Driving in Spain - Low Emission Zones LEZs
Spanish Low Emission Zones LEZs - New low emissions zones are being introduced across 149 towns and cities.
LEZ rules affect all cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants as well as island territories and municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants with air quality harmful to health, currently there are 149 municipalities in Spain that are included in the LEZ rules.
The cities/towns in the Community of Valencia which have more than 50,000 inhabitants include - Alicante, Alcoi (Alicante), Benidorm (Alicante), Castellón de la Plana, Elche (Alicante), Elda (Alicante), Gandia (Valencia), Orihuela (Alicante), Paterna (Valencia), Sagunto ( Valencia), San Vicente del Raspeig (Alicante), Torrent (Valencia), Torrevieja (Alicante) and Valencia.
Spanish Low Emission Zones - BENIDORM INFORMATION January 1st Benidorm Low Emission Zone informational phase begins.
It has been confirmed that the system in Benidorm is to be switched on from January 1st 2025. The good news is that for the first six months, fines for non compliance are not to be issued, but rather warnings and advice given.
From January 7th, a citizen care office, located on the ground floor of the City Hall, open from 8:00 to 15:00. In this office all consultations can be made face-to-face or telephone.
During the first month of the year testing of the platform will be carried out with the different interfaces with which it should be coordinated (DGT, Pattern, etc. ) and the collection of data from all the equipment installed on the street will begin.
February 1st the platform and app for the citizen will be launched.
All current documentation, such as the ZBE location map (see below) and informational brochure, can be viewed on the website HERE
Will it be possible to access with a vehicle without an environmental badge?
If you have a vehicle without an environmental badge and you live or are registered within the Low Emissions Zone, you will be granted an annual moratorium that can be renewed at Benidorm City Hall.
More is explained in this presentation video:
31st August 2024 - Benidorm updates - A vote at the Benidorm town hall meeting yesterday was almost unanimous in agreeing to push on and impliment the low emission zones planned for a 75 hectare area of the Centro, Poniente and Levante areas of the town. The idea is to keep the worst contaminating vehicles out of these key zones, also to increase pedestrian only areas of some of them. There is no date given for full implimentation, but many of the cameras are already in place, and the vote yesterday gives the green light to implimentation.
General information
What are Low Emission Zones (LEZs)?
They are areas delimited by a public administration in which access and parking to certain vehicles is restricted according to their emissions, with the aim of improving air quality.
Rules are implemented by each municipality, under the broad framework of the DGT, so there is no one size fits all legislation. It is recommend that you check in advance with any municipality that you are thinking of visiting.
Each town hall must decide how to implement this, and traffic signs will be placed at the beginning of the zones to inform drivers, therefore if you have not seen any signs yet, it is because they are still planning where/if/how to do this.
The town halls are those that enforce and set fine levels, and it appears that they have decided on 200€ as the appropriate penalty for entering a zone without the relevant sticker. (The stickers are stuck on the inside of car windscreens, and are automatically read by camera)
HOW TO OBTAIN AN EMISSIONS STICKER
You can obtain one of the new emissions stickers from a local gestoría or online via the Correos website but the easiest method is probably at a main Correos offices. Don’t worry if you don’t speak Spanish, just print off and fill out the attached form to take with you. You can also download it here:
https://www.correos.es/es/en/individuals/para-el-ciudadano/dgt-services/environmental-quality-seal
3rd December 2024 - After reaching an agreement with the DGT, you can now buy your environmental badge at your nearest tobacco shop.
CLICK ON THIS LINK, enter your postcode and find the one closest to your home.
How much does the DGT sticker cost?
The environmental label of the DGT costs 5€, delivery fees can be an additional charge.
Does my vehicle qualify?
As a guide all electric, hybrid and gas powered vehicles, and petrol cars and light commercials that are EURO 4,5 or 6 along with diesel vehicles that are EURO 6 qualify for the environmental sticker.
You can check which sticker is a available for your vehicle here on the DGT website:
https://sede.dgt.gob.es/es/vehiculos/distintivo-ambiental
It is not possible to get one for a foreign registered vehicle, as they are not listed on the Spanish DGT website. (so presumably in that case it wont apply to foreign tourist vehicles!)
There are 4 categories available to cars and light vans as follows:
0 - BLUE - NO RESTRICTION
This category includes: Battery powered electric vehicles, extended range electric vehicles, plug in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) with an autonomous range of 40km or more, LPG vehicles and other gas powered vehicles.
ECO - GREEN / BLUE - SOME RESTRICTIONS
This category includes: non plug-in hybrids, hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV’s) with an autonomous range of less than 40 kms. There will be some restrictions to this type of vehicle, which will be determined by individual town halls.
C - GREEN - RESTRICTIONS
This covers petrol cars & light vans registered from 2006 onwards and diesel vehicles registered from 2014 onwards. Generally speaking category C vehicles cannot enter Low Emission Zones, although rules are implemented on a town by town basis so for example in Madrid, C category vehicles are allowed to enter some LEZ's to go to car parks etc.
B - YELLOW - NOT PERMITTED TO ENTER ZBE's
Petrol vehicles registered after January 2000 or diesel vehicles from 2006 to 2014 will be restricted from entering Low Emissions Zones.
❌ A - NO STICKER AVAILABLE - NOT PERMITTED
According to estimates, approximately 32% of cars & light vans will not be able to enter, due to the fact that they are too old to meet the strict emissions requirements and consequently do not qualify for a sticker.
Spanish Low Emission Zones
Where should the DGT sticker placed?
Sitting in the car looking out, the DGT sticker should be placed in the lower right corner of the windshield.
Is it mandatory to carry the DGT label?
You are not obliged to carry the environmental badge on the vehicle, since its placement is voluntary, but if it is not visible you will not be able to benefit from the advantages of having an Eco or Zero sticker, and you could be fined by the control cameras recognising your license plate number when entering these zones.
What fine does it entail irregularly entering an LEZ?
If you enter irregularly in an LEZ zone, the fine amounts to 200€, as according to the last reform of Traffic Law it is considered a serious infraction.
FOREIGN VEHICLES
Can a foreign vehicle obtain a New Environment Sticker? No, a foreign vehicle can not, but some may still be able to drive in one of the new low emission zones - If your vehicle already has an emissions sticker issued in its country of registration, then it may be able to be used, but you would need to check the corresponding Spanish emissions category for your vehicle.
Which countries are automatically accepted? EU countries whose emissions stickers are automatically accepted are Austria, Denmark, France and Germany, but it would be necessary to look for the corresponding Spanish emissions sticker to make sure they match.
What about UK Vehicles? At the time of writing, UK vehicles are not automatically accepted, and they are likely to have to be registered within the municipality where they are needed to be used. The only current example of this is Barcelona where the owner can register to use their vehicle.
As this is such a new system, we are sure there will be more information and updates available in the near future and the information above will be kept as up to date as possible.
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At the moment possibly the easiest place to get the stickers is your local post office, all you need is your car documents showing registration, your TIE identity card (or other ID such as a passport if a non resident owner) and the 5€ fee. The sticker which is registered to your particular registration plate only, takes just a moment to code up and be issued. Adding tobacconists to the list of places that you can obtain them can only make it easier. Note; Benidorm is one of the towns that has low emission zones ready to be "turned on" More ...