Lehaut

A local French friend started making speciality jams for the local markets here.  All his fruit etc has to be bought from registered producers to prove "traceability" - he cannot accept gifts of fruit from our garden, for example, to keep his costs down! His jams have to be made in premises that are allowed to do bulk cooking.  To this end, we (the local council) allow him to hire our village hall to make his jam in it.  This has an industrial type kitchen and meets the requirements.  He pays a very nominal charge for half a days hire and actual costs for the gas, electricity and water. This has avoided him making a large initial outlay to buys his own gear. Might be worth asking for the same permission in your village if the facility exists.    

I too have been using AVG in its various forms on several computers for some time without any problems.  Have just cleaned out the 7.5 and installed AVG 8.00 (twice!) and initially it worked fine.  However, the last few times I have started up the computer, the screen resolution has defaulted to 4 bits colour and 800x600.  It is not possible to change this resolutions via any means.  System is completely up to date XP and a Nvidia 7600gt video card, again with the latest Nvidia driver. I built the system 8 months ago (Shuttle) and this is the first time this sort of thing has happened. The only way to get things back to normal is to restart the system several times.  If AVG does not start, the resolution is fine.  If AVG does start, then the resolution is either degraded or fine.  Have CCleaner and Advanced Windows Care which have both been run after each install/de- install. Has anyone else had similar problems/ideas Thanks in advance.    

Having got a bit fed up with the number of power cuts we had/have (13 micro cuts in one night) I installed battery back up supplies for the children's computers and also "mine".  Am I right in thinking that an UPC also protects against these spikes? Thanks    

Be interesting to know how many of us are now taking an active part in the communities we have chosen to live in.  I too have now been elected (responsibilities include Buildings and Roads, Schools and Education (have two children at the local college who started school at 2.5 yrs), and flowers and gardens).  Unlike some of the posts above, there has been little leeway shown towards my lack of understanding of either the system or the language so far, which is a bit of a surprise to me. So far, its all interesting stuff - budget meeting last week at two days notice, and every meeting ends with a meal or drink.  Church today for the "Congrès Cantonal des Anciens Combattants" with visiting Senator from Paris, village "band" and a Vin d'honneur.  Will my liver last the full 6 years?  

Have to agree, ours has been up and down for the past two days!

Have just tried our Neuf telephone to the UK (15:49, 28 Feb) and it works OK.  However, have had the same problem before that you are encountering. Try this link for a status report on your line http://neufassistance.neuf.fr/neuf/support/etatreseau.do?type=LimitlessReportSheet&archives=true It does show that they have had the same problem this month on the 6th and 13th. On another tack, I ordered a TV decoder from them in Dec .....still waiting!    

Wonder if this will muddy the waters a bit, although there appears to be a sting in the tail and we know the French pick and choose which bits of the EU Law they wish to implement! EU: File-sharer identities protected 1:04PM, Tuesday 29th January 2008 The EU's highest court has ruled that ISPs can refuse to hand over the names of alleged file-sharers. The European Court of Justice says that under EU law, ISPs only have to disclose their users' identities in criminal cases, not civil litigations."Community law does not require the member states, in order to ensure the effective protection of copyright, to lay down an obligation to disclose personal data in the context of civil proceedings," the court says in a statement. The court was ruling on a dispute between Spanish music rights holders' body Promusicae and Telefonica. Promusicae was seeking the identities of alleged file-sharers, by forcing Telefonica to match their IP addresses to contact details. The court refused the request, arguing that although several EU directives are designed to protect copyright, personal privacy rights are paramount. "Such protection cannot, however, affect the requirements of the protection of personal data," the court says. Individual legislation The court did note that EU rules do not preclude individual member states from legislating to compel ISPs to reveal personal data in civil proceedings. "The directives on the protection of personal data also allow the member states to provide for exceptions to the obligation to guarantee the confidentiality of traffic data," the court explained.

I was, thanks!

