How we calculate

Every value sits in data files read from the sources on : the DGT criteria, the consolidated text in the BOE, 38 low-emission-zone byelaws backed by 155 official pages, and 19 2026 road-tax byelaws. Calculators and text read only from there, so a changed value changes on every page at once.

1. The label

Battery, range-extender and fuel-cell cars, and plug-in hybrids with 40 km or more of electric range: zero label. Plug-ins under 40 km, self-charging hybrids and LPG or natural-gas vehicles: ECO, provided the engine meets the C requirements (petrol Euro 4 or better); an old car converted to LPG keeps the label of its petrol engine. Combustion: C for petrol Euro 4, 5 or 6 or diesel Euro 6; B for petrol Euro 3 or diesel Euro 4 or 5; no label below that. Without a Euro standard the DGT dates apply: petrol C from 2006-01, diesel C from 2015-09, petrol B from 2001-01, diesel B from 2006-01. Vehicles with more than 8 seats and goods vehicles: C with Euro VI (from 2014), B with Euro IV or V (from 2006).

Four periods are flagged as “changeover dates”, because a model could be approved to the next standard before it became compulsory: petrol in 2000 and 2005, diesel in 2005 and from September 2014 to August 2015. For motorbikes, annex II of the General Vehicle Regulation gives the B to Euro 2 and the C to Euro 3 and Euro 4; Euro 5 is not named and the tool flags it as uncertain. When the standard is unknown, we use the dates each stage became compulsory for all registrations under Directive 2002/51/EC and Regulation (EU) 168/2013 (motorbikes: Euro 2 in July 2004, Euro 3 in 2007 or 2008; mopeds, which never had Euro 3: Euro 4 in 2018) and flag the in-between months as uncertain. Diesel hybrids are assessed on diesel criteria: ECO requires a Euro 6 engine.

2. The zone

Each city has its zones, hours and a list of rules: label, group (everyone, vehicles registered in the city, residents of the zone, vehicles from the province or from outside it), access (free, banned, parking only, conditional) and start and end dates. For your profile and date the most specific rule in force applies: residents’ rules beat those for locally registered vehicles, which beat the general one. With no rule for your label, access is free. The next future rule that changes the answer is shown. Fine: €200, a serious offence under section 76(z3) of the Traffic Act, cut by 50% if paid within 20 calendar days (section 94).

3. Road tax

Fiscal horsepower (annex V of the General Vehicle Regulation): 0.08 × (engine size per cylinder)^0.6 × cylinders for a four-stroke engine, 0.11 for a two-stroke, and effective power in kW divided by 5.152 for an electric motor, rounded down to two decimals. The amount is the band in the town’s 2026 tax byelaw or, without one, the section 95 minimum (€12.62, €34.08, €71.94, €89.61, €112) with the legal maximum multiplier of 2. The highest relief the byelaw grants for the label, technology or age applies, within its time limit. Pro-rating by calendar quarter on first registration and permanent deregistration (section 96(3)).

4. Tests and source checks

  • Automated tests with cases worked out by hand: each label cut-off one month either side, Euro standard taking precedence, old LPG conversions, motorbikes and heavy vehicles; fiscal hp for 999, 1,197, 1,598 and 1,968 cc; the five section 95 bands; pro-rating; Madrid, Barcelona, Donostia and Valladolid amounts and relief; verdicts for Madrid, Barcelona, València, Málaga, Palma, Getafe and Valladolid either side of each byelaw date.
  • No standard-regime council amount may exceed twice the national minimum: if a value did, publishing stops.
  • A script downloads every source each week, fingerprints it and checks that the quoted sentence is still in the text. Some council sites (madrid.es, bilbao.eus, granada.org, sevilla.org, huelva.es, terrassa.cat) refuse automated reading: on 16 October 2026 they were read by hand, in the relevant official gazette, on another page of the same body or in the web.archive.org copy of the official page, and each city says which.

5. Limits

We do not look up your plate: the DGT’s free lookup is the reference. We do not cover pollution-episode protocols, the fees allowed by Law 9/2025 or every individual permit. 38 of the roughly 150 towns under the obligation are covered: we add one once its byelaw or an official date can be read in an official source. As of 16 October 2026 there is no published low-emission byelaw in Murcia (its mobility byelaw only says zones will come), Gijón (draft approved by the local government board in June 2026, not yet by the full council), Huelva (initial approval only, on 27 March 2026), Logroño or Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; Badalona has a byelaw but the boundary of its zone is suspended. For road tax, we could not read a 2026 tax byelaw in an official source for Bilbao, Granada, Getafe, Vigo, Gijón or Elche.

National sources

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Rules 2026, checked against the official sources on