The Law on Climate Change and Energy Transition establishes the obligation to create mobility plans to reduce emissions from mobility. Among the measures to be adopted is the creation of the so-called Low Emissions Zones (ZBE).
As of January 2023, all Spanish municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants; the island territories; and municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants that exceed the limit values for regulated pollutants will have to have their ZBE active.
Some cities like Madrid or Barcelona already have areas where traffic is restricted based on pollution levels or the emissions of the vehicles trying to access. But, perhaps, they will have to change the access regulations once those that have to regulate all the ZBE at the national level are approved.
DGT labels: when do they change, how does it affect you and what are the new ones
New regulations for Low Emission Zones (ZBE)
The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) considers “essential the development of a specific regulation that expands and specifies the generic mandate for the establishment of ZBEs”.
The objective is to determine “the minimum requirements that these areas must meet in order to provide legal certainty to users, companies and citizens in general through homogeneous legislation throughout the national territory.”
In other words, the new regulations that will be applied in the ZBE at the national level will be marked.
More restrictions for vehicles labeled B and C?
The draft standard includes the hierarchy by modes of transport that must be met when designing the necessary measures to meet the objectives of low emission zones.
These include restrictions on access, movement and parking of vehicles according to their polluting potential and which will primarily affect vehicles A (these are those that do not have an environmental label from the DGT), and, progressively, vehicles B and C .
Likewise, always respecting said hierarchy, when motorized vehicle access is allowed, the access of 0 emission vehicles will be prioritized.
The rules of the ZBE, to public consultation
MITECO has opened for public consultation the project that also regulates the monitoring and follow-up system that will make it possible to evaluate the effectiveness of the measures adopted and the fulfillment of the objectives.
The regulation also provides for cooperation and coordination between public administrations to comply with the objectives of low emission zones and the need to adopt coordination measures between municipalities, including the possibility of establishing supra-municipal low emission zones.
Finally, the applicable sanctioning regime is provided, referring to the traffic regulations for these purposes and a transitional period of four years for the adaptation to the new standard of the LEZ projects established prior to its entry into force.
