He was expected. The famous QR code which will be necessary to move, under certain conditions, in well-identified perimeters during the Olympic Games, will be granted and distributed from Monday, announced Laurent Nuñez on Franceinfo this Friday. This Olympic QR code will be available on a platform, revealed “during the day” this Friday, but registrations will only be possible from Monday.
Asked about the resemblance of this device to the traffic restrictions put in place during the Covid-19 health crisisthe police chief indicated that this Olympics QR code will in no way resemble the lockdown pass. What exactly to expect? Le Parisien takes stock.
What is the QR code used for?
This QR code will allow you to travel with a motorized vehicle in areas classified as “red”, and to circulate at all – all mobility combined – within a “SILT” perimeter, for “Internal security and the fight against terrorism”.
Initially, the precious sesame will be necessary between July 18 and 26 (inclusive) to access these highly secure perimeters – essentially distributed around the Seine, place of the opening ceremony which will be held on Friday July 26. It will be claimed again between July 26 and August 11 for the Olympic Games, and between August 28 and September 8 for the Paralympic Games.
What are the areas concerned?
For the entire duration of the Games and even the week preceding the opening ceremony, four security perimeters are set up around the Olympic and Paralympic sites. The QR code will be required to access two of them, the most secure:
- The “red” perimeter prohibits motorized road traffic unless an exemption can be justified;
- The “black” perimeter (or SILT, for “Internal Security and the Fight against Terrorism”) prohibits traffic of all types of mobility, unless you present a pass.
To access the Olympic sites, only accreditation (athletes, organizing staff and journalists) or an access ticket to a competition is required.
These perimeters vary depending on the dates. One week before the opening ceremony, the QR code must be presented to law enforcement to access the SILT perimeters regardless of mobility. The QR code will also be required to enter “red” perimeters with a motorized vehicle, Laurent Nuñez recalled this Friday.
On the day of the opening ceremony, restrictions will tighten: the QR code will be necessary to circulate within the “gray” and “red” perimeters, but also within a perimeter extended to a large part of the northwest of the capital. The objective: “to ensure the security of the heads of state present that day on the Esplanade du Trocadéro”. This perimeter will be applied throughout D-Day and until “a few hours after the ceremony”, indicated the prefect in our columns.
During the competition, the same “red” perimeter deployed around each event site will again require the presentation of a QR code for motorized vehicles. The “gray” perimeter, tighter around the stadiums, will require the presentation of a QR code for all audiences, all mobility combined, unless they present a ticket for an event or accreditation.
Who will need to have a QR code?
Residents of the areas concerned, tourists staying in hotels or having rented apartments in these areas, delivery people, doctors, traders in these areas, etc. All people wishing to be able to travel within the controlled areas must register on the platform. The exhaustive list people authorized to request this QR code – around forty categories listed in total – can be found on the police headquarters website.
To finalize their registration, the applicant must provide documents justifying the need to enter the area in question. This could be the lease for your apartment if you live within the area, the rental contract if you have rented accommodation there or even proof from the employer if you work there.
A digital platform for professionals is already online. Named Joptimizit offers several tools to help plan deliveries for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, including a QR code generator, CirQliz.
How long is the QR code valid?
Its lifespan varies depending on requests. For residents, for example, a single request will be enough for the entire Games period.
How long will it take to receive your QR code?
During the Olympic and Paralympic competitions, requests to obtain the QR code to enter the “red” perimeters with a motorized vehicle should be granted “almost instantly”, indicated the prefect. For requests made from July 18 to 26, however, the QR codes will only be issued after an administrative investigation carried out on each applicant, in the name of “national security”, in a context of significant terrorist threat. It may therefore take “a little more time”.
What to do if you don’t have a smartphone?
For the moment, the police chief has not provided details on this point. However, it could be that the response provided is similar to that of Paris 2024 on access to the Olympic sites without a smartphone, while all tickets will be digital: considering the problem to be “marginal”, the organizers of the Games have indicated that they will make very rare exceptions on a case-by-case basis – without saying more at this time.