ErnieY, When I decided to change to Neuf, I asked those living near me how they got on with the Phone side.  They said it was "OK".  When I actually got Neuf it was 4mb/164kbs.  It was totally impossible to use the Internet and the Phone at the same time.  When I revisited the neighbours, it turned out that their internet usage was very limited and rarely were they in the position of transmitting info and using the phone at the same time.  Having spent 6 month battling Neuf, I spent 20 mins with a tech bod who eventually admitted that for a service that could handle both sets of traffic (ie out going phone line and up loading data) then 300kbs was the minimum.  I am sure our house is no different to many others but with 4 people using the internet at the same time there is a lot of traffic being up loaded, sharing the same band width as the outgoing telephone line.  I was not alone with this problem as witnessed by the comments on the JustNeuf forum! The info given to me by the tech bod and my understanding may be wrong, but the more upload capacity you can have, the better.  We had to physically disconnect the internet everytime anyone wanted to make a call before, even then the receipient had difficulties with the spech being cut.  Now its fine - but then we don't video call/use the second VOIP telephone line facility yet.  Neuf have already told us that they are increasing the upload speed, but will remain ADSL.  The only symetrical provider I know of is Nomotech who gave us 2mb/2mb, but their service left a lot to be desired. But this is only based on my expereince, I am not an expert but always willing to listen!  

We are with Neuf, degroupage.  Pay for 8mb down and 800kb up (critial if you are VOIP), actually get 6.6mb down, 666kb up.  Our neighbours on Orange get 2mb on the same French Telecom line.  Even the French telecom engineer could not explain that.  Our other French neighbour had just changed from Neuf to SFR and regrets it as the speed/service is not so good.  So there appears to be other factors at play as Neuf/SFR use the same physical cables as French Telecom but have their own connection to these cables at the exchange (we lost our phone line for a few days when we changed over as Neuf disconnected from the FT exchange).  We are all the same approx distance from the exchange. The only down side is that if there is a problem with the line, FT put us at the bottom of the list when it comes to repairs.  Be warned however, that in our experience what another FAI (ISP) promises in their literature and what you actually get may be wildly different, even if they test the line.  It took us 6 months and threats of legal action to get Neuf to give us a service that actually works. Lehaut

Not sure it falls exactly in the bracket, but we received our letter kicking us out of the CMU today  ( 15 December 2007)  from St Lô.  We have been here 11 years.  In the same envelope was the bill for the new quarter's payment. It invites us to challenge the decision through the CRA.  We will certainly do that in a polite sort of way, sending them a copy of their own new rules and pointing out that they came into force on 23 November 2007. Left hand this is Right hand over??   Lehaut

Have had the same problem with thick walls and two children and a wife  all wanting access in different places.  I use a second Neuf box connected with some cat 5 to the first one.  The second one is high up so only the roof tiles affect the signal.  Even so I had to get a directional ariel and attached it to the outside wall of my wife's workshop which is 20 meters away in the garden.  Have managed to have all 4 computers connected (mine to the Neuf box direct and the other three on wireless).  Did have the plug in the wall system which worked fine in the house (all on the same phase).  However, they started to make the Neuf box stall. The only thing that drives me mad with WiFi is that one computer runs fine for a while then drops the connection to the internet, even though the signal strength is excellent.  Sometimes it reconnects and other not.  There are no electrical devices near the Neuf box.  We do have three wireless phones, none of which are near the box but I understand that they do frequency hop around the 2.4ghz band which is thought to cause problems.  Anyone a magic solution?  (have tried allocation individual IPs or allowing the system to allocate) Lehaut  

Do let us know how you get on, have a look at the Golf when you are there.  Personally I prefer wrapping the excrement in newspaper, setting light to it on the door step then ringing the bell.  Stamping on it whilst hot seems to spread it further.[+o(]

Hi, Some elderly French neighbours came to me yesterday.  Their son had found in Ouest France a 2003 LHD French registered Passat for sale in Scotland.  Price 4500 euros.  They contacted the person via Email and had a reply.  It asked them to send 1200 via Weston Union to an outfit called Pet-Forwarding Inc.  The person selling the car one "Steve Thompson of 10 Crown Street, Aberdeen" then undertook to transport the car to France when the balance was to be paid.  Five minutes research showed the Pet-Forwarding site to be suspended and also listed on the 914 scam list.  My advice to them was to leave it alone, sad they cannot get the car for well below market price but better not to risk it.  I gather that there is a VW Golf now listed in the paper for an equally silly price. Do you know of this one? Lehaut

Ian, I signed up with Neuf 9 months ago.  It took 6 months and threats of legal action to get the system to work.  They allowed us to sign up for a system that even their own technical support people admitted would not work. Basically an upload speed of  164kbs was insufficient for the internet and the telephone line to work at the same time. To use the phone we had to disconnect the internet. Even then the transmission was broken up. However, I did not sign up on line, but went into a local shop (SFR) who offered the service.  At least then, I could go back to the shop and deal with someone face to face.  The rep was responsible for testing the line, assuring me it would work and so I had no compunction in badgering him to badger NEUF. Even our next door neighbour, who is French, has had the same problems, so its not just the language barrier.  NEUF themselves advised us to use the unofficial NEUF forum to find out what's going on.  If you read the articles in the French equivalent of WHICH, you will see that the small claims courts are full of people taking ALICE, FREE, NEUF, FT etc to court over all their services. Have to say now, after much effort, NEUF is great.  Second SIM card for 10 mins free calls per month, on line storeage, free music download, PC and Numeric TV etc. Would advise anyone to sign up in a shop rather than on line.  

