Erwerb einer Plakette zur Einfahrt in die Umweltzone

To drive in the Bremen low emission zone, you need a pollutant-related badge for your vehicle, also known as a particulate matter or environmental badge.

Since 1 January 2005, limit values for particulate matter have been in force throughout Europe. With the aim of complying with the prescribed limit values and reducing particulate matter pollution in heavily trafficked inner-city areas and thus protecting the health of the population, Bremen established an environmental zone on 1 January 2009.

The low emission zone is a spatially limited area in which only cars and trucks that meet a certain emission standard are allowed to drive (see appendix: "Bremen low emission zone"). There is a driving ban on motor vehicles with high pollutant emissions. To enter the low emission zone, citizens therefore need a pollutant-related identification document - a particulate matter or environmental sticker - for their vehicle. The sticker is valid nationwide in every environmental zone and is not limited in time.

• completed application form

To be able to obtain an environmental sticker, the emission key number of the vehicle is decisive. This provides information about the pollutant group to which a car is assigned and can be found in the vehicle registration document or the registration certificate.

There are four pollutant groups in total. Since 1 July 2011, only vehicles with a green sticker from group 4 are allowed to enter the low emission zone in Bremen.

If a vehicle does not meet the required emission standard, citizens should have their vehicle checked by a specialist motor vehicle workshop to see whether their vehicle can be retrofitted with a particle filter or, in the case of petrol engines, a regulated catalytic converter.

Procedural procedure stickers are issued nationwide at authorised specialist vehicle workshops, technical inspection associations, registration offices or automobile clubs. All that is required is the vehicle registration document.

There is also the possibility of ordering the sticker from various suppliers on the Internet.

In some cases, the environmental zone scheme provides for exceptions, namely where its establishment would impose an unreasonable economic or social burden on individuals. Whether someone can obtain an exemption depends on various factors. In three cases, general conditions for the granting of an exemption are fulfilled:

• Either the vehicle cannot be retrofitted with commercially available installation kits in such a way that it meets the valid exhaust emission standard and the owner cannot be expected to pay for a new suitable replacement vehicle.
• Or there are delays in retrofitting or replacement procurement because, for example, there are supply bottlenecks for technical components.
• Or the retrofitting alone would mean economic or social hardship for the owner.

In all cases the vehicle must have been registered to the applicant before 17.06.2008.

Exemptions may also be granted if special conditions are met. Severely handicapped persons (with the mark "G" in their disabled pass), commuters and residents of the low emission zone can be granted an exemption for private journeys in the low emission zone under these conditions.

Certain types of company vehicles, for which special conditions are given, can also be exempted from the ban on driving in the low emission zone. This applies to special vehicles, to so-called economic hardship cases and to some market vehicles.

Exemptions are granted by the

Department for Roads and Traffic
Herdentorsteinweg 49/50
28195 Bremen.

Here a formal application (see appendix) must be submitted and appropriate proof must be enclosed. Please note that there are fees for the exemption.

There are some motor vehicles that are generally exempt from the environmental zone regulation. These vehicles do not require a sticker or exemption permit:

• two and three-wheeled motor vehicles
• Vintage cars with the additional license plate "H
• motor vehicles with which persons are driving or are being driven who have the "aG", "H" or "Bl" markings in their severely disabled ID card
• Vehicles with short licence plates
• Cars of visitors who have booked a hotel room in the low emission zone (the booking document is sufficient as proof)
• Motorhomes with the direct way to the parking lot "Zum Kuhhirten