Rules on lights for caravans
Caravans need lights, not reflectors in France
Q: WE LIVE in France but decided to buy a British caravan because French ones have less sophisticated fittings inside and are more expensive.
We had it tested by the drire [local vehicle standards authority], who told us the caravan should have electric side marker lamps and not reflectors. We have not yet had them changed but we think people should be aware. J.T.
THANK you for pointing this out. It is correct that all caravans registered in France have to have electric side lights and not just reflectors if they are more than 6m long, which is not always the case with British ones.
An expert we checked with from one of the local drires (Directions Régionales de l'Industrie de la Recherche et de l'Environnement - the official bodies dealing with conformity of vehicles to regulations) said that in France this affected all caravans which were first used on the roads from June 1, 2001 - ie. old caravans are not affected by it but newer ones are. In fact caravans sold in France usually come equipped with these even if they are very small, said the manager of one caravan specialist, Calais Caravanes, Marc Deprez.
Caravans in France have to be registered with their own carte grise (registration document) if they are bigger than a PTAC (poids total autorisé à charge - total authorised laden weight) of 500kg. The steps are similar to those for registering a car (which we looked at in December), although a caravan does not need a contrôle technique (MOT test).
As with a car, the final application for registration is made at your local prefecture, once you have all the documentation required.
Registering a British caravan requires authorisation from your local drire who check on its conformity to French standards in a process called la présentation d’un procès-verbal de réception à titre isolé (RTI).
There is a drire for each department. You can find contact details on the internet - usually you want a specific vehicles section - the antenne véhicules as they also have other responsibilities.
