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Here is how France’s 100km journey rule works

As France begins the first stage of lifting its lockdown restrictions a new rule has been introduced - no one can travel more than 100km from their home for non-essential journeys. Here's how it works.

Published: 7 May 2020 18:15 CEST
Updated: 12 May 2020 08:15 CEST
Here is how France's 100km journey rule works
Photo: AFP

Under France's lockdown all non-essential journeys were banned and every trip outside the home – even just to the boulangerie to get a baguette – required a permission form.

People were only allowed out for a certain amount of time and a certain distance from their homes.

However this has now changed, and instead the distance travelled becomes crucial. Here's a breakdown of the new rule.

What does the rule say?

When announcing the new travel rules, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said that a permission form (attestation) would no longer be needed when leaving the house, except for journeys of more than 100km.

Journeys of more than 100km can only be taken for “imperative” reasons, such as family emergencies and vital work reasons.

Is it a new form?

Yes, there is a new form specifically for journeys of more than 100km, The paper form is available to download HERE and there is also a smartphone version HERE.

Similar to the previous forms, you need to fill in your personal details, then add the name of the place you are visiting, then tick one of the accepted reasons for travel.

These are:

  • Travel for work which cannot be postponed
  • Travel to school or other educational establishment or for educational purposes such as exams for a pupil and their parent or carer
  • Journeys for medical appointments that cannot be done closer to home
  • Travel for urgent family reasons such as providing care for a child or vulnerable relative (this category does not include family visits)
  • Travel at the request of police or following a court summons or at the request of a local authority

While travelling with this form, you will need proof of the address you are staying at, but the address doesn't have to be your main residence. So if you have decamped to your second home during lockdown that's fine, you just need some sort of proof of address such as a utility bill. 

The form is for journeys which are out of your département of residence and more than 100km – you can travel 100km within your own département (if you live in one of the larger départements).

The form and address ID can be checked at areas such as motorway service stations, train stations and the entrance to areas popular with tourists.

Are there any other reasons for travel?

The broad outline of essential journeys is the same as the one currently in place for all trips.

Apart from the categories outlined on the form, people can travel to funerals, which has not been possible under the strict lockdown, although funerals must be limited to 20 people.

Moving house – this isn't on the form, but the Interior Ministry has previously confirmed that moving house is allowed if it cannot be postponed. So if a purchase has gone through or a lease ended and you face being homeless otherwise, you can still move house, even if the move is more than 100km.

Returning home for foreign nationals – this is another one not on the form, but foreign nationals have the right to return to their home country if they wish.

How is the 100km limit measured?

Whether the 100km is measured as the total length of the journey or is the distance as the crow flies from your home address makes quite a difference, and the Prime Minister clarified on Thursday that this is measures as the crow flies.

The government's géoportail site has a tool that allows you to calculate the 100km radius, and there are several other apps that also do the job and are less complicated than the rather fiddly government site – we liked the Michelin site HERE.

Can I travel between départements and regions?

France's 101 départements have each been given a designation of red – for places where there are still a high number of cases and hospitals services are under pressure – or green.

This has provoked some confusion over whether it is possible to travel over département or region borders, especially from a red département to a green.

But in all cases the answer is the same – you can cross between départements and regions at will, as long as your total journey does not exceed the 100km limit.

Can I change residence?

Many people, particularly Parisians, left the cities and moved to their second home in rural areas at the start of the lockdown.

But with schools and workplaces reopening, people's thoughts are turning to returning home.

Questioned about this, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner confirmed that people can return to their main residence, even if the journey is more than 100km.

“We do not forbid the French to return to their main domain to resume their work or to send their children to school from May 11th,” he said on French TV channel LCI, before adding: “we do not want to prevent the French from moving, but the virus from moving.”

 

However travelling from your permanent residence to a second home or holiday home does not count as a reason for essential travel, Philippe added.

Can I use public transport for journeys of more than 100km?

Public transport started to increase from May 11th, but there are more services in the cities in suburbs to cater for commuters.

Some long distance services are running however and SNCF says it will have around 50 percent of its normal high speed TGV trains running. However SNCF is selling tickets for half the seats, to ensure that social distancing is respected, and tickets must be bought in advance of the journey.

Masks are compulsory on all types of public transport.

So if I'm going less than 100km I can travel for any reason at all?

Yes, shorter journeys have no restrictions but the government is still asking (although not ordering) people to limit their travel if possible.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said: “Now is not the time for a weekend break” adding that the mass movement of people from region to region should be avoided at all costs.