[quote user="cooperlola"] Thanks Lehaut.  I had also heard that a circular was going out, and also that the "5 year" rule might be clarified to CPAMs but nothing as to its true content. Thanks for that. Can we put this reply on our website? Pretty please? [/quote]   Fine, if it helps others.

Those of us who have the 5 year residency box ticked may be interested in the following which I have just received from the Embassy in Paris.  Have been pushing them for a reply for some time:   Dear .....   We understand that this situation is very frustrating.  However, I assure you - as I said in my previous email - that our Health Attaché is in regular contact with the French Health Ministry regarding this measure and is representing your concerns.  Because this measure has only recently been instated, not all CPAM offices have yet received the updated information from the French government.  The French Health Ministry will be sending a circular to the local CPAM offices clarifying the directive on residency very soon. This is French law and the French Ministry of Health has to issue this information to its own local offices.  We are working with the French government to make sure that they do this as quickly as possible.   Kind regards Sara Gill Press and Communications British Embassy 

[quote user="sunshine 2"] We went into Sarlat CMU today to talk about the letter received on Saturday asking for more doc's. (I had posted elsewhere yesterday that the English speaking helpline told me that this letter was a computer mistake - but we wanted to be sure).  The CMU assistant confirmed that Saturday's letter was a mistake and should be binned. We went on to talk about our cover and attestation for 2008 etc and she was very very clear that it has now been decided that CMU de base will not exist for ANYONE from 31/3/08 - the whole system will be disbanded - for French, English or any Nationality - the option to make paying contributions will not exist for anyone!!  She inferred (but I did not double check) that CMU complementaire will continue to exist (presumably they could not deny an avenue of free cover for the very poorest). She seemed surprised that we had not yet received a letter telling us about the discontinuation fo CMU de base  - she phone Perigueux office as we showed her an attestation for 100% cover (for serious illness) which indicated cover for that illness until Sept 08.  She was clearly given short shrift on the phone and again repeated that Perigueux confirmed that there will be no CMU de base to belong to for anyone of any Nationality and regardless of whether they have serious illness, beyond 31/3/08 and that the 100% cover will end automatically on that date. If true - then this would be a major deviation from what has been publically announced by the French so far.  It would put paid to many of our argumentsw about discrimination against Brits etc and, would mean that for anyone who has been here over 5 years and was hoping to re-gain entry to CMU that there would be no option to do so as the option is simply not available to anyone. Further, she told us that anyone with an income earned in France (eg gites, chambre d'hote) is being told to go and register as independent workers at the offices of CAMONS, and pay health cotisations via them - or register with Chamber of commerce.  Can anyone else verify this please - perhaps by visiting their own CMU and asking?????  [/quote] OK we try again,  the Email we were replying to under the heading of CMU de base etc is the one above.  Our comment is below We are in the middle of building up evidence to contest our case with the autorities.  As part of this we have had a fruitful exchange of emails with someone within the CMU itself, at gouv.fr not local level.  Have run the story past him, this is his reply: "Soit vous avez mal compris, soit cette dame a dit une ânerie" As we understand this translates as: " Either you misunderstood or this lady is talking a load of nonsense" Hopefully he knows!   Lehaut

We are in the middle of building up evidence to contest our case with the autorities.  As part of this we have had a fruitful exchange of emails with someone within the CMU itself, at gouv.fr not local level.  Have run the story past him, this is his reply: "Soit vous avez mal compris, soit cette dame a dit une ânerie" As we understand this translates as: " Either you misunderstood or this lady is talking a load of nonsense" Hopefully he knows!   Lehaut      

