Local taxes, car recalls, cold calls: 5 French practical updates

Immigration bill updates

There have been many twists and turns regarding the controversial ‘immigration law’ bill.

Now, with an updated version of the bill passed in both political chambers in France, and being one step closer to implementation, we look at both the next steps for the law, as well as the changes to second-home owners that were kept in the final version.

Read more: Visas, residency cards: What changes in France’s new immigration law?

Read more: What happens next for law to ease second-home visits to France?

Read more: Automatic visa for easy second-home visits passed by French parliament

Key product recalls

Two product recalls of a very different nature are underway in France.

The first is for packets of basmati rice that could contain insect larvae, sold in major French supermarket E.Leclerc for a number of months.

The second is for 140,000 Peugeot cars, which are being recalled due to a potential issue with the vehicle’s brakes.

We list the models affected, and what to do if you own one of the cars in question.

Read more: Basmati rice recalled in France as insect larvae could be inside

Read more: 140,000 Peugeot cars recalled in France over brake issue

Linky meter updates - and a fraud case

More news has been revealed about where the trial on reducing electricity to homes with a Linky meter will run this winter.

The trial will reduce electricity to around 200,000 homes, meaning only key appliances will have enough energy to stay on, in certain parts of the day.

Joining up to the trial will be optional, and those who opt-in will be given financial compensation.

We also covered a court case in the east of France, which has seen two men given prison sentences for tampering with Linky meters to provide artificially reduced readings, and thus lower bills.

Those who allowed their boxes to be tampered with could both face fines from the prosecution as well as from Enedis, who manage France’s electricity grid.

Read more: Homes in France set to have power reduced via Linky: where and when?

Read more: Large-scale Linky meter fraud discovered in France

New ways to stop cold calling

This article covers two new methods to help deal with cold callers.

We provide information on two websites that allow you to track where your data is being given (and thus where cold callers stem from), as well as one which crafts a letter template to send to your phone operator to prevent them sharing your phone number with cold callers.

Read more: Two new ways to fight back against cold callers in France

Will taxe foncière rise next year?

We look at the expected changes to next year's taxe foncière bill payments. Whilst a rise is on the cards, this is expected to be significantly lower than this year’s increase (of 7.1%).

In addition, with one eye on 2026’s municipal elections, experts are predicting less communes will be willing to vote on additional increases to the tax.

Read more: Taxe foncière French property tax: what rises to expect in 2024?