In France, it is illegal to run a car on vegetable oil. People have been arrested for it, although I have not heard of any convictions. It is unclear what the penalty is in french law, but it is clear that it is illegal. Apparently, the french government is planning to change the law to make it clear that only farmers and village communities can use vegetable oil as a fuel, and only under certain conditions.
French customs officials vary in their approach to the issue and many people seem to get past them without problems, including one person who crosses from Switzerland to France every day - he says they don't stop him because he has Swiss number plates, though this doesn't make it legal. On the other hand, I have read an account from someone who recently had problems getting through customs from the UK to France. Their vehicle was capable of running on vegetable oil or diesel oil and they had to convince the officials that they would be using diesel oil in France.
So it is clear that for any private car to use vegetable oil in France is illegal, but it isn't clear what the penalty is, or whether foreign cars can get away with breaking the law.
Most vegetable oil cars should also be able to run on biodiesel, which is legal in France, although it isn't as good for the environment.
Purpose of this blog
While researching the laws regarding vegetable oil as fuel in europe it has become obvious that this information is quite hard to find. We have decided it would be a good idea to show as much of the information that we find as we can all on the same page. We also invite anyone who knows anything about these laws to post comments. This is with regards to using the oil, collecting waste oil and carrying oil in and out of countries.
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