[quote user="Lehaut"]Thanks.  I have given them a try using our situation, they claim to reply in 8 days. Will keep you posted.[/quote] As promised, I include here the info we sent and the reply we received.  Its quite long but there is no point adding to the confusion by cutting bits out. Came to France with my family from the UK in 1996 as an economically inactive person (Retired but well under state retirement age). Applied for and received Carte Sejour as met all the French/European requirements for residence. Got second Carte Sejour 5 years later. Registered for Tax in France, pay all cotisations for Health Care (CMU) and other charges/Taxes in France. At that time, Private Health Care Insurance was illegal in France, everyone had to pay into the State system. France has now announced under directive 2004/38 that our rights to health care under the CMU we have been paying into will be removed on 31 March 2008. After that date Private Health Care Insurance will have to be taken out. They do not appear to have taken any notice of the following in the same directive: Chapitre IV, "Droit de Séjour Permanent", Section 1, Article 16  - le Droit de Séjour Permanent après  une période ininterrompue de cinq ans sur le territoire Français.   Chapitre IV Article 24 "Égalité de traitement" .....indique que ces gens ....bénéficie de l'égalité de traitement avec les ressortissants de la France. Neither my family nor I are a threat to public order We have sufficient income (UK pension) to live on and are under the state retirement age.I do not receive or have asked for any form of State Income benefit/unemployment benefit etc. It would appear to me that under these articles the French do not have the right to remove our ability to continue to pay into the Health Care scheme that is available to French Residents. Have written to the British Embassy who intially claimed to be in consultation with the French Health Ministry and that people who have been here for 5 years will not be affected. They will now not reply to any emails on the subject. Have tried to contest this with the local CPAM (Health) authorities and the main office at St Lô. They will not entertain any contest until we have received official notification (letters they think will be sent out Nov/Dec this year). Have spoken to CLEISS (Service juridique) who indicate that our interpretion is correct but will not involve themselves. Have exchanged emails with the CMU in Paris who also indicate that our interpretation is correct, but can do nothing. Have written to the CNAMTS in Paris and are awaiting a reply. If, as all indications show, we are entitled to remain in the CMU as British citizens who have lived legally and permanently in France for 11 years, we urgently need something to cause the French system to acknowledge our legal right to stay in the CMU. This must be done before 31 March 2008. The documentation should be in French and understandable/applicable under the French legal system.  Signed Reply Your analysis of the legal state of play is correct, at least from our point of view, and we have nothing to add as regards the situation of people who have acquired the status of permanent resident in France. (The situation is less clear for newcoming "inactive" migrant EU citizens.) Please note that our service does not speak on behalf of the European Commission. The Commission has received many complaints already, is well aware of the matter and is currently examining what position to take in light of EC law. If it finds that there is a breach of EC law, it will probably ask the French authorities to explain their point of view and, if it is not convinced, it could eventually decide to take France to the European Court of Justice. But you are free to add another complaint to the lot, if you feel that it is not sufficient that we flag the case - which we'll do - to the competent service of the Commission through our service's feedback mechanism. Just in case, you will find in the following guide the instructions to send a complaint to the Commission (and all necessary information of the effect it can have in follow-up): http://ec.europa.eu/youreurope/nav/en/citizens/services/eu-guide/enforcing-rights/index_en.html Significant the reaction of CLEISS, which is perfectly placed to advise French authorities on its obligations under EC law. We could suggest that you use the SOLVIT network to put even more pressure within the French administration. SOLVIT is an online problem solving network of EU contact points within national administrations of the member states, interacting under the observation of the Commission and whose complaints and solutions statistics are periodically examined at the EU Council (peer review and judgement). All information and complaint form at: http://ec.europa.eu/solvit/site/index_fr.htm We believe that the SOLVIT procedure could help force France to re-consider the impact of its change in policy, if it is confirmed that there is a breach of EC law. The Citizen’s Signpost Service has examined your enquiry and considers that the matter could be dealt with by the SOLVIT system. SOLVIT is an informal network to resolve problems caused by the misapplication of EU rules by public authorities in another Member State. There is a SOLVIT centre in every European Union Member State (as well as in Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein). SOLVIT centres are part of the national administrations and are committed to providing real solution to problems within 10 weeks. The use of SOLVIT is free of charge.  Disclaimer On the basis of the information available, the Citizen Signpost Service has suggested that your case could be dealt with SOLVIT. However, the advice from the Citizen Signpost Service is of a non-contractual nature only and does not in any way guarantee that SOLVIT will agree to deal with or resolve your case. It is the responsibility of the SOLVIT centre(s) to decide whether they will accept to handle your case. SOLVIT will inform you on the decisions and outcomes of the case. The advice given by the Signpost Service legal experts is independent advice and shall not be considered to be the opinion of the European Commission. As such it will not in anyway bind the Commission. Needless to say we have sent the info direct to SOLVIT and will follow up all the other avenues!!!

