Since January 1, 2008, there have been environmental zones in several cities in Bavaria in which driving bans apply to vehicles with particularly high exhaust emissions. In these zones, only vehicles marked with an appropriate sticker or exempt from the driving ban are allowed to drive.

Four pollutant groups have been defined, three of which are identified by stickers. These environmental stickers must be clearly visible on the vehicle behind the windshield. In order to ensure smooth control of vehicles in the environmental zones, it is advisable to affix them to the right-hand edge of the windshield.

The environmental badge is valid nationwide. The validity is not limited in time. If the vehicle is re-registered and the license plate number changes, a new sticker is required, as the number entered on the sticker must match the license plate number.

You can obtain the environmental sticker from the following offices:

• Vehicle registration authorities of the independent cities or districts
• Approved bodies that are authorized to carry out exhaust emission tests (e.g. AU workshops, approved testing organizations such as TÜV Süd, DEKRA, FSP, GTÜ, KÜS).

These organizations will determine whether your vehicle can be issued with an emissions sticker and, if so, which one. It will then be issued to you.

The following vehicle groups do not require a fine dust sticker to enter the environmental zone:

• Mobile machinery and equipment
• Work machines
• Agricultural and forestry tractors
• Two- and three-wheeled motor vehicles
• Ambulances and emergency vehicles
• Motor vehicles driven or driven by persons who are exceptionally disabled, helpless or blind and can prove this by means of the "aG", "H" or "BI" markings entered in the severely disabled person's pass in accordance with Section 3 (1) Nos. 1 to 3 of the Severely Disabled Person's Pass Ordinance (Schwerbehindertenausweisverordnung)
• Vehicles for which special rights can be claimed in accordance with Section 35 of the Road Traffic Act
• classic cars (pursuant to Section 2 No. 22 of the Vehicle Registration Ordinance) that bear a registration number pursuant to Section 9 (1) or Section 17 of the Vehicle Registration Ordinance and vehicles that are registered in another member state of the European Union, another contracting party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area or Turkey if they meet equivalent requirements
• Vehicles belonging to non-German troops from states not party to the North Atlantic Treaty that are in Germany as part of military cooperation, provided they are used for journeys for urgent military reasons
• Civilian motor vehicles used on behalf of the Bundeswehr, insofar as they are used for journeys that cannot be postponed in order to fulfill the Bundeswehr's sovereign tasks

Other information:

• Quads and trikes:
  If your quad bike is registered as a "motorcycle" or "agricultural and forestry machine", you do not need a sticker. However, quads that are registered as "passenger cars" require a sticker. Trikes are three-wheeled vehicles and as such are not subject to the entry bans in the environmental zone.
• Motorhomes:
  The same requirements apply to motorhomes as to other motor vehicles: driving in the low emission zone is prohibited without a sticker.
• Local exemptions:
  There may be special local exemptions for low emission zones. Please refer to the information provided by the cities on the individual environmental zones linked below.