 

Member comments

  1. My sister’s brother and his girlfriend travelled on the train from Paris to Caen before the 11th without any checks what so ever. Go figure.

  2. I presume your sister’s brother is also your brother? Strange way of refering to him. As far as checks are concern, there can’t be every where. I don’t understand what there is to figure out?

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TRAVEL NEWS

EES: Why is the UK-France border such a problem for the EU’s new biometric passport checks?

The EU's proposed new system of passport checks known as the Entry & Exit System will apply to all of the Bloc's external borders - so why are most of the warning lights coming from the France-UK border? And is it really Brexit related?

Published: 8 May 2024 12:03 CEST
EES: Why is the UK-France border such a problem for the EU's new biometric passport checks?

The EU’s new Entry & Exit System of enhanced passport checks – including biometric checks like facial scans and fingerprints – is due to come into effect later this year.

You can read a full explanation of how it works HERE and see our frequently-asked-questions section HERE, including information for non-EU citizens who are resident in an EU country and the system for dual nationals.

EES will apply to the whole of the EU and Schengen zone and will apply at external borders, but not for travel within the Schengen zone itself (eg between France and Germany or Italy and Switzerland).

You can hear the team at The Local discuss the latest developments on EES on the Talking France podcast – listen here or on the link below

The EU has plenty of external borders from land borders such as the Greece-Albania border to the airport frontiers that occur when, for example, an American flies into Italy.

But while several nations have expressed concern that their infrastructure is not ready, the loudest and most dire warnings are coming about the border between France and the UK.

READ ALSO Travellers between France and UK could face ’14-hour queues’ due to new passport system

So why is this border such a problem?

The problems with the UK France border are threefold; volume of traffic, space and juxtaposed borders.

Volume of traffic – This is simply a very busy border crossing, about 60 million passengers a year cross it by ferry, plane, Channel Tunnel or Eurostar. For people travelling from the UK, especially those crossing by car on the ferry or Channel Tunnel, France is simply a stopping point as they head into Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands or to Spain or Italy.

Around 70 percent of those passengers are British, which means they will have to do the EES checks.

READ ALSO Could the launch of EES be delayed again?

Space – The second problem is to do with the space that is required to process all those passengers as several crossing points – especially the Port of Dover and the embarkation area at London St Pancras – are quite crowded and for various reasons don’t have room to expand.

Extra infrastructure is required to complete EES pre-registration checks and this will be difficult to physically fit into some crossing points – for context the EES pre-registration area for the Channel Tunnel at Coquelles covers 7,000 square metres.

Juxtaposed border controls – the UK-France border is also unique within the EU because of its juxtaposed border controls, which are the result of a bilateral agreement between France and the UK known as the Le Touquet agreement.

Juxtaposed border controls exist at Paris Gare du Nord and London St Pancras for those using the Eurostar, the ports of Dover and Calais and the Channel Tunnel terminals at Folkestone and Coquelles – these mean that when you leave the UK you get your passport checked by both British and French authorities, and then there are no passport checks when you arrive in France – and vice versa.

This means that if there is a hold-up at one border control it has a knock-on effect on the other and means that very long queues can quickly build up – as has been seen several times at the Port of Dover since Brexit.

The Brexit effect

Part of the problem with the UK-France border is that discussions about EES began while the UK was still a member of the EU, and then the conversation changed once it had left.

However, even when it was in the EU, the UK never joined the Schengen zone so there were always passport checks for travellers between France and the UK.

The difference is that EU citizens are exempt from EES – so those 70 percent of passengers crossing that border who are British would have been exempt from the changes had it not been for Brexit.

French and other EU citizens remain exempt and will not have to complete EES pre-registration once the system is up and running. 

Therefore EES would have only applied to a tiny minority of travellers entering the UK – for example American tourists arriving into London – which logistically would be a much easier challenge, especially for the Port of Dover whose customers are overwhelmingly either British or EU nationals.

What about Ireland?

Had it not been for Brexit, the UK would have been in a similar situation as Ireland is now – since Ireland is a member of the EU but not the Schengen zone.

Under the new system Ireland will not use the EES system at its own borders and will carry on manually stamping passports.

However, anyone who has an Irish passport will be exempt from EES when they are travelling within Europe – for dual nationals this only applies of they are travelling on their Irish passport.

READ ALSO Your questions answered about the EU’s new EES system

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