Thanks.  I have given them a try using our situation, they claim to reply in 8 days. Will keep you posted.

Am getting feeling of Déjà vu here.  When we came in 96, we used a series of booklets under the "Citizens First" Right of Residence in France articles.  Paraphrasing slightly  from the pamphlet: "  or if you are an economically inactive person you will have to prove that you have health insurance coving all types of health risk in France and adequate resources (ie an income not less than the annual income ceiling for receving the minimum benefit under Title VIII of the Social Security Code). At present, single persons must have minimum resources of at least FF 40.834 per annum.  Persons accompanied by their spouse and any dependent children...FF 71,525 per annum". If it was the individuals intention to stay in France for more than 3 months, you had to apply for a residence permit within 3 months of arriving in France.  Failure to apply was punishable by fines of up to FF10,000. National Rules Decree 94-211 of 11 March 1994.  Order of 6 April 1995. Armed with my early retirement "pension" payment letter and E106 we got our first Carte Sejour.  Second 5 years later (we were in the equivalent of the CMU then).  Our third card was refused as they are not necessary for inactives (we were told). Have I missed something here, or have the French forgotten the rules already exist, or have they annulled them and are now regretting it?   

Cooperlola Have sent you an Email. Lehaut

Martin, We are exactly in the same position as you, although we have been here for 11 years.  We bought our house 16 years ago and were lucky enough to work with well place French officials who could help us establish a correct legal "inactive" position in France.  Having also been on the receiving end of major goal post shifts within the UK political/budget arena, the first lesson I learnt is that the words "they cannot do that"  do not exist.  "They" can do what they want and you just have to find a way round it.  This last part the French are past masters at! I have signed on with ASSEDIC and have explained the same thing about taking a job away from a French person (unemployement in our area is about 11%).  I shall be re-iterating this to the ANPE on Monday morning as I go for my first apppointment.  Have also made the same point to the CPAM people.  They all agree, but as they are at the bottom of the pile, can do nothing about it.  Even the supervisors are at a loss.  Have had some correspondence with the CMU HQ staff but at the moment, our (and your) position appears to be so far outside anything they have experienced, they don't have (at the moment) the regulations to deal with us under 2004/38, amended or influenced by Article L122-1 (inséré par Loi nº 2006-911 du 24 juillet 2006 art. 23 II Journal Officiel du 25 juillet rectificatif JOrF 16 septembre 2006) I also think there is a problem with vocabulary.  We call ourselves "retired" but the French don't seem to recognise this term when applied to someone under the official retirement age.  One official in the CMU when asked what "droits" a French person in our position has re healthcare said that peole like that don't exisit in France!  You only have to visit the AMELI site and trawl through the numerous special rights departments that deal with the pensions of every one from miners to authors to realise what a briar patch the whole thing is. If the British Embassy have the information they claim to have (see my previous post), then they should be able to issue the agreement made with the French Ministry.  We are still pushing them for a reply. Illegitimi non carborundum!

Have read most of the posts on this Health Care Issue and we have also been challenging the system.  Not much luck with our Embassy and we have visited our local CPAM twice now.  Found and read the Directive 2004/38 and have spoken to CLEISS who agree that after our 11 legal and contributing years in France, we should have the same rights as a French person, but no, they would not take this up with the CPAM. Nothing to do with them, even though their number is on the Point d'Information!  They were happy, however, to have themselves cited in a "contestation". However, the CPAM Office have told us that we cannot contest this ruling until we have a letter from the CPAM HQ telling us that we will be refused cover after 31 March 2008.  Even though they were looking at the directive and received a memo on 2 Oct with the info on it!  They will also refuse to accept any attempt from us to use the Commission de recours amiable (CRA) until after the refusal letter is issued.  By this stage, we had the office manager and 2 other members of staff involved.  The manager rang St Lô (Manche) and was told that the letters would be sent out to their respective clients Nov/Dec 07.  Then we can contest the ruling.  Acknowledging that all this takes time, should the matter not be resoved until after 31 March, we will still have to take out private cover until we get our rights back!  If we are successful will they then repay our insurance cost??? The Embassy emailed us on 9 Oct "There has been no change in the information given to us by the French Ministry of Health, therefore I confirm that the information on our website still stands."  As this site still quotes the 5 year rule, the only clear way forward that we can see is for the French Health Ministry to issue an updated memo to the CPAM staff with the correct information on it.  We are currenly pursuing the CMU over this, but as just individuals don't hold out much hope. All the officials we have dealt with so far are amazed we are worried about something that won't happen till next year!