Low-emission zones · Netherlands
Do I need a sticker for Dutch milieuzones?
Checked 18 September 2026 on milieuzones.nl and the RDW · skynomad
Verdict
No sticker and no registration. Only older diesels are caught.
No sticker and no registration: a Dutch zone reads your plate and looks up the emission class, and only diesels are caught.
What to do before you go
There is nothing to buy and nothing to register before you leave. Find your diesel's Euro class on the registration document: emission class 5 clears every Dutch zone that applies to cars, class 4 clears The Hague only. Petrol, LPG and electric cars are never affected. A hired diesel van is the real risk, because the zero-emission zones cover vans and lorries whatever the driver's nationality; a foreign van buys a day exemption from the RDW.
- Cost
- Nothing for a car. RDW day exemption for a van or lorry: €30
- Lead time
- None for a car. The RDW day exemption is issued straight away and can be bought up to 90 days ahead
milieuzones.nl ↗
There is no Dutch green badge
The Netherlands has no environmental sticker at all, so any site selling you a "Dutch green badge" is selling you a piece of paper with no legal effect. The only things you can legitimately buy are exemptions: from the RDW for a zero-emission zone, or from a city for its own milieuzone.
The Dutch never adopted a windscreen sticker. A camera photographs your plate, looks the emission class up in the national RDW register, and that is the whole system. Which means two things for a visitor: there is nothing to order before you travel, and there is also nothing you can show a camera to prove your old diesel is fine.
Before you leave home
Find the registration document and look for the Euro emission class. That single number decides everything.
- Emission class 5 or better: you can drive into every Dutch milieuzone that applies to cars.
- Class 4: The Hague only. Amsterdam, Utrecht and Arnhem will turn you away.
- Class 3 or lower: stay outside the rings and park at a P+R.
If the document prints no Euro class, the date of first registration is the fallback the Dutch authorities use themselves. For a diesel car, Euro 4 became compulsory for new registrations on 1 January 2006, Euro 5 on 1 January 2011 and Euro 6 on 1 September 2015.
Do not buy a "Dutch environmental badge" from a reseller: no such document exists. And do not bother with the plate checker on milieuzones.nl, which states plainly that it does not work for foreign plates.
Petrol, LPG, hybrid and electric cars are outside all of this. No Dutch milieuzone touches them.
Where it applies
Ten cities, in the order a road trip usually meets them. Four have a zone that can stop a car; the rest are aimed at vans and lorries.
- When
- Round the clock; the zone signs carry no times
- Kept out
- Diesel cars below emission class 5. Petrol, LPG and electric cars are not affected.
- Foreign plates
- Foreign plates are covered — the city's own exemption policy says so. Nothing to register; there is no day exemption for a diesel car.
- Electric
- Battery electric and hydrogen: allowed everywhere, including inside the zero-emission zone.
- Fine
- €130 plus €9 admin for a car or van, €320 for a lorry
Where the boundary runs
Diesel cars: everything inside the A10 ring. Vans and lorries: zero-emission inside the S100 centre ring, emission class 5 or better between the S100 and the A10.
Diesel cars tightened from class 4 to class 5 on 1 January 2025, the same day the zero-emission zone opened.
Official page ↗Parking in Amsterdam ParkingInEurope ↗
- When
- Round the clock; the zone signs carry no times
- Kept out
- Vans and lorries that fail the national transition rules. No restriction on cars of any fuel.
- Foreign plates
- Nothing to do in a car — the passenger-car milieuzone was scrapped on 1 January 2020. A foreign van needs an RDW day exemption, €30.
- Electric
- Battery electric and hydrogen vans and lorries: allowed.
- Fine
- €130 plus €9 admin for a van, €320 for a lorry
Where the boundary runs
A zone inside the ring, covering the centre and the districts around it. The Maasvlakte port area has a separate lorry zone.
In force since 1 January 2025. The private-use exemption needs the van in your own name, so a hire van does not qualify.
Official page ↗Parking in Rotterdam ParkingInEurope ↗
- When
- Round the clock; the zone signs carry no times
- Kept out
- Diesel cars below emission class 4, and diesel buses below class 6. Petrol, LPG and electric cars are not affected.
- Foreign plates
- The mildest car rule in the country: a diesel first registered from 2006 normally clears it. Nothing to register.
- Electric
- Battery electric and hydrogen: allowed everywhere, including the zero-emission zone.
- Fine
- €130 plus €9 admin for a car or van, €320 for a lorry
Where the boundary runs
Inside the Centrumring (S100) and the Telders route (S200). The zero-emission zone was extended to the coastal strip in 2026.
Zero-emission zone for vans and lorries since 1 January 2025; the city says it warns for at least four months from 1 January 2026 in the new coastal area before it fines.
Official page ↗Parking in The Hague ParkingInEurope ↗
- When
- Round the clock; the zone signs carry no times
- Kept out
- Diesel cars below emission class 5. A car on any other fuel may enter.
- Foreign plates
- Nothing to register. No day exemption for a diesel car — Utrecht sells one for buses only, €34.75.
- Electric
- Battery electric and hydrogen: allowed everywhere, including the zero-emission zone.
- Fine
- €130 for a car, van or bus, €320 for a lorry
Where the boundary runs
One central area carries both: the milieuzone for diesel cars and buses, the zero-emission zone for vans and lorries.
Zero-emission zone since 1 January 2025. The plan to stretch the car zone over the whole built-up area on 1 January 2027 has been postponed.
Official page ↗Parking in Utrecht ParkingInEurope ↗
- When
- Round the clock; the zone signs carry no times
- Kept out
- Diesel cars below emission class 5, and diesel buses below class 6.
