Environmental sticker for trucks - Germany, France, Austria. Order legally
In waste transport, fluidity counts. Detours lengthen the route, so drivers risk delays in delivery. This is why they are increasingly choosing to drive through the city instead of on the outskirts. However, this is where the LEZs come into play. An environmental sticker is required for each such zone - without it, you risk fines, stops and nerves. That's why we take it upon ourselves: order the Umweltplakette (DE), Crit'Air (FR) and Abgasplakette (AT) exclusively through official channels. This way you avoid risks and your vehicle enters the zone legally and without problems.
Don't want to expose yourself to fines?
Order an environmental sticker for Austria, Germany or France from us. Call or write today:
e.nadolna@ekologistyka24.pl , +48 881 045 376
j.blazewicz@ekologistyka24.pl , +48 500 867 153
On what basis is an environmental sticker required in selected countries?
In transporting waste to many European cities, more specific local regulations count, not just general, international ones. Therefore, in addition to formalities such as waste permits, The environmental stickers must also be taken care of. The two go hand in hand: the permit gives you the right to provide the service, while the sticker paves the way for the low emission zone (LEZ) in your city. As a result, you avoid fines, stoppages and nervous explanations during inspections. In Europe, there is admittedly no commandment for every country to develop such green solutions. These are bottom-up initiatives by individual countries. The EU only sets air quality limits and, when they are exceeded, obliges countries to corrective plans - but leaves the choice of tools, i.e. LEZs, charges, bans, entry hours, registrations or stickers, to governments and cities. Mandatory stickers have been introduced in three countries, allowing trucks to enter low-emission zones.
Germany (Umweltplakette)
Umweltzonen (environmental zones) have been introduced in towns and cities, and the obligation to have badges to access these zones stems from the 35. BImSchV (Federal Immission Control Act). It is an offence to drive without a green sticker, even if the vehicle meets the standards of the relevant EURO class. The sticker is assigned to the number plate and must be affixed to the windscreen. This is precisely illustrated by the following quote, which is a translation of the official passage of the law:
(1) For the marking of motor vehicles belonging to pollutant groups 2 to 4, disposable, light-resistant and tamper-proof stickers shall be used (...). The identification of the group in question shall be effected by means of the number of the group indicated on the sticker and the corresponding colours. The colours of the stickers are as follows: group 2 - red, group 3 - yellow, group 4 - green.
§ 3 Federal Immission Control Act
(2) On the sticker, the competent issuing authority shall write the registration number of the vehicle concerned in the space provided, in a light-resistant pen. For the purpose of marking the vehicle, the sticker must be affixed in a clearly visible position on the inside of the windscreen. The sticker must be manufactured and affixed in such a manner that it is destroyed when peeled away from the windscreen.
France (Crit'Air)
The legal framework for this is Code de la route (Road Traffic Act) and implementing acts. Municipalities designate low emission zones (ZFE-m) and introduce „differentiated traffic” rules. In practice, you will not enter many French cities without the correct sticker. The sticker is assigned to the registration number. This is clear from the following passages, translated from official legislation:
Motor vehicles of categories M, N and L, as defined in Art. R.311-1, are identified - when their conditions of use so require - by means of secured vignette referred to „certificat qualité de l'air”.
Article R318-2 of the Road Traffic Act
„Certificat qualité de l'air” certifies the compliance of vehicles with the individual classes, determined taking into account emissions of air pollutants and their energy efficiency. The classification of vehicles shall take into account in particular: their category within the meaning of Art. R.311-1, drive type, technical standards in force on the date of approvals of the vehicle or on the date of its first registration, as well as possible pollution control devices installed after the first time the vehicle is placed in service.
However, information on the location of the sticker can hardly be found in the above-mentioned law. This is where Implementing act of 29 June 2016:
The air quality certificate shall be displayed on the front of the vehicle in such a way that it can be read by control officers from the outside. In particular:
Article 3 of the implementing act of 29 June 2016
- for passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, heavy goods vehicles, buses and coaches - the certificate shall be affixed inside the vehicle, obverse visible from the outside, in the lower right-hand part of the windscreen;
Austria (Abgasplakette, IG-L)
The Länder shall establish ecological zones on the basis of Immissionsschutzgesetz-Luft (IG-L) (Immission Control Laws) and the AbgKlassV regulation. For trucks, only the Austrian sticker assigned to the VIN of the vehicle is required. This requirement is clarified by the following quote, which is an extract from the aforementioned law, translated for the purposes of the article:
(1) On motor vehicles, (...) shall be displayed externally recognisable marking, which shows to which emission classes the vehicle in question (...). This designation shall be in the form of stickers put on the inside of the windscreen (…), permanently i well readable from the outside; (...). The indication of the emission class must imply the possibility of Vehicle identification.
§ 14a.Immission Control Acts
(2) Emission class designation places vehicle manufacturer or its national plenipotentiary in accordance with § 29 (2) KFG 1967 at the the placing on the market of new vehicles, or it is placed or issued by entities authorised pursuant to § 57a KFG 1967, if appropriate evidence of emission classes, to which the vehicle belongs. If it cannot be conclusively demonstrated, to which emission class the vehicle belongs award a lower class designation, and when is not clear, whether the vehicle is subject to emission classification at all, you should refuse to issue or affix a mark.
What is the penalty for not having a sticker?
Germany: entering or parking in the Umweltzone without an environmental sticker - in Berlin, for example, this will result in a fine 100€
France: moving around the ZFE-m zone without the correct Crit'Air sticker is always 135 € for heavy goods vehicles
Austria: entering the IG-L zone without a proper sticker or against the ban will result in a fine up to €2,180 (this amount follows directly from the law cited above)
Sources: berlin.de, strasbourg.eu
Why use our service
The lack of stickers is simply not worth it
Order an environmental sticker for Austria, Germany or France from us. Call or write today:
e.nadolna@ekologistyka24.pl , +48 881 045 376
j.blazewicz@ekologistyka24.pl , +48 500 867 153
