Crit-Air and other European pollution issues

[xsaab]

I have just applied for the French Crit-Air sticker for the car window. As the the stickers have only been introduced into France very recently there is a backlog of 3 to 4 weeks in printing the stickers. (I was informed by the agency that is issuing my sticker).

In spite of the great EU Bureaucracy enforcing common practices in member countries, the EU has not got this process organised for pollution stickers so each country still uses it's own set of stickers instead of a common set of stickers and standards.

if you plan to go to some cities in France, Germany, Austria on a car trip you will need several stickers.

I have found that I can get stickers from
https://www.crit-air.fr/en.html

https://www.tolltickets.com/default.aspx?lang=en-GB
they do not process the French stickers but do other documents

and
https://www.certificat-air.gouv.fr/en/

for the French - I think this cheaper than the crit-air location.

Enjoy

[Billggski]

So.... You want the eu to enforce uniformity across member states?

[xsaab]

I thought that was the guiding principle of the EU covering open borders, car crash testing, any thing to minimise the difference between the member states.

[Grimble]

Originally Posted by xsaab

I thought that was the guiding principle of the EU covering open borders, car crash testing, any thing to minimise the difference between the member states.

And maximise the cost and bureaucracy for the consumer.

[960kg]

Just received my Crit`Air certificate and i have a number 3 out of 5, the best being 5.

I suppose being V6 3 litre diesel that is not too bad seeing as the motor is 2006, Mercedes are good at modern technology and keeping emissions low.

Don`t worry if you need the certificate quick mine has only taken about 5 days.

[tt82]

The RAC would beg to differ, they have 5 being the worst!

What are the French 'clean air' stickers?

The French clean air stickers - called Crit'Air vignettes - are part of a six-category sticker system that applies to all motor vehicles in certain areas to identify what emissions they produce.

The six categories have six colours that denote how heavily polluting the vehicle is according to its Euro emissions standard, ranging from green (Crit’Air 1, electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles) for the cleanest, to black (Crit’Air 6 mostly older, diesel cars) for the dirtiest.

P.s. The ratings are also based on the European Emissions Standards that the vehicle is designed to meet, not the actual car itself. A 185bhp D5 would also receive a Level 3 sticker.

[Joe of Loath]

Originally Posted by Grimble

And maximise the cost and bureaucracy for the consumer.

Doesn't performing the same action once across a couple of dozen countries rather than performing the same action in each country separately actually mean less bureaucracy? I mean, duplication of effort and all.

[canis]

Originally Posted by Billggski

So.... You want the eu to enforce uniformity across member states?

Hahaha! It doesn't meet the EU regulations on pettiness. Now if it was vacuum-cleaners, that'd be a different story! LOL!

[c_lee]

Earlier this year I got one for my 1999 V70 diesel from the official source for about £4.

It was very quick to arrive but you are sent an email that you can print out to use if the sticker hasn't arrived by the time you depart.

My V70 TDI was a 5 as I expected.

As a point of interest, whilst we were in France I looked at many French cars in areas separated by hundreds of miles and the vast majority didn't have a sticker.

OK - were were only in Normandy and Brittany this year but Rennes is now Green within the ring-road.

Colin

[1monkey600]

Originally Posted by xsaab

I have found that I can get stickers from
https://www.crit-air.fr/en.html

https://www.tolltickets.com/default.aspx?lang=en-GB
they do not process the French stickers but do other documents

and
https://www.certificat-air.gouv.fr/en/

for the French - I think this cheaper than the crit-air location.

Enjoy

The crit-air site is like these websites here that say they can sort you a passport or whatever but charge you five times the cost of you going direct to the .gov.uk passport site. OK, in this case you need a bit of french but the crit-air site charges nearly 30euro while the official gouv.fr site costs 3.11euro plus postage to an 'overseas' address.

With regards to whether cat 1 or cat 5 is worse - according to their website cat 1 used to be the worst but now is the best available (for internal combustion engines)