The Government tightens the accreditation of low emission zones

The Council of Ministers approved on November 3, and the Official State Gazette publishes this Friday, November 6, Royal Decree 953/2026, of November 4, which modifies the regulations for low emission zones (LEZ) to condition their validity on the submission of supporting documentation by city councils. The regulation appears in the BOE no. 277, Sec. I, pages 149251 to 149254, with official reference BOE-A-2026-23268, and enters the legal framework by tweaking a single provision of the regulation in force since 2022.

The text modifies section 3 of article 10 of Royal Decree 1052/2022, of December 27, which regulates low emission zones. That regulation develops the obligation established in article 14.3 of Law 7/2021, of May 20, on climate change and energy transition, which requires LEZs in provincial capitals and municipalities with more than 50,000 legal inhabitants. Until now, chapter II of the regulation governed the delimitation and design of the zones, the restrictions on access, circulation, and parking according to the environmental classification of vehicles, the integration with other planning instruments, and the review deadlines, but it did not detail how to prove that the zone was actually functioning.

The preamble itself recognizes that, during the validity of the 2022 regulation, “the need to establish criteria that guarantee implementation has become evident,” so that the establishment of an LEZ is accompanied by additional regulatory measures that ensure its effectiveness. The statement of motives is based on the principle of efficacy: it seeks “concrete, homogeneous, and verifiable” obligations and aims to avoid “situations of merely formal or unequal application.”

Five documents to certify the zone

Local entities must send a file with these minimum contents to the Sub-Directorate General competent in air quality matters of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge and to the competent regional body for environmental matters:

• The current municipal regulations establishing the LEZ regime, within one month of its entry into force.
• Supporting documentation of the effective entry into force of the regime of prohibitions or restrictions on access, circulation, and parking of vehicles according to their polluting potential.
• Supporting documentation of the effective application of the access control, monitoring, and tracking system.
• Integration with the National Traffic and Mobility Access Point of the General Directorate of Traffic.
• Supporting documentation of the effective application of the sanctioning regime.

One-month deadline and prior communication

The decree maintains and reinforces the duty to report on the ZBEs (Low Emission Zones) already established in the territory. City councils must communicate the delimitation and area of the zone, the measures adopted and their development schedule, and the results of the mandatory monitoring indicators, within a maximum period of one month from their establishment. This communication is addressed to the same two recipients: the state ministry with competencies in air quality and the regional environment department or council.

No warning periods in the sanctioning phase

The last of the requirements has direct consequences for the municipal disciplinary regime. Letter e) of the new section requires accreditation of the effective application of the sanctioning regime and specifies that this accreditation “shall exclude any transitional system of warnings that may have been previously contemplated.” In other words, courtesy phases prior to the sanction do not serve to demonstrate that the ZBE is operational.

The text closes with an immediate effect clause regarding the legal status of each zone: “As long as said documentation is not received, the ZBE shall not be considered correctly implemented.”

Competence support and procedures

The modification is supported by Article 149.1.23.ª of the Spanish Constitution, which reserves basic legislation on environmental protection to the State. The authorization appears in the sixth final provision of Law 7/2021. The project was processed at the proposal of the Third Vice President of the Government and Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge and the Minister of the Interior, with an opinion from the Council of State, a competence report from the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, hearings with autonomous communities, Ceuta and Melilla, and local entities, and a report from the Environmental Advisory Council. The text also invokes coherence with Royal Decree 102/2011, of January 28, and with Directive 2008/50/EC, and cites the recommendations of the World Health Organization and the criteria of the European Environment Agency as references.

The decree bears the signature of King Felipe VI and the countersignature of the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños García, and is dated November 4, 2026.

The change has a practical effect for city councils and drivers: until the complete file arrives, the zone will not be listed as implemented, which weakens the legal certainty of traffic restrictions and the sanctions derived from them. Municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants that are still in the deployment phase will have one month, from the entry into force of their respective ordinances, to send the first part of the documentary package.

Source: Official State Gazette, no. 277, November 6, 2026, Sec. I. General Provisions, pages 149251-149254 (official reference: BOE-A-2026-23268).