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What changes about life in France from December 2018

This article contains important information for some property owners as well as anyone who uses gas, pays taxes, and/or has frequent sex.

Published: 2 December 2018 21:21 CET
What changes about life in France from December 2018
Photo: AFP
Property owners
 
If you own an apartment in a block of fewer than 50 individually-owned properties, you have until December 31st to register it. 
 
According to the Alur law, brought in in 2014, your apartment must be registered on the national register of condominiums. 
 
This is part of an attempt to prevent problems that can arise in individually-owned apartments and can be done online at registre-coproprietes.gouv with the National Agency for Housing.
 
While this registration is mostly being carried out by property management companies, you may want to make sure that it has been done because there is a €20 fine for everyday you aren't registered after the deadline. 

 
Free condoms
 
Prescription-bought condoms will be free in France from December 10th as part of a rare step which has been taken to combat the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
 
The measure will cover French-made Eden condoms obtained on prescription from a doctor or midwife.
 
Produced by Majorelle laboratories and sold only in pharmacies, Eden condoms cost a fraction of leading brands such as Durex or Manix at 2.60 euros ($2.95) for a box of 12.
 
They are the first to be approved for reimbursement by France's national health authority, one of the few in Europe to do so.
 
 
France to reimburse condoms in fight against AIDS and STIs
Photo: AFP
 
Public holiday
 
There is one public holiday in France in December on Christmas Day (25th). Remember that unlike many other countries, Boxing Day is not a public holiday in France. 

 
Last chance to change you tax declaration
 
Tax payers in France have until December 18th to make an amendment on their tax declarations if they fear they have made a mistake. After that date you will pay the penalty.

 
The service is accessible on impots.gouv.fr where you can log in with your tax number and password and click on “Correct / My Online Return 2018”.
 
How paying your income tax in France is going to change dramatically
Photo: AFP

Gas prices 

From December 1st, gas tariffs will decrease by 2.4 percent. 

And no doubt this will come as a relief to the 4.6 million households set to be impacted by the change as this is the first drop in prices since May. 

The drop is a result of the fact that a decrease in the import price of gas has occurred for the first time in six months.  
 
The decrease will see prices drop by 0.8 percent for those who use gas for cooking, by 1.5 percent for those who use it for cooking and hot water and by 2.4 percent for those who use it for cooking, hot water and to heat their homes.

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Five signs you’ve settled into life in Switzerland

Getting adjusted to Swiss ways is not always easy for foreign nationals, but with a lot of perseverance it can be done. This is how you know you’ve assimilated.

Published: 30 September 2021 16:50 CEST
Updated: 14 August 2022 07:05 CEST
Five signs you've settled into life in Switzerland
No lint: Following laundry room rules is a sign of integration in Switzerland. Photo by Sara Chai from Pexels

Much has been said about Switzerland’s quirkiness, but when you think about it, this country’s idiosyncrasies are not more or less weird than any other nation’s — except for the fact that they are expressed in at least three languages which, admittedly, can complicate matters a bit.

However, once you master the intricacies and nuances of Swiss life, you will feel like you belong here.

This is when you know you’ve “made it”.

You speak one of the national languages, even if badly

It irritates the Swiss to no end when a foreigner, and particularly an English-speaking foreigner, doesn’t make an effort to learn the language of a region in which he or she lives, insisting instead that everyone communicates to them in their language.

So speaking the local language will go a long way to being accepted and making you feel settled in your new home.

You get a Swiss watch and live by it

Punctuality is a virtue here, while tardiness is a definite no-no.

If you want to ingratiate yourself to the Swiss, be on time. Being even a minute late  may cause you to miss your bus, but also fail in the cultural integration.

‘The pleasure of punctuality’: Why are the Swiss so obsessed with being on time?

Using an excuse like “my train was late” may be valid in other countries, but not in Switzerland.

The only exception to this rule is if a herd of cows or goats blocks your path, causing you to be late.

A close-up of a Rolex watch in Switzerland.

Owning a Rolex is a sure sign you’re rich enough to live in Switzerland. Photo by Adam Bignell on Unsplash

You sort and recycle your trash

The Swiss are meticulous when it comes to waste disposal and, not surprisingly, they have strict regulations on how to throw away trash in an environmentally correct manner.

Throwing away all your waste in a trash bag without separating it first — for instance, mixing PET bottles with tin cans or paper — is an offence in Switzerland which can result in heavy fines, the amount of which is determined by each individual commune.

In fact, the more assiduous residents separate every possible waste item — not just paper, cardboard, batteries and bottles (sorted by colour), but also coffee capsules, yogurt containers, scrap iron and steel, organic waste, carpets, and electronics.

In fact, with their well-organised communal dumpsters or recycling bins in neighbourhoods, the Swiss have taken the mundane act of throwing out one’s garbage to a whole new level of efficiency.

So one of the best ways to fit in is to be as trash-oriented as the Swiss.

READ MORE: Eight ways you might be annoying your neighbours (and not realising it) in Switzerland

You trim your hedges with a ruler

How your garden looks says a lot about you.

If it’s unkempt and overgrown with weeds, you are clearly a foreigner (though likely not German or Austrian).

But if your grass is cut neatly and your hedges trimmed with military-like precision (except on Sundays), and some of your bushes and shrubs are shaped like poodles,  you will definitely fit in.

You follow the laundry room rules

If you live in an apartment building, chances are there is a communal laundry room in the basement that is shared by all the residents.

As everything else in Switzerland, these facilities are regulated by a …laundry list of “dos” and “don’ts” that you’d well to commit to memory and adhere to meticulously.

These rules relate to everything from adhering to the assigned time slot to removing lint from the dryer.

Following each rule to the letter, and not trying to wash your laundry in someone else’s time slot, is a sign of successful integration.

Voilà, the five signs you are “at home” in Switzerland.

READ MORE: French-speaking Switzerland: Seven life hacks that will make you feel like a local

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