News

From 9 July, the French authorities will set up cross-border exchanges of information on traffic offences with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

These exchanges, which fall within the framework set by European Directive 2015/413, will make it possible to prosecute Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian nationals who commit road traffic offences detected by radar on French territory. Conversely, French nationals committing traffic offences detected by radar on Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian roads may be prosecuted by the authorities of such countries.

France now exchanges cross-border information with a total of 16 countries of the European Union: in addition to these three Baltic countries, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Italy, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Portugal and Spain. At the same time, it also exchanges similar information withSwitzerland on the basis of a specific bilateral agreement.

Since the deployment of speed cameras in France, approximately 21% of the offences recorded (50% in summer) concern vehicles registered abroad, while they represent only 5% to 6% of
traffic.

In one year (from June 2017 to May 2018), more than 76 000 offences (76 200) were committed on French roads by vehicles registered in Lithuania, almost 12 000 offences (12 525) by vehicles registered in Latvia and about 2000 offences (2011) by vehicles registered in Estonia.

According to Emmanuel Barbe, inter-ministerial delegate for road safety, the generalisation of cross-border exchanges in Europe is a step forward as it ensures equal treatment betweenFrench and foreign drivers.