France delays ban on sales receipts due to inflation

Due to high inflation, France is postponing the planned abolition of sales receipts. A paradoxical choice, as it would allow retailers to save paper and costs.

The French insist on tickets

A general ban on the automatic printing of paper receipts was due to take effect in France on 1 January 2023. The measure is part of France’s anti-waste law, which also requires shops to keep their doors closed when the heating or air conditioning is on. But instead of 1 January, the ban will only be a reality from 1 April.

Commerce Minister Olivia Grégoire told Libération that she was not going back on the measure, as it is still important to accelerate the ecological transition, but that the delay was due to the current context. Reactions from retailers and consumer organisations have shown that the receipt remains an important way for many French people to control their spending and check on prices, especially at the moment.

Available on request

Twelve major consumer organisations had even requested in a joint press release that the printing of the receipts should still be systematically offered to consumers. By postponing the date to April, the government and businesses can now better communicate that consumers can indeed still request a printed receipt if they wish – but only at their own request.

The measure does not just apply to till receipts: bank card receipts, ATM receipts, vouchers and promotional or discount tickets will no longer be printed automatically either. Thirty billion tickets and receipts are printed each year in France. Not printing them systematically should considerably reduce paper waste. Their small size also makes them difficult to collect and recycle, Minister Grégoire noted.