Over a Million Vehicles Will Be Banned from Circulating in Madrid in a Few Months

The prohibition on accessing and circulating on public urban roads within the territorial scope of Madrid's Low Emission Zone (ZBE), as outlined in the first transitional provision of the Sustainable Mobility Ordinance of October 5, 2018, will commence on January 1st. This will render two out of every three vehicles in Madrid's fleet ineligible to circulate in the capital.

For this reason, the European Motorists Association (AEA) has requested that the Madrid City Council approve a moratorium of at least two years due to the magnitude of the problem that will affect hundreds of thousands of Madrid residents who own vehicles without an emissions sticker. According to estimates by this motorists' advocacy organization, this could impact more than a million citizens.

Specifically, these vehicles comply scrupulously with emissions regulations and pay the Mechanical Traction Vehicle Tax (IVTM) to the Madrid City Council (amounting to nearly 32 million euros). However, starting January 1st, they will not be allowed to circulate or even remain parked on any street in the capital, under penalty of a 200-euro fine.

In its petition to the Mayor, AEA argues that "the true economic and social dimension of this prohibition was not foreseen during the drafting and approval process of the Mobility Ordinance. Therefore, the municipal regulation does not comply with the principle of proportionality that should govern restrictive administrative actions."

This measure affects one out of every three Madrid residents (1,189,607 out of 3,460,491) and two out of every three vehicles in Madrid's fleet. The economic value of these vehicles exceeds 5.2 billion euros (based on the average value of a car over 15 years old), which citizens would have to bear without any compensation.

"Moreover," AEA points out in its petition, "the loss of revenue amounting to nearly 32 million euros for municipal coffers from IVTM was not considered. Even if the corresponding fiscal ordinance is not amended, taxes cannot be levied on vehicles that cannot circulate in Madrid, even if they remain registered with Traffic as stipulated by Article 6 of the Local Treasury Law."

Therefore, AEA has asked Mayor Martinez Almeida to urgently promote before the Madrid City Council Plenary the approval of a moratorium of at least two years on the prohibition against accessing and circulating on public urban roads within Madrid's ZBE territorial scope as outlined in the first transitional provision of the Sustainable Mobility Ordinance of October 5, 2018. They also request a tax exemption for vehicles registered in Madrid's IVTM register that are not authorized to circulate within Madrid's ZBE territorial scope.

To avoid confusion among hundreds of thousands of drivers who unknowingly enter ZBEs without authorization and are unfairly and excessively fined 200 euros each time, AEA calls for improved and enhanced signage at access points to these zones.