FRANCE: The usage of outdoor heating or cooling equipment on the roofs of cafes, bars, and restaurants, or any outdoor public place is now banned in France.
The use of this type of equipment has become increasingly popular among commercial establishments in France and elsewhere, despite criticism from environmental groups.
A decree enforcing the new law as a result of a French citizen’s climate conference resolution aimed at reducing energy consumption, now on “the consumption of energy and the use on public property of heating or air-conditioning systems operating outside.”
The law should have come into force 12 months ago but was postponed due to the COVID-19 crisis, but some French municipalities had already taken decrees in this direction.
The new decree provides four exceptions relating to equipment or activities: closed tents for circus and fairground activities; Covered and closed mobile installations for temporary cultural, sporting, or festive events; waiting for areas in stations, seaports, and airports; Bars, cafes, restaurants whose terraces are entirely “covered and closed on their sides by concrete walls connected by an airtight joint to the upper wall.”
Those who violate the law for the first time will face fines of up to €1,500.
