Environmental badge obligatory for green zones in Germany also for foreigners!
Purchase your badge prior to your visit to Germany!

Environmental badge obligatory for green zones in Germany also for foreigners!
Purchase your badge prior to your visit to Germany!

Already from March 1, 2007 on, vehicle restrictions in environmental green zones can be issued in cities and local districts in Germany. The requirement is that they were specially marked as being green zones by the city or municipality. The first environmental green zones are coming into force as of January 1, 2008 in the cities Berlin, Cologne, and Hannover.
On January 12, 2008 a small environmental zone `"Brackeler Straße" in Dortmund was established, followed on March 1^st  2008 by eight cities in Baden-Württemberg: Ilsfeld, Leonberg, Ludwigsburg, Mannheim, Mühlacker, Reutlingen, Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Stuttgart und Tübingen.
The areas especially threatened by fine particulate matter must be marked as "environmental green zones" with the sign 270.1. The obligatory additional sign then regulates which vehicles with which colour of environmental badges are allowed access into this area. The sign 270.2 rescinds the environmental green zone.  

      

Sign 270.1	Additional sign   to 270.1	Sign 270.2

Vehicles without environmental badge may not pass through the green zone, otherwise a penalty of 40,00 € and a penalty point in Flensburg impend, even if the vehicle would be allowed to pass through the zone based on its emission value. This is also valid for all vehicles registered in foreign countries, like cars, trucks, and busses, as well as for business travellers and for tourists. 
For this reason it is recommended that all drivers to inform themselves about the environmental badges, and to purchase it on time, if they wish to enter one of the increasing number of green zones during the next months and years after January 1, 2008.

Environmental zones in Germany (map)

 

PDF-Version here!

Where are the environmental zones?
When will new environmental zones be established?

                          40 already existing environmental zones

    

01.01.2008	Berlin, Hannover, Köln
12.01.2008	Dortmund (Brackeler Straße)
01.03.2008	Ilsfeld, Leonberg, Ludwigsburg, Mannheim, Reutlingen, Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Stuttgart, Tübingen
01.08.2008	Pleidelsheim
01.10.2008	Bochum, Bottrop, Dortmund, Duisburg, Essen, Frankfurt/Main, Gelsenkirchen, Mülheim an der Ruhr, München, Oberhausen, Recklinghausen
01.01.2009	Bremen, Heilbronn, Herrenberg, Karlsruhe, Mühlacker,  Pforzheim, Ulm
15.02.2009	Düsseldorf, Wuppertal
1.07.2009	Augsburg
1.11.2009	Neu-Ulm
01.01.2010	Bonn, Freiburg (Breisgau), Heidelberg, Münster, Pfinztal
04.01.2010	Osnabrück
	1 planned enviromental zone
01.01.2011	Leipzig
	10 potential enviromental zones
date unknown	Braunschweig, Darmstadt, Dresden, Gera, Jena, Kassel, Magdeburg,  Regensburg, Nürnberg, Großumweltzone-Ruhrgebiet

 

46 environmental zones to come
Arnsbach, Arzberg, Aschersleben, Bayreuth, Bernau, Brandenburg an der Havel, Burgdorf, Burghausen, Castrop-Rauxel, Chemnitz, Cottbus, Eberswalde, Erfurt, Erwitte, Frankfurt an der Oder, Görlitz, Halle (Saale), Hambach, Hamburg, Ingolstadt, Itzehoe, Kassel, Krefeld, Lahn-Dill, Landshut, Lindau, Ludwigshafen, Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Mainz, Mühlheim an der Ruhr, Nauen, Neuruppin, Neuwied, Neuss, Passau, Potsdam, Rhein-Main, Schwandorf, Speyer, Trier, Warstein, Weiden, Weimar, Worms, Würzburg.

Free travelling through Germany - even through the environmental zones!
As of now, you are able to order the environmental badge online on our site from your home country.
To do this we require copies of all registration documents of your vehicle. In our estimate, we will be able to issue a badge for the majority of vehicles, especially for the newer vehicles registered in the EU immediately, or inform you that you unfortunately cannot receive an environmental badge for your vehicle(s) due to the high emission values. Concerning the rest of the vehicles, we will either inform you which additional documents you need to turn in order for us to issue a badge and send it to you, or that also the official registration offices of the Federal Republic of Germany are not able to determine the emission values of your vehicle in order to decide about your application for a badge. If you wish, we would follow up the process for up to three months in these cases, to possibly succeed in issuing a badge.

