Foreign flags in France: rules and customs

In France, flying a foreign flag at home is free. On public buildings, by contrast, a foreign flag in principle appears only to honour an official visit, and always beside the tricolour. The principle of neutrality of public services governs other cases, as the Council of State restated in 2025.

Households and businesses

According to the protocol guide of the Ministry of the Interior, a building that is not public may be decorated with flags freely. A household can therefore fly the flag of its country of origin, that of a friendly country or that of a national team during a competition, with or without the French flag. International companies often fly the flag of the country of their head office or those of their visitors’ countries.

When several flags fly side by side at a home or a business, many follow the custom of public buildings: the French flag in the place of honour and the other flags in alphabetical order. No rule requires this. Rules of another kind may, however, apply to the support, such as co-ownership rules or the local land-use plan.

Official visits

According to the Ministry of the Interior’s guide, when foreign dignitaries visit, it is traditional to honour the guests by temporarily flying the corresponding foreign flag on the left of the French flag seen from the front. The European flag then goes on the right of the French flag seen from the front.

If several foreign flags are flown, the order is alphabetical, using the name of each country in its own language. According to a 2023 National Assembly report, the same guide states that foreign flags must always be accompanied by the national flag and that there is no rule of precedence between the flags of foreign states. The guide to flag protocol describes the place of honour.

Neutrality of public buildings

Flying a foreign flag on a town hall outside an official visit raises the question of the neutrality of public services. In an order of 21 July 2025 (no. 506299), the urgent-applications judge of the Council of State restated that this principle rules out placing on public buildings signs that symbolise political, religious or philosophical opinions. The judge upheld the suspension of a mayor’s decision to put up on the town hall a banner in the colours of a foreign flag carrying a message about an ongoing conflict.

The explanatory memorandum of a bill tabled in the Senate in 2025 sums up the case law: in 2022 many town halls flew the Ukrainian flag beside the tricolour, which an administrative court found acceptable as a sign of solidarity; by contrast, displaying other flags linked to a conflict led to litigation and to removals ordered by the administrative courts. The same text states that in 2025 the Ministry of the Interior recalled that the principle of neutrality forbids flags that amount to taking sides in an international conflict. Each situation is assessed case by case by the courts.

The European flag

The European flag is not a foreign flag in terms of protocol. It is compulsory on public buildings on 9 May and flies permanently on the façade of schools and secondary schools. More on this is in the guide to flag days.