealanders living in France, or tourists who decide to take a day trip to the UK.
The scheme will be extended to cover EU citizens from April - eventually only those travelling on a UK or Irish passport will be exempt. Full details here.
Secure prescriptions
From March 2025, medication containing codeine or tramadol can only be prescribed in France for limited periods via the 'secure prescription' service. Initially scheduled for December 1st 2024 and then pushed back to March, secure prescriptions (ordonnance sécurisée) will be required for any medication containing tramadol or codeine.
It's worth remembering that in December 2024 France banned the sale of certain common over-the-counter cold and flu remedies, due to safety concerns.
Political advertising
This is an EU-wide change, but Google will stop serving political adverts in the European Union by October 2025, in response to new transparency rules imposed by the EU. The move will have implications for election campaigns, advertisers and content strategies.
Unconfirmed start dates
There are also some changes that are likely or definite to happen, but which don't yet have confirmed start dates.
Budget 2025
Normally the budget is done and dusted well before the end of the previous year so it can take effect from January 1st, but the political chaos that brought down Michel Barnier's government also torpedoed the 2025 Budget. Members of parliament have agreed an emergency measure to rollover the 2024 Budget into the new year in order to avoid financial chaos, but the first task for the new government at the start of the year will be to create a 2025 Budget. This potentially impacts all sorts of aspects of everyday life from taxes to electricity prices, state aid to the cost of plane tickets.
Language tests for foreigners
In January 2024 France passed a wide-ranging new Immigration Law which, among other things, imposed language tests on foreign residents in order to secure certain types of long-term residency card, and raised the language level required for citizenship. The law has been passed on placed on the status book, and some parts of it (including the 'contract of republican values' that must be signed in order to get any kind of residency permit). However the section of the law that covers language changes still has no official start date.
It must be implemented 'by January 1st 2026', but the exact date is still TBC.
EES and ETIAS
Another EU-wide one, but the biometric passport checks known as the Entry & Exit System (EES) are due to be implemented in 2025. These have been delayed several times before but at the time of writing the European Commission says it intends for a phased start some time in the first half of 2025.
Six months after EES is introduced ETIAS comes into effect, requiring non-EU citizens coming to France as tourists or visitors to get a €7 online visa waiver before they travel. You can find full details of how it all works HERE, and we will update our section HERE as soon as we have a confirmed start date.
Low-emissions zones expanded
From January 1st, there will be some changes to France's low-emission zones, known as zones à faibles émissions (ZFE). When driving in these areas, it is necessary to display the vehicle emissions sticker known as Crit'Air, which shows how polluting it is on a scale of 0 the least polluting to 5.
READ MORE: Driving in France: 30 towns impose new low-emission zones
30 more urban areas will be listed as ZFEs. These places will restrict 'unclassified vehicles' from their roads (meaning those registered pre-December 1996). Existing ZFE locations will maintain their existing regulations.
However, Paris, Lyon, Grenoble and Montpellier will bring in restrictions on vehicles with Crit’Air 3 stickers (meaning diesel cars from before 2011 and petrol/gasoline before 2006).
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