For vehicles registered within the EU, we offer this service for €29,90, for vehicles registered in other European countries the price is € 39,90. As a special service, we offer to issue your badge not in handwriting, but printed with your license plate for an additional charge of € 10,00.
Should you not be able to receive a badge from us, our amount receivable is reduced to € 15,00; amounts overpaid are refunded.

More Information in german language www.umwelt-plakette.de/ and http://www.umwelt-plakette.de//

You can buy the Umweltplakette in our Shop for foreign cars http://www.umwelt-plakette.de/int_england.php

Here we have compiled and answered the most frequently asked questions by foreigners about the environmental areas in Germany.

Are motorised vehicle prohibitions in German environmental areas also valid for foreign vehicles without tags?
Yes, the traffic signs that mark the entrance to an environmental zone belong to the general traffic indicators in effect for everyone and also apply to foreign vehicles.

How can I acquire a tag as the owner of a foreign-registered vehicle?
Generally, at the same locations as all registered vehicles in Germany; at the vehicle registration office, the engineers' associations, such as the Technical Inspection Authority or Dekra and at all workshops in Germany licensed to do an EI (Emissions-Inspection). It is of course easier to order the tag online here.

Do I necessarily need a tag to drive my car to Germany??
No, now and in the future, you can drive into Germany without a tag and move around freely in Germany. However, you are not allowed to drive into the designated environmental zones.

What happens to me as a foreigner if I do drive into an environmental zone without a tag?
In some environmental zones - for example in Cologne - there are transitional rules in the beginning, but after that and in other environmental zones - such as Berlin - you must figure with a fine of  € 40.- starting with the first day.

Do I also need the environmental badge on German highways?
No, also in the future you are allowed to drive into Germany without it and use all highways for free. But you are not allowed to drive into the marked green zones.

How much time does Climate Company need to deliver my ordered environmental badge?
This depends on the duration of the post from Germany to the delivery place, which we can not control. After receipt of your order, the copy of your vehicle registration papers and your payment we need three to four working day for review, issue and dispatch of your environmental badge. If we will not receive your registration papers by E-mail but by fax or post, the processing will take two to three days longer.
Always under the condition that the registration papers are readable and contain all necessary details.

Where do I stick the badge and how long is it valid?
Stick your badge in the lower right corner of your windscreen (seen from inside). If your licence plate is not changing and your windscree not broken, the following applies: The green badge is valid for the entire life of your vehicle.
The yellow and the red badges are valid as long as the respective green zones in Germany will allow this. Usually it will be handled like this: about 1 to 2 years after the start of the green zone will the entrance no longer be allowed with a red or yellow badge.

Is it possible to order several badges at once as a company? And is it possible to pay without a credit card?
Yes, then use our fleet service. Here you have the possibility to transfer the amount in advance. Furthermore the amount can be calculated without German VAT if you possess a VAT identification number. Our prices are following a quantity scale. So you can make considerable savings by ordering badges for serveral vehicles at once.

Why can I not check in advance whether I will get a badge and if, in which colour?
If you will get a badge and which kind (green, yellow or red) depends from the amount of fine dust your vehicle emits. This can normally be seen in your registration papers by an expert. Concerning 47 European countries this is not standardized. But the staff of our partners, who are issuing the badges for us, is specifically and extensively trained.

Why is the official badge more expensive for foreigners than for Germans? This is an unacceptable discrimination of foreigners!
We are not an authority but a private company. Our goal is to ease the consequences of the introduction of environmental zones in Germany for both citizens and foreigners. We will provide the possibility for everyone to order the needed badges from home and to receive them at home. Therefore we make considerable efforts to translate the latest information and our website into 14 languages and to train the staff for understanding the registration papers of all European countries. Due to German law we are free to calculate our prices as a dispatcher.

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