Umweltzone - Restricted Zones based on protecting the environment

Cities are creating Umweltzonen, or zones where traffic and types of
vehicles will be restricted to protect the environment.

Cities which as of 01.07.2007 have Umweltzonen are

• Ilsfeld
• Leonberg
• Ludwigsburg
• Mannheim
• Schwäbisch-Gmünd
• Stuttgart

Cities which as of 01.01.2008 will have Umweltzonen are

• Augsburg
• München
• Nürnberg

The zones are indicated with signs as below.



In order to drive in an Umweltzone, your car must have a badge. There are
3 badges and signs will indicate which badges are valid in a zone (example
of sign below showing all 3 types of badges to be valid). Fines of EUR 40
are applicable in some areas (fine amounts may vary) if you are found to be
driving in an Umweltzone without the badge and some municipalities will also
assess points on your license (if they can figure out how to do that).





The badges look like this and are available where you go to register your car and at the TÜV, Dekra, or GTÜ.

They cost between EUR 5 and EUR 10.

Sounds more like a revenue generation initiative, not an environmental protection one...

Thanks for the info, but I'm a bit confused on how this works. I assume this is similar to the systems used in places like London, which impose a tax to limit traffic. However, this is a bit confusing still.

What determines which badge is required?

Are the badges assigned by how "ecofriendly" the car is?

Are some classes of cars permanently restricted from the zone?

Originally Posted by cvb

Sounds more like a revenue generation initiative, not an environmental protection one...

Perhaps by making the system sufficiently cumbersome, byzantine, and illogical, drivers will give up and say "F*** it! I'm taking the bus!"

Originally Posted by iversonm

Thanks for the info, but I'm a bit confused on how this works. I assume this is similar to the systems used in places like London, which impose a tax to limit traffic. However, this is a bit confusing still.

What determines which badge is required?

Apparently from codes on the car´s registration papers (see below). I´m not sure if European Delivery cars will even have these codes although BMW´s newsletter yesterday (this is what made me think of the issue) boasted that all new BMWs are rated 4 or green. Article from newsletter is here

Originally Posted by iversonm

Are the badges assigned by how "ecofriendly" the car is?

Ja, from no badge up to green.

Originally Posted by iversonm

Are some classes of cars permanently restricted from the zone?

Yes, and that depends on the sign (i.e. which badges are displayed, green being the most eco friendly). If your car has no badge, it´s not permitted (although there might be retrofits for some cars to improve their ratings). If the sign indicates yellow and green, then cars with red badges are not permitted.

What does the "S - UM 43" on the badges mean?

Not sure. If you look at the image of the badges themselves, that field is blank. So it is something that is filled in presumably.

What is TUV, Dekra or GTU? Some agency??

While you might not want to trust my limited German, there appear to be 5 emissions classifications: Euro 1 to Euro 5.

Euro 1 can't get a sticker, Euro 2 is red, Euro 3 is yellow, and Euro 4 and above are green.

It seems the primary intent of this is to keep older cars out of these areas to improve air quality. Here is a link to a description of the standards.

All cars built after 01.2005 meet Euro 4. Euro 5 appears to be mandatory in 09.2009.

I´ve done some additional reading as well. Your additional points are correct.

I think however regardless of when your car was built you still have to have the sticker, which was the point in my posting this.

Originally Posted by Jspira

I think however regardless of when your car was built you still have to have the sticker, which was the point in my posting this.

Of course. Without a sticker, they'd be no need for a sign. If there were no signs, then Germans would be less happy. More signs! More restrictions!

The nice folks at Welt gave me a Green sticker and said it was a new law. Got the impression they thought it was a bit silly ... they never really explained what it was about.

Bottom line is its free, unlike the Zignettes you'll need to drive in Austria or Switzerland.

One more thing to remember your trip by when you get home (if its still on Windshield)

Originally Posted by cvb

Sounds more like a revenue generation initiative, not an environmental protection one...

Better.....2 birds with one stone. Clever people, these Europeans.

Recieved one of those stickers from the Welt upon car delivery (1/22)

BMW just confirmed to me via e-mail that everyone will receive a sticker at the Welt, just as several people have been posting here that they did receive them.

Egad! Red Ken, Mayor of London has infiltrated Germany!

Cheers

For those of you who have picked up a car recently and received the Plakette (illustrated above in this thread), was it on the car already (where was it placed) or just handed to you?

I'm guessing it would be on as the number plate details are needed for it.

Mine was hidden away somewhere and no mention was made of it.

Originally Posted by JSpira

For those of you who have picked up a car recently and received the Plakette (illustrated above in this thread), was it on the car already (where was it placed) or just handed to you?

I'm guessing it would be on as the number plate details are needed for it.

Sorry for bringing back an old thread, but wanted to let you know that we had the Plakette handed to us in our delivery materials - it was not already on the car.

Since we weren't sure what it was for, we asked Thomas at E.H. Harms (we were doing a weekend drop-off, so we went there straight after pick-up) to ask about the purpose of the sticker. He told us we didn't need it yet in Munich, and not to worry about it. Out of an abundance of caution, I slapped it on the windshield anyway - and it seems I was right to do that!

It was handed to us at the Welt and we were told if we drove into areas and saw these green signs we needed to stick it to the windshield. I can't remember where he said but it was in the cities and we weren't going there so I threw it into the glove box and forgot about it. 2 weeks of driving through 6 countries, never saw a green sign.

OK, well since we re-animated this zombie thread.....

The sticker has the car reg number on it... that's what the S-AB-123 stuff was about. The must also be visible (at least when you are parked up). If you don't want to deface your new windscreen I would just say lay it on the dash in a very visible location when you leave your car. And yup...it is only necessary to display when you are driving/parked in an Umweltzone.