Guide

Riding an e-scooter in France: the EDPM rulebook

By Covered Abroad Research Desk · Last verified July 2026

France classes e-scooters, hoverboards and gyropods as EDPMs (engins de déplacement personnel motorisés) with rules service-public states plainly: minimum age 14, maximum speed 25 km/h, one person per machine — carrying a passenger risks a €135 fine — and helmet plus retro-reflective equipment mandatory when riding in Paris and a list of departments including Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne, Alpes-Maritimes and Yonne, with reflective clothing rules elsewhere.

The national rules, from the fiche

Service-public's EDPM fiche sets the floor: you must be at least 14 to ride; maximum authorised speed is 25 km/h; the machine cannot carry more than one person at a time — breaching this risks a €135 fine. Equipment rules go geographic: helmet and retro-reflective equipment are mandatory in Paris and several departments — the fiche names Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne, Alpes-Maritimes and Yonne among a non-exhaustive list — with reflective-clothing requirements applying elsewhere.

Liability insurance applies to EDPMs as motorised vehicles — the rider's civil-liability question the French system takes seriously across every machine class.

Source: Service-public.fr, F308 — circulation à trottinette électrique et EDPM, read 6 September 2026.

Cities layer on top

Municipal rules stack over the national floor: parking zones, banned pavements, local speed cuts in pedestrian areas — Paris famously voted out rental fleets entirely while private EDPMs ride on. The mover's pattern by now: national floor from the fiche, local layer from the mairie — the same two-tier logic as our dog rules and half of French daily life.

Riders under contract with an employer for deliveries sit in a different regulatory lane entirely — the EDPM rules here are the personal-mobility ones.

60-second check

Not sure the policy you have meets your destination's written rule? Run it through the policy check now, before you build the rest of the file around it.

Check my policy

Small wheels, small file

The scooter's paperwork is an insurance line and a helmet; yours is the residence file the France hub documents. Both belong on the arrival list:

Print the moving checklist

Get the moving-paperwork checklist

The month-by-month timeline so the insurance certificate is ready before your appointment, not after.

Get a certificate that meets the published rule

Tell us your destination, visa, and who’s moving. Our team reviews it against the current requirement and calls you with a quote — no obligation.

Cover underwritten by Regency Assurance · every rule on this site cited and dated · a person calls back within one business day.

Before you request a quote: cover is worldwide but excludes treatment in the United States, and pre-existing conditions are not covered — including conditions you did not know about. We say this up front so a quote is worth your time.

Common questions

How old do you have to be to ride an e-scooter in France?

At least 14, per service-public's EDPM fiche — with the machine capped at 25 km/h and strictly one rider (a passenger risks a €135 fine).

Is a helmet mandatory on French e-scooters?

In Paris and several listed departments (Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne, Alpes-Maritimes, Yonne among them), helmet and retro-reflective equipment are mandatory; elsewhere reflective clothing rules apply.

Do e-scooters need insurance in France?

Yes — as motorised vehicles, EDPMs carry a civil-liability insurance requirement; riders typically add it via their insurer.