France: driving hours fines, from the €135 fixed fine to criminal offences

In France, small drivers’ hours breaches are 4th class offences: a €135 fixed fine, up to €750 if the case goes to court (Code des transports, R3315-10). Bigger breaches are 5th class, up to €1,500. Falsifying tachograph data is a criminal offence with one year in prison and €30,000 (L3315-4).

This page is for hauliers and planners outside France whose drivers work or transit there. The limits are those of Reg. 561/2006, identical across the EU. France prices the breach through the classes of its penal system, which is why the same article mentions a fixed fine, a maximum fine and, for the worst cases, prison.

How the French classes work

Article 131-13 of the Code pénal sets the ceilings: “750 euros au plus pour les contraventions de la 4e classe” and €1,500 for the 5th class, “montant qui peut être porté à 3 000 euros en cas de récidive lorsque le règlement le prévoit”. For drivers’ hours, R3315-12 provides for that repeat offence.

The €135 is a different thing. It is the amende forfaitaire, the fixed fine, for 4th class offences (Code de procédure pénale, art. R49, 5°). Art. R48-1, in the version in force since 3 August 2026, brings the transport offences of the first four classes under the fixed fine procedure, with the exception of articles R3315-4 and R3315-5.

So: €135 if the fixed fine is paid, up to €750 if a court decides.

The offences, class by class

Breach	Class or offence	Amount	Article
Daily driving exceeded by less than 2 h; weekly by less than 14 h; fortnightly by less than 22 h 30; continuous driving by less than 1 h 30	4th class	€135 fixed fine, €750 maximum	R3315-10, 2° a-d
Daily rest short by up to 2 h 30 (regular) or 2 h (reduced); weekly rest short by up to 9 h (regular) or 4 h (reduced)	4th class	€135 fixed fine, €750 maximum	R3315-10, 3° a-e
Driving time exceeded beyond the R3315-10 thresholds	5th class	up to €1,500, €3,000 on repeat	R3315-11, 1°; R3315-12
Daily or weekly rest short beyond the R3315-10 thresholds	5th class	up to €1,500	R3315-11, 2°
Regular weekly rest taken on board	5th class	up to €1,500	R3315-11, 4°
Card not presented; wrong use of the mode switch	5th class	up to €1,500	R3315-11, 3° e) and g)
Card removed before the end of the day without effect on data; country symbols not entered	4th class	€135 fixed fine, €750 maximum	R3315-10, 4° c) and e)
Card not compliant, someone else’s card, or no card inserted	criminal offence (délit)	six months and €3,750; €800 fixed fine (€640 reduced, €1,600 increased)	L3315-5
Falsifying data, tampering with or not fitting control devices	criminal offence	one year and €30,000; vehicle immobilised; €500 fixed fine (€400 reduced, €1,000 increased)	L3315-4
Organising work without regular weekly rest outside the vehicle; pay linked to distance or speed	criminal offence	one year and €30,000	L3315-4-1, 1° and 2°

Example, an 11-hour driving day

A driver drives 11 hours on a day when the limit is 9, both 10-hour days of the week being used. The excess is 2 hours.

R3315-10 covers a daily excess “de moins de deux heures”. Two full hours is not less than two hours, so the case leaves the 4th class and falls under R3315-11, 1°: a 5th class offence, up to €1,500. At 10 hours 59 the driver would have stayed in the 4th class, at €135.

One minute moves the case from a fixed fine to a maximum more than ten times higher. In the EU classification of Reg. 2016/403 (Annex I as replaced by Reg. 2022/694) the 11 hours count as a very serious infringement.

Driver or company

Articles R3315-10 and R3315-11 do not say who is fined. We have not found an official text that settles it, so we do not say.

Art. L3315-6 gives part of the answer. Whoever runs the company is liable to the penalties of the chapter, and to those that sanction the working-time obligations of the same title, when they broke the rules personally or let someone under their authority do it. The “préposé” is liable for his own acts. It does not say who receives the 4th or 5th class fine in an ordinary roadside case. Art. L3315-4-1 targets the company directly when it organises work so that regular weekly rest is not taken outside the vehicle, or pays drivers by distance or speed.

In practice

Watch the thresholds in hours. Under 2 hours over on the day, under 1 hour 30 on continuous driving: 4th class. At or beyond them, 5th class.

Weekly rest is the other trap. A regular weekly rest taken on board is a 5th class offence, up to €1,500. If the company organised the work so that the driver could not take that rest outside the vehicle, the company itself faces a separate criminal offence under L3315-4-1, with one year in prison and €30,000 as the maximum.

Card problems are where France gets serious fast. Driving with no card inserted, or someone else’s, is not a simple fine: it is a délit punishable with six months and €3,750, even when it ends with an €800 fixed fine.

Compare France with its neighbours in driving hours fines in Europe compared, or see Italy, Spain, Germany and the UK. The interactive table of fines by country puts all five side by side. A French-language edition will follow.

What this article does not cover. Who pays the 4th and 5th class fines, which R3315-10 and R3315-11 leave open. Articles R3315-4 and R3315-5, excluded from the fixed fine procedure. Payment deadlines and appeals. We read the texts on Légifrance: the Journal officiel is authoritative. General information, not legal advice.