Low-emission zones · Spain
Do I need a sticker for Spain's low-emission zones?
Checked 18 September 2026 on each city's own page · skynomad
Verdict
Not a sticker, but you must register the plate with each city.
Spanish low-emission zones read your plate against the DGT vehicle register, and a foreign plate is not in it: register with each city before you drive in.
What to do before you go
There is no Spanish windscreen sticker for a foreign car. Register the plate with each city whose zone you will enter; Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Zaragoza, Bilbao and Palma each run their own register.
- Cost
- Barcelona charges €7; the other cities publish no fee
- Lead time
- Barcelona may take 15 working days; Palma wants the form at least 5 days before you arrive
miteco.gob.es ↗
The Spanish label is not for you
The DGT label costs €5 over a Correos counter and is only issued to Spanish-registered cars. City registrations are free or a few euros on the city's own site. Anyone selling you a Spanish environmental sticker for a foreign plate is selling you nothing.
Spain skipped the windscreen sticker and built a database. A camera reads your plate, the system asks the DGT vehicle register what that car is, and a barrier or a fine follows. A foreign plate is not in that register, so most Spanish cities make you sign the car in by hand before you arrive — and the deadlines are measured in weeks, not minutes.
Before you leave home
There is nothing to order and stick on the glass. The DGT environmental label (0, ECO, C or B) costs €5 at a Correos counter and is issued only to cars on Spanish plates. Your car cannot have one. Any site offering to sell you a Spanish label for a foreign plate is selling paper.
What you do instead is register the plate with each city you plan to drive into:
- Barcelona — the AMB metropolitan register. €7 once, and they can take up to 15 working days to answer. I start this the week I book the crossing.
- Palma de Mallorca — a temporary authorisation, 30 days maximum, applied for at least five days before you arrive. Bring ID, the registration certificate, the technical sheet and proof of the day the car landed on the island.
- Madrid — in person, by appointment, at the Oficina Especializada de Atención a la Ciudadanía, with the registration document and technical sheet, so the city can work out which label your car would have had.
- Valencia, Zaragoza and Bilbao — municipal registers, each with its own form.
Only the city's own site, every time. There is no national one-stop shop, no agency that can do all six for you, and no shortcut that survives a camera.
Where it applies
Spain's climate law of 2021 ordered a low-emission zone in every municipality over 50,000 people by 2023. A good number drew a line on a map and stopped there. The list below marks which zones are switched on and which are still waiting for their cameras.
Low-emission zone
Barcelona
ZBE Rondes de Barcelona
- When
- Mon–Fri 07:00–20:00, public holidays excluded
- Kept out
- Petrol cars below Euro 3, diesel below Euro 4, and any vehicle not in the metropolitan register
- Foreign plates
- Register the plate with the AMB before you drive in: €7 one-off, up to 15 working days to answer. Cars that do not qualify get 24 paid day permits a year.
- Electric
- Battery electric and plug-in hybrid: allowed, but the plate still has to be registered
- Fine
- €200, rising to €260 while a pollution episode is declared
Where the boundary runs
More than 95 km² inside the Ronda de Dalt and the Ronda del Litoral, covering Barcelona and parts of four neighbouring towns. The two ring roads themselves are outside the zone.
Running and camera-enforced since 2020, the oldest zone in Spain
Official page ↗Parking in Barcelona ParkingInEurope ↗
- When
- All day, every day
- Kept out
- Cars with no DGT label — petrol before 2000, diesel before 2006 — since 1 January 2025
- Foreign plates
- A foreign plate is not in the DGT register, so the city has to be told what the car is: take the registration document and technical sheet to the city mobility office, by appointment. A car that would rate as no-label cannot be authorised.
- Electric
- 0 and ECO labels: no restriction anywhere in the city
- Fine
- €200, halved to €100 for prompt payment
Where the boundary runs
The entire municipal area of Madrid, not just the centre
Madrid re-approved its mobility ordinance on 24 March 2026. On 21 April 2026 the Supreme Court let stand the annulment of articles of the 2021 version; that affects fines issued between 2021 and March 2026, not the zone in force today.
