A recent legal ruling in Italy concluded that customers are not entitled to order tap water – here’s a look at the law, and the reality, in France.
Italy’s highest court has recently ruled in favour of a restaurant that refused to provide tap water on request, instead insisting that customers pay €7 for a bottle of mineral water.
In some European countries, including Italy and Germany, it’s common for restaurants not to offer tap water.
The law
In France, however, restaurants, bars and cafés are legally required to offer tap water on request, and it must be free.
Article L.112-1 of the Code de la consommation, states that tap water must be provided for free to customers who ask – and restaurants which refuse can face stiff fines, such as this one in the French Alps, which was fined €8,000 for refusing a customer’s request for tap water and offering only mineral water.
So that’s what the law says, but what actually happens in French restaurants?
Foreigners
In practice, tourists – or even those who are clearly foreign – are often tricked into paying for expensive mineral water, or not informed of their options.
If you simply ask for de l’eau (water), you will almost always be brought mineral water.
If you want tap water, you need to specify that you want either un pichet d’eau or une carafe d’eau.
Likewise, if your server offers you water “gazeuse ou plat ?” (sparkling or still), they are preparing to bring you mineral water – it’s perfectly OK to reply something like Un pichet d’eau, ça marche, merci (tap water is fine, thank you).
This kind of thing is more common in obvious tourist areas or in expensive restaurants.
In neighbourhood restaurants the server will often bring over a jug of tap water and a basket of bread at the start of the meal as a matter of course.
It’s worth noting that the restaurant fined €8,000 for refusing to serve tap water was in the upmarket ski resort of Val Thorens, and French media reported several restaurants in ski resorts that were refusing to offer tap water.
READ ALSO: Six things to know about tap water in France✎
L’eau de Paris
It might sound like a fancy perfume, but L’eau de Paris is Paris tap water, and the city authorities are keen for people to drink it – especially when they’re out and about in order to avoid creating waste by buying single-use plastic water bottles.
The city has old and beautiful water fountains, painted dark green, which dispense drinking water in order to fill up your bottle (some of them even dispense sparkling water), and these are increasingly being joined by more modern drinking fountains in public spaces including railway stations.
The city is also running a scheme whereby bars, cafés and restaurants will dispense water to non-customers – if you see the L’eau de Paris sticker in the window, it means you can take in your water bottle and ask them to refill it (for free) with tap water.
Drinking fountains and trains
Paris is not the only French city that is installing extra drinking fountains in order to deal with increasingly hot summers, most cities and large towns now have fountains in public spaces.
Likewise, if you are on a French train (including the Eurostar), you can go along to the buffet car and ask them to refill your bottle with tap water.
A multi-use water bottle is known in French as une gourde, so you would ask Pouvez-vous me remplir ma gourde ? in order to request a refill.