- Foreign plates
- The one city that will sell a car driver a way in: a day exemption, €38.20, maximum 12 per plate per calendar year.
- Electric
- Battery electric and hydrogen: allowed everywhere, including the zero-emission zone.
- Fine
- €130 plus €9 admin for a car or van, €320 for a lorry
Where the boundary runs
Arnhem city centre, on the boundary the old milieuzone already used.
On 1 June 2026 the van milieuzone became a zero-emission zone; from that date the milieuzone covers diesel cars and buses only.
Official page ↗
- When
- Round the clock; the zone signs carry no times
- Kept out
- Vans and lorries that fail the national transition rules, plus diesel buses of class 5 and lower. Cars are not caught yet.
- Foreign plates
- Nothing to do in a car until 2027. A foreign van needs an RDW day exemption, €30.
- Electric
- Battery electric and hydrogen vans and lorries: allowed.
- Fine
- €130 plus admin for a car, van or bus, €320 for a lorry
Where the boundary runs
The area inside the Ring, with an exception carved out for the De Kade business area after a court ruling in May 2025.
From 1 January 2027 a milieuzone starts here for diesel cars of emission class 4 and lower.
Official page ↗
- When
- Round the clock; the zone signs carry no times
- Kept out
- Vans and lorries on petrol, diesel or LPG below emission class 5. Cars are not covered.
- Foreign plates
- Nothing to do in a car. A foreign van needs an RDW day exemption, €30.
- Electric
- Battery electric and hydrogen vans and lorries: allowed.
- Fine
- €130 plus €9 admin for a van, €320 for a lorry
Where the boundary runs
The binnenstad, the old centre inside the inner ring.
In force since 1 January 2025; the national transition rules run to 2030.
Official page ↗Parking in Maastricht ParkingInEurope ↗
- When
- Round the clock; the zone signs carry no times
- Kept out
- Vans and lorries in categories N1, N2 and N3 that fail the transition rules. Cars are not covered.
- Foreign plates
- Nothing to do in a car. A foreign van needs an RDW day exemption, €30; a full exemption takes 8 weeks.
- Electric
- Battery electric and hydrogen vans and lorries: allowed.
- Fine
- €130 plus €9 admin for a van, €320 for a lorry
Where the boundary runs
The binnenstad — the canal centre most visitors park at the edge of anyway.
In force since 1 January 2025. A converted camper van on N1 papers counts as a van here.
Official page ↗
- When
- Round the clock; the zone signs carry no times
- Kept out
- Vans below emission class 5 and lorries first registered before 2017. Cars are not covered.
- Foreign plates
- Nothing to do in a car. A foreign van needs an RDW day exemption, €30.
- Electric
- Battery electric and hydrogen vans and lorries: allowed.
- Fine
- €130 plus €9 admin for a van, €320 for a lorry
Where the boundary runs
Everything inside the ringbanen, the ring of boulevards around the centre.
In force since 1 January 2025; from 2030 only zero-emission vans and lorries may enter.
Official page ↗
- When
- Round the clock; the zone signs carry no times
- Kept out
- Lorries below emission class 6. Cars and vans may enter until 2029.
- Foreign plates
- Nothing to do in a car or a van. This is the one city on this list where a hire van is still safe.
- Electric
- Battery electric and hydrogen: allowed.
- Fine
- €320 plus admin for a lorry
Where the boundary runs
Inside the singels, the ring of old moat canals around the centre.
On 1 January 2029 this milieuzone becomes a zero-emission zone for vans and lorries.
Official page ↗
What it costs to get it wrong
€130 plus €9 in administration costs for a car or a van, €320 for a lorry. Those figures took effect on 26 November 2025 and are set nationally, so the city you were caught in makes no difference. The notice comes from the CJIB, the Dutch collection agency.
Whether it reaches you is a different question. The camera can only match a plate against the RDW register, which holds Dutch plates and nothing else. Rotterdam said as much when asked why foreign vans go unpunished, and blamed the absence of European rules. Cities have answered by sending officers to check papers at the kerb, which is slow but not imaginary. The ban applies to your car either way; only the automatic half of the enforcement has a hole in it.
Watch the signs from 1 January 2026. One new zone sign, C22e, replaced the old milieuzone boards, with small plates underneath showing a car or van symbol and the emission classes that are refused. Councils have until 1 July 2026 to swap the old ones out, so you may still meet either.
Electric, hybrid and old cars
Battery electric and hydrogen vehicles go everywhere, including the zero-emission zones. Petrol and LPG cars are never restricted, and nor is a petrol-electric hybrid. A car of 40 years or older is exempt nationally, which rescues the classic-car crowd but not the fifteen-year-old estate.
The hire van is where I would spend my attention. Nineteen Dutch towns already run a zero-emission zone for vans and lorries, and the transition dates are closing: a Euro 5 van loses access on 1 January 2027, a Euro 6 van first registered before 1 January 2025 keeps it until 1 January 2029, and a diesel van first registered from 1 January 2025 has no transition period at all. Yes, the newest diesel van on the forecourt is the one banned today. A foreign van can buy a day exemption from the RDW for €30, issued on the spot, up to 90 days ahead, 12 per city per year.
Three ways people get caught
- Assuming a foreign plate is invisible. The camera cannot read your emission class, but a kerbside officer reads your registration document, and the fine is the same €130.
- Renting a diesel van for the Ikea run. Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, The Hague, Delft, Maastricht, Tilburg and Eindhoven all close their centres to it. Ask the hire desk for the Euro class and the date of first registration before you sign.
- Trusting one city's rule in the next one. The Hague lets a class 4 diesel in; drive that same car to Utrecht and you are over the line. Arnhem is the only city that will sell a car driver a way out, at €38.20 a day, 12 days a year.