Malaga to ban polluting cars in city centre after deadline  

The Low Emission Zone in the centre of Malaga will come into force on January 1, 2024. 

The centre of Malaga will be converted into a Low Emission Zone (ZBE) from January 1, 2024, onwards.  

This announcement was made by José del Río, the Councillor for Mobility after plans were made to enforce this regulation at the beginning of 2023. 

The initiative to implement ZBEs in Malaga comes after limits were set in Spain’s Climate change law, due to which, Low Emission Zones have already been made in other cities such as Barcelona and Madrid.  

Del Río said that “the aim of the regulation is to prevent people from driving around looking for parking and polluting”.  

He added, “This is why all the resident vehicles or outsiders, who go to a public car park, or a private parking space will be able to enter the ZBE without any problems.” 

According to Malaga Hoy, the low-emission zone in the Malaga centre will extend over an area of 437 hectares and the accesses will be controlled at 97 points by cameras that will record the number plates of vehicles entering the zone.  

This system is similar to the ones already being used in other areas of the city to monitor vehicles from entering bus lanes and other activities.  

The area with the most stringent restrictions will be the inner zone, which includes the central almond-shaped area and the Soho area.

Only authorised vehicles will be allowed to enter this area, with exceptions such as those permitted for loading and unloading or temporary permits 

Access will also be allowed to public car parks, for which the list of number plates will be checked against the list of car parks.  

In the outer zone, entry will be allowed on the basis of the DGT label, in addition to the criteria already in place for the inner zone. 

Residents will also be allowed to send invitations at specific, time-limited points so that they can receive visitors.

This will be managed through an app, which will also be used to make prior payments to enter the low-emission zone and for permits.