Official page ↗
Low-emission zone
Madrid
ZBEDEP Distrito Centro
- When
- All day, every day
- Kept out
- No-label cars banned outright. B and C cars only with an authorisation, typically a space in a car park inside the zone.
- Foreign plates
- Register the plate in advance at the city's specialised mobility office; appointment required and no fee is published. Without it the cameras see an unknown plate.
- Electric
- 0 and ECO labels: free access
- Fine
- €200, halved to €100 for prompt payment
Where the boundary runs
Almost all of the Centro district, inside the ring of boulevards around the old town
Camera-enforced since September 2021; rules restated in the ordinance of 24 March 2026
Official page ↗Parking in Madrid ParkingInEurope ↗
Low-emission zone
Valencia
ZBE València
- When
- 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
- Kept out
- Label A cars — petrol before 2001, diesel before 2006 — registered outside Valencia province, since 1 December 2025
- Foreign plates
- The ordinance is explicit: motor vehicles with foreign plates, of any kind, must be entered in the municipal register before entering the zone.
- Electric
- 0 and ECO labels: no restriction
- Fine
- €200
Where the boundary runs
27.8 km², nearly the whole city, bounded by the Ronda Nord, avinguda dels Tarongers, Serradora and the Bulevard Sud
278 cameras, enforced since 1 December 2025. From 1 January 2027 the ban widens to label A cars from the rest of the province, and from 1 January 2028 to every car entering the city.
Official page ↗Parking in Valencia ParkingInEurope ↗
- When
- Cartuja: Mon–Fri 07:00–19:00. Casco Antiguo and Triana: not published.
- Kept out
- Cartuja: cars without a DGT B, C, ECO or 0 label. Casco Antiguo and Triana: driving in at all without an access authorisation.
- Foreign plates
- No foreign-plate register is published. Cars with a B, C, ECO or 0 label enter Cartuja without registering; a foreign car has none, so occasional access is applied for through the city's electronic office.
- Electric
- 0 and ECO labels: free access to Cartuja
- Fine
- Not published
Where the boundary runs
Cartuja Norte and Cartuja Sur on the island; plus the Casco Antiguo inside the ring of Paseo de Colón, Torneo, Resolana, María Auxiliadora and avenida de Roma, and the Triana block behind the Altozano
Cartuja has been in force since 1 July 2024. The Casco Antiguo and Triana zones are set by ordinance, but the automatic access control is still waiting on a separate city resolution and no start date has been published.
Official page ↗Parking in Seville ParkingInEurope ↗
Low-emission zone
Zaragoza
ZBE Centro Histórico
- When
- Mon–Fri 08:00–20:00. Outside those hours, at weekends and on holidays anything may drive in.
- Kept out
- Cars without a DGT B, C, ECO or 0 label that are not in the municipal register
- Foreign plates
- Foreign plates are one of the categories that can be entered in the municipal ZBE register, renewable yearly. No fee is published.
- Electric
- 0 and ECO labels: free access
- Fine
- Not published
Where the boundary runs
The old centre inside Paseo Echegaray y Caballero, calle San Vicente de Paúl, the Coso and calle Mayoral
Final implementation phase since 12 December 2025; a second, larger zone is due on 1 January 2030
Official page ↗
Low-emission zone
Málaga
ZBE Málaga
- When
- Not published
- Kept out
- Cars with no DGT label that are not registered in Málaga, since 30 November 2025
- Foreign plates
- No foreign-plate register is published. The cameras read plates against the DGT database, which holds no foreign vehicles, so a foreign car arrives at the sign with nothing to show.
- Electric
- 0, ECO and C labels: free access
- Fine
- €200
Where the boundary runs
404 hectares of the centre, between the Paseo Marítimo Antonio Machado, avenida de Andalucía and Paseo Salvador Rueda
In force since 2024, fines on no-label outside cars since December 2025; from December 2026 label B cars from outside Málaga are banned too
Official page ↗
Low-emission zone
Bilbao
ZBE Bilbao
- When
- Mon–Fri 07:00–20:00
- Kept out
- Cars with no DGT label; label B cars came under the rules a year after the ordinance took effect on 15 June 2024
- Foreign plates
- The ordinance puts foreign plates in their own register: a low-emission foreign car is signed up online, or each trip in is notified in advance through the city's system.
