ZFE: Basque Country to ban most-polluting vehicles from June 2025

The most-polluting vehicles will soon be banned from parts of the Basque country from June, after the area’s authorities voted to establish a low emission zone (zone à faibles émissions, ZFE) on the coast.

The area’s community council, le conseil communautaire de l'agglomération Pays basque, voted the measure through on Saturday, February 15. The ZFE is set to come into force from June 1, 2025.

What will the new ZFE rules be?

The new ZFE means that vehicles with a pollution level of more than Crit’Air 5 or without a vignette (see below for more explanations of Crit’Air levels) will no longer be permitted in the stated area, which will extend along a coastal strip from Tarnos to Hendaye (see the map below for the locations of each of these towns).

The exact area covered by the ZFE can be found on the website of the Communauté Pays Basque here.

Read more: A guide to Crit’Air stickers in France 

Community authorities voted along the stipulations set out in the Loi climat et résilience (climate and resilience act), which requires the establishment of low emission zones in urban areas with more than 150,000 inhabitants.

The ZFE is set to be in force seven days a week, but only between the hours of 06:00 and 20:00.

There will be some exemptions available, including for ‘low mileage drivers’, e.g. local drivers who use their vehicle to travel less than 8,000 km per year (around 150 km per week on average)

Authorities also granted the creation of a 24-hour pass, renewable for 24 days a year, for occasional travel in the ZFE.

Improve air quality

The aim of the new ZFE, as well as compliance with the climate law, is also to reduce fine particle pollution and improve air quality. 

“Air pollution causes or aggravates certain respiratory or cardiovascular diseases,” states the climate law document presented to officials, on which they partly based their vote. “Improving air quality is therefore a major public health issue.” 

Figures from regional health watchdog l’Observatoire régional de la Santé show that 124 people died due to fine particle pollution in the Basque Country last year. Nationwide, 40,000 people die as a result of air pollution, states health authority Santé Publique France.

Some opposition

Yet, the measure has not been without opposition. During the vote, around 50 protesters gathered outside the Henri Grenet auditorium in Bayonne (where the debate and vote was taking place) to voice their disapproval of the ZFE.

Increased ZFEs and Crit’Air rules

The new Pays Basque vote comes after many towns in France - with more than 150,000 residents - introduced or expanded ZFEs in January this year.

Read more: 2025 MAP: France's new clean air driving zones and their rules
Read also: New pollution bans from January: Which cars and which cities in France? 

Vehicles driving through these zones, including foreign-registered vehicles and two wheelers, must be equipped with a 'clean air' sticker. This is known as a 'Crit’Air' vignette and must be placed on the vehicle's windscreen [or the front, such as fork or mudguard, of a motorbike], and show the pollution level of the vehicle.

Read more: Do ‘Crit’Air’ stickers go out of date for French low-emission zones?
Read more: Do drivers need a different ‘Crit’Air’ sticker for each French city?

You can buy a Crit’Air sticker for your vehicle through the official website (which is available in English). Drivers who use a vehicle without a Crit'Air sticker or drive an unauthorised vehicle in a ZFE risk a fine (except in some areas, such as Montpellier, where authorities are gradually introducing the zones and start by warning drivers of the new rules without punishing drivers who break them).

Before this January, only 12 cities had a ZFE in place (figures can differ as some lists count Paris and Greater Paris as two separate zones).

Of these, four cities (Montpellier, Lyon, Grenoble, and Paris) now restrict vehicles of a Crit'Air level 3 and above, although the exact rules in each zone differ. In Paris, for example, drivers can obtain a pass to use vehicles which are normally banned for a certain number of days each year.

Crit'Air level 3 vehicles include petrol cars first registered before January 2006 and diesel cars before 2011.

Read more: Where are Crit'Air level 3 vehicle restrictions in France?

The exact rules in Toulouse, Nice, Marseille, Rouen, Saint-Etienne, Clermont-Ferrand, and Reims - other cities where a ZFE has been in place prior to 2025 - vary.