Traffic · France
Amende forfaitaire majorée — and the three months left
The amount has gone up on its own and a title has been made enforceable, so this is no longer a demand: it is a debt the Treasury can collect. A réclamation is still open, on a shorter and stricter footing than the request you could have made the first time.
How serious: enforcement closeAlso called: AFM, amende majorée, avis d'amende forfaitaire majorée du Trésor public
The increase happened by operation of law when the first notice was neither paid nor contested inside its forty-five days. Nobody decided it and nothing was weighed.
The Officier du ministère public still receives réclamations. Article 530 keeps one admissible while the penalty is not time-barred where nothing shows the person knew of the increased fine — but for road traffic offences the door closes three months after the notice was sent by registered letter to the address on the carte grise.
Where the offence was caught by a camera, article 529-10 governs the réclamation as it governed the first request: registered letter, the attached form, and either one of the listed documents or proof of a consignation — this time in the amount of the increased fine.
Who sends it
The Officier du ministère public, through ANTAI. Recovery afterwards is handled by the Direction générale des finances publiques for the Public Treasury.
A notice headed 'amende forfaitaire majorée' with the numéro d'avis, the original offence with its date and place, the increased and original amounts side by side, a mention of the title made enforceable by the ministère public, and a formulaire de réclamation with the address of the Officier du ministère public.
The deadline
3 months from the sending of the notice, for a road traffic offence
Three months for a road traffic offence, counted from the sending of the notice by registered letter to the address on the carte grise (Code de procédure pénale, art. 530). Outside that case the réclamation stays admissible while the penalty is not time-barred and nothing shows the person knew of the increased fine. A period ending on a weekend or public holiday runs to the next working day (art. 801).
If you do nothing
The increased fine stands as a debt the Public Treasury recovers under the enforceable title, without any further decision. Enforcement measures follow at the Treasury's own initiative.
Compute your date
The rule above is what the law sets. Put in the dates on your own letter and it becomes a date.
How it escalates
- 01The increased amount is recovered by the Public Treasury under the title made enforceable by the ministère public (art. 529-2).
- 02Enforcement may include a saisie administrative à tiers détenteur on a bank account, which carries its own two-month contestation period.
- 03Where the offence carries points on a French licence, they are removed once the fine becomes definitive.
- 04For a road traffic offence, the réclamation window under article 530 closes three months after the notice was sent to the address on the carte grise.
How to respond
What follows is procedure only: where the réclamation goes, what makes it admissible, and by when.
Response types
- Send a réclamationRéclamation to the Officier du ministère public · Code de procédure pénale, articles 530 and 529-10 · Formulaire de réclamation attached to the notice
- Prove a declared change of addressProof of a change of address declared before the period expired · Code de procédure pénale, article 530
- Pay the increased amountPayment of the increased fine
Where and how
- The ANTAI online service, which records the submission with its date and issues a reference.
- A lettre recommandée avec avis de réception, which article 529-10 requires for offences recorded by an automated device.
- Ordinary post, which proves nothing about either date.
- The telephone number on the notice, which preserves no period.
What to attach
- Proof of the consignation, in the amount of the increased fine, where article 529-10 requires one.
- The récépissé of a complaint for theft, destruction or usurpation of the plates, where that is the ground.
- The identity and driving licence reference of the person presumed to have been driving, where that is the ground.
- A copy of the notice.
What makes it count
A réclamation counts when the Officier du ministère public receives it, and for a road traffic offence sent by registered letter to the address on the carte grise it must arrive within three months. Where article 529-10 applies, only a registered letter with the form and the required enclosure is admissible.
Common questions
I never received the first notice.
Article 530 keeps a réclamation admissible while the penalty is not time-barred where no act of enforcement or other proof shows the person knew of the increased fine. For road traffic offences the three months apply where the notice went by registered letter to the address on the carte grise — so where the address was out of date, the article's own exception is the point to raise.
I had moved and told the authorities.
Article 530 provides for exactly that: if you prove you declared the change of address to the vehicle registration service before the period expired, you owe only the amount of the original fine if you pay within forty-five days, and the enforceable title for the increase falls away.
Does a réclamation stop the Treasury collecting?
The article makes the réclamation admissible or not; it does not itself say that recovery pauses. Treat the title as live and the collection measures as possible while the réclamation is examined.
How much is the consignation?
For a réclamation against an increased fine, article 529-10 refers to a prior deposit equal to the amount of the increased fine. It is not a payment of the fine and does not remove points.
Sources
Facts verified against the sources below on 10 September 2026.