- Electric
- 0 and ECO labels: free access
- Fine
- €200
Where the boundary runs
About 2 km² of the Abando district, covering the Abando and Indautxu neighbourhoods
In force since 15 June 2024; fines began that September, when the adaptation period ended
Official page ↗
Low-emission zone
Palma de Mallorca
ZBE Centre Ciutat
- When
- Continuous: 24 hours a day, every day
- Kept out
- Cars with no DGT label
- Foreign plates
- Apply for a temporary access authorisation, granted for a maximum of 30 days, at least 5 days before you arrive. You need ID, the registration certificate, the technical sheet and proof of the car's arrival on the island.
- Electric
- 0 and ECO labels: allowed, but a foreign plate still needs the authorisation
- Fine
- €200, up to €260 for a repeat within a year
Where the boundary runs
Everything inside the ring of avenues on the line of the old walls, from the seafront at Gabriel Roca round by Passeig Mallorca and plaça d'Espanya and back to the sea
In force since 22 December 2024. From 1 January 2027 only C, ECO and 0 may enter, which pushes most older hire cars out; from 1 January 2030 only ECO and 0.
Official page ↗
Low-emission zone
Córdoba
ZBE Córdoba
- When
- Not published
- Foreign plates
- Nothing published for foreign plates. The thing that will actually catch you is the ACIRE: its gates are camera-controlled and need an authorisation, whatever the car.
- Fine
- Not published
Where the boundary runs
Declared over the historic centre by the mobility ordinance of 17 February 2023, on top of the older ACIRE restricted-access area that has been camera-controlled since 2012
On paper since February 2023. In December 2024 the national ombudsman recorded that camera enforcement of the ZBE was still at the consultant-report stage; no date for ZBE fines has been published.
Official page ↗
Low-emission zone
A Coruña
ZBE Centro
- When
- Not published
- Kept out
- Everything except public transport, emergency vehicles and holders of a specific authorisation; deliveries have their own morning window
- Foreign plates
- Nothing published for foreign plates. This zone runs on authorisations rather than DGT labels, so the question is whether you have a permit, not what your car emits.
- Fine
- Not published
Where the boundary runs
The Ciudad Vieja, avenida de la Marina, Paseo del Parrote and named streets of the Pescadería
A pilot zone in the old town under the sustainable mobility ordinance. The city has not published a wider ZBE or a calendar of fines; any expansion needs a fresh council decision.
Official page ↗
What it costs to get it wrong
€200 is the standard figure, because entering a restricted zone is a serious traffic offence rather than a parking one. Madrid halves it to €100 if you pay promptly. Barcelona charges €260 while Catalonia has a pollution episode declared, and Palma adds up to 30% for a second offence inside a year. Zaragoza, Seville, Córdoba and A Coruña publish no amount at all for their zones.
A hire car is the easy case for the city: it is on Spanish plates, the notice goes to the rental company, and the company names you and adds a handling charge on top. A car on foreign plates is harder for a Spanish town hall to chase across a border, and no city publishes how well it manages. I would not build a holiday on that. Local police can stop you inside the zone on the day, and in Barcelona, Valencia and Palma an unregistered foreign plate is a breach in its own right, whatever the engine.
Electric, hybrid and old cars
A battery-electric or plug-in car would rate 0 or ECO and is waved through every zone listed here. It still has to be registered: the camera reads a plate, not a badge on the bonnet.
The rough Spanish cut-off is petrol from 2001 and diesel from 2006. Older than that and your car is what Spain calls category A, which no registration can fix — Madrid, Valencia, Málaga and Palma simply do not let it in. A Spanish hire car is already in the DGT register; ask the desk which label it carries, because from January 2027 Palma stops accepting B-label cars and a cheap older hire car becomes a problem.
Three ways people get caught
- Registering in Barcelona and assuming it covers Madrid. Every city keeps its own list; nothing transfers.
- Applying the week of the trip. Barcelona is allowed 15 working days, and Palma wants the form five days before the ferry.
- Driving the ring road and relaxing. Barcelona's Rondes are outside the zone, but the moment you take an exit you are inside it, Monday to Friday, from seven in the morning.