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What you need to know about the changes to cars’ emission stickers in Spain

From July 1st, Spain's General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) will readjust the criteria for its environmental badge emission stickers of vehicles in the country. Here's what you need to know if you're a driver in Spain.

Published: 26 February 2021 16:19 CET

What you need to know about the changes to cars' emission stickers in Spain

Image: DGT, Goran Horvat/Pixabay

The DGT environmental labels classify vehicles according to their environmental impact.

The current system for classifying vehicles according to environmental standards was launched in 2016 and identifies the vehicles which pollute the most.

The new system for granting environmental badges aims improves on the existing one, which although has been deemed an overall success, has also seen a lot of criticism.

This is because it currently runs on a classification system based on propulsion and vehicle technology and not by the real amount of emissions that each car produces.

Perre Navarro, General Director of the DGT who announced the details of this new system, stressed that the current badges would however remain valid.

As of yet, it has not been clarified as to how the new process for the granting of the new DGT environmental labels will work, however it will allow for fairer criteria and will hopefully appease those who have complained about the current system. We will keep you posted as soon as we know, so stay tuned if you're a driver in Spain.

Currently, there are four DGT environmental labels to categorise vehicles according to their impact on the environment. These include Zero emissions (blue sticker), ECO (green and blue sticker), ‘C’ (green sticker) and ‘B’ (yellow sticker).

Those cars not eligible for a sticker are classified as 'A'.

These categories depend on when the vehicle was registered, whether they use petrol or diesel and how many seats or how big they are.

Last year saw Barcelona launch the long anticipated restriction on traffic in the centre of the city known as the Low Emissions Zone (ZBE).

This mean that only cars with the environmentally friendly low-emission stickers are able to access it, along with residents.

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How to change the registered address for your car if you move in Spain

When you buy a car in Spain the driving authority, the Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT), asks you to register your car so that you (and they) can have a reference of where it is, who owns it and, crucially, where you’ll pay tax on it.

This information is necessary because paying vehicle tax in Spain (known as Impuesto sobre Vehículos de Tracción Mecánica or IVTM) depends on where in the country you live, and differs slightly depending on the municipality where you are registered.

You pay the tax in the municipality in which the vehicle is registered, and though the exact amount depends on your area and the type of car you have, generally speaking the annual tax is between €112 and €300 for the year.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: What you need to know about road tax in Spain

IVTM is a tax you pay at the municipal level, that is, to your local town hall. According to the DGT, “the Traffic Tax of a vehicle is a mandatory tax that is applied on all motor vehicles, allowing them to circulate on public roads throughout the country”.

But what happens if you move?

Well, it depends. If you’re moving but staying within the same municipality, not much, but if you’re moving across the country to a new part of Spain, you’ll need to change your car’s registered address with the DGT.

How can you request a change of tax address for your car in Spain?

Any change of tax address must be requested by the owner of the vehicle or a duly authorised person on their behalf. There are four ways to request it:

Online – this is done through the DGT’s website, which you can find here. If it’s a general application, you shouldn’t need to attach any documentation. You can simply change the address of all your vehicles or select only those you wish to modify, choosing between the registration address or the tax address of the owner.

For vehicles moving from the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla to the Spanish mainland peninsula or the Balearic Islands, or agricultural vehicles or those with any type of legal limitations or restrictions, you must make the application through the special cases option (supuestos especiales on the DGT website).

In this case, you essentially need to get documentation proving that the car has been cleared through customs. If it is an agricultural vehicle, you will need to provide the document showing that you have reported the change in Spain’s Official Register of Agricultural Machinery (ROMA).

By phone –- call 060, which is the number in Spain to get through to the Servicio de Información de la Administración General del Estado, essentially the go-to contact number for all things public services and administration. You can contact the DGT through this number, where they will check that the address you indicate coincides with the one on the INE register and, if so, make the requested change for you.

READ ALSO: The tricks drivers use to pay less in car taxes in Spain

DGT App — If you have the miDGT app, you can also change your address through the platform.

In person — you can also change your vehicle’s tax address at your town hall (ayuntamiento) where you are currently registered (pre-move) or at any DGT traffic office, though you will need to make an appointment online or by phone beforehand. You can do that here.

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