Where to Put Your Crit'Air Sticker on the Windscreen

The sticker always goes on the right-hand side of the windscreen, as you sit inside the car.

Sit in the car, look forward, and stick it in the bottom corner on your right. It makes no difference whether the car is UK right-hand drive or European left-hand drive. It is always that corner.

Applying it, step by step

1. Locate your sticker. It is on the front of the official letter. Before peeling anything, find the spot it is going: the bottom right corner of the windscreen as you sit inside looking forward. On a UK right-hand drive car, that is the driver’s side.
2. Deep clean and dry. Take your time here. Clean the inside of the glass in that corner thoroughly. The surface has to be dry, grease-free and clear of dust or polish residue. Even a slight smear of polish in the wrong place means applying for a new sticker.
3. Peel the entire unit. Do not try to separate the clear front film from the backing. Peel the whole circular assembly straight off the front of the letter. It is built as a single multi-layered unit, so lift it all off as one piece.
4. Apply from the centre. With the printed side facing outwards so it reads from the street, position it in the corner, press firmly in the middle first, then smooth any air bubbles outwards towards the edges.
5. Do not reposition it. Once the adhesive touches the glass, that is where it stays. Peeling it off or shifting it tears the certificate and destroys it. Once it is on, leave it alone.
6. Check it from the street. Stand at the front of the car and look at the windscreen. The sticker should be clearly visible in the bottom left from out there, which is the driver’s side on a UK car.

Will it fail the MOT?

No. A Crit’Air sticker in the corner of the windscreen will not fail an MOT.

The MOT test manual (DVSA section 3.2) only fails obstructions in the swept area - the part of the glass the wipers clear directly in front of the driver. The sticker is roughly 8 cm across, sits outside that area, and is below the driver’s line of sight.

Motorcycles and scooters

Bikes have no windscreen, so the rule is different. Fix the sticker to something permanent at the front, facing forward.

Motorcycle or scooter

Seen head-on, from in front

Good spots are the fork tube, the front mudguard, or a front fairing panel on a faired bike or scooter. A scooter with a flat leg shield can take it on the front panel.

Two rules to keep to:

• It must be on a fixed part of the bike. Not a pannier, top box, or tank bag.
• It must be readable without moving anything. Nobody should have to lift a seat or open a panel.

Expect it to weather faster than it would on a car windscreen. Road spray and sunlight will wear it down, and a sticker you cannot read is a sticker that does not count.

Applying it to a bike

Bikes use a different peel because there is no glass to press it against:

1. Remove the protective patch from the front of the letter.
2. Peel the certificate off carefully. The surface is sticky.
3. Turn it over and press it back onto the same spot on the letter. This seals the adhesive side.
4. Peel it off again from the back, then stick it to the bike facing forward.

Motorhomes, campervans and vans

All three follow the car rule: bottom right of the windscreen as you sit in the cab.

Two things to watch on bigger vehicles:

• Tall windscreens. Keep the sticker in the bottom 20 cm of the glass. Placed high on a motorhome, it can sit above the eyeline of someone standing at road level.
• Split or panoramic screens. Use the lower corner of the right-hand pane.

Vans with a deep dashboard sometimes hide the very bottom of the glass from outside. If that is the case, sit the sticker a little higher in the same corner.

What the official letter says

The steps above are translated from the reverse of the Crit’Air letter sent by the Ministère de la Transition Écologique et de la Cohésion des Territoires. The letter says the same thing: clean the glass in the bottom right corner, peel the whole sticker off the front of the letter, press it on so it reads from outside, and do not try to move it afterwards.

It also carries a warning triangle reading “Avant de décoller, lire attentivement la notice au verso” - “Before peeling, read the instructions on the reverse carefully.”

When to do it

As soon as it arrives, even if your trip is months off. It will not fade sitting on a windscreen in British weather, and it removes the risk of forgetting on the morning you leave.

The QR code

Your sticker carries a QR code linked to the national Crit’Air database and tied to your registration. French authorities can scan it to confirm the sticker is genuine and matches the vehicle. It is why counterfeits and photocopies are easy to spot: the code has to match the registration and category on file.

If the sticker is damaged

Crit’Air stickers are tamper-evident on purpose, so that they cannot be moved between vehicles. Once applied, taking one off destroys it.

If yours is torn, faded, or unreadable:

1. Apply again using the same registration. Your category will not change.
2. Carry the emailed digital facsimile in the meantime, on the invoice PDF the French government sent when you applied.
3. Remove the old one with warm soapy water and a plastic blade.

A damaged sticker may still be accepted if the category and registration can be read, but that is the officer’s call. Do not rely on it for a trip that matters.

Windscreen replacement

A new windscreen destroys the sticker, so you will need to apply again. If you know the replacement is coming, order the new sticker first so the gap is as short as possible.

How the sticker gets checked

In person. Officers at a checkpoint look at the windscreen for the colour, the category number and the registration. A sticker in the right place makes this quick.

By camera. ANPR cameras read your number plate and check it against the Crit’Air database rather than reading the sticker itself. Note that not displaying the sticker is a separate offence from the database check, so the camera reading your plate does not excuse a missing sticker.

Quick reference

Vehicle	Where the sticker goes	Watch out for
Car (left or right-hand drive)	Bottom corner of the windscreen on your right, sitting inside the car	Hiding it behind the rear-view mirror, a dashcam or a toll tag
Van	Same corner as a car	A deep dashboard hiding the lowest part of the glass - sit it slightly higher
Motorhome or campervan	Same corner, in the bottom 20 cm of the glass. On a split screen, the right-hand pane	Placing it high on a tall screen, or on the tinted band along the top
Motorcycle	Fork tube or front mudguard, facing forward	Panniers, top boxes and tank bags - it has to be a fixed part of the bike
Scooter or moped	Front panel or leg shield, facing forward	Any panel that lifts or opens - it must be readable without moving anything
Towing a caravan	On the tow vehicle, exactly as above	Putting it on the caravan - the category follows the vehicle doing the towing