Tag: Penalties
The dark side of e-cars
Over the last five years, various countries in the EU have been trying to make the entire value chain of a production compatible with human rights and environmental protection. In March 2021, the European Parliament agreed to a report to require due diligence also for companies with less than 1000 employees. This is seen as an invitation to the EU Commission to draft a corresponding law.
Fines in Germany too low
When comparing the fines for traffic offenders in Europe, it is striking how little one actually has to pay in Germany. This also applies to unauthorised entry into environmental zones or other closed roads. In the past, there was even a point in Flensburg for this, but this has been abolished in the meantime, as the road safety of road users is not considered to be at risk. Nevertheless, the question arises as to the efficiency of environmental zones when, firstly, there are hardly any checks and, secondly, fines are rarely collected.
Austria: Stricter environmental zones for all trucks and cars
Austria's current climate plan will not be enough to meet the EU targets by 2030 and thus reduce CO2 emissions by 7 percent. Now it is being discussed whether the rules of the environmental zones should be tightened. Then, for example, only trucks with a registration from 2020 would be allowed in Tyrol. But that will not be enough to combat air pollution. One solution would be to extend the rules to other vehicle classes such as passenger cars.
Low emission zones for taxis - only electric allowed
It was a shock for Leipzig taxi drivers and a harbinger of things to come for the taxi industry: in mid-October, the city of Leipzig announced the goal of converting the city's taxi fleet completely to electric or at least hybrid by 2025. The quick fix backfired, but it shows what we can expect in the near future.
Berlin's air is getting cleaner and cleaner
Berlin's air has been sung about, but that was a long time ago. And back then it was far from dirty. But there is reason for hope. As has now been measured, it has never been so clean since measurements began in 1975. New limits, however, could prove to be a challenge.
Norway: 25 % luxury tax for electric cars
Anyone who has an electric car in Norway pays hardly any tax on it. This applied to 78 percent of new purchases made so far in 2021 and to 55 percent of purchases in the previous year. Norway thus leads the electric quota in Europe. The citizens of Norway will also have to hurry, because from 2025 onwards, no more passenger cars and light commercial vehicles with internal combustion engines will be allowed to drive in the country.
Paris: Driving bans are not enough
The highest French court has sentenced France to a fine of millions. Air pollution in Paris and Lyon is too high. Despite the many measures around reducing traffic and tightening the rules in the environmental zones, the air is still enormously dirty and harmful to health.
What are the exemptions in the environmental zones?
In order to reduce air pollution, stickers and registrations can only be issued to vehicles that comply with the specified emission standards. However, there are various exceptions to the sticker and registration requirement. As with all other rules in the environmental zones, these vary greatly from country to country.
How much are the penalties for the environmental zones?
Entering the European environmental zones without a sticker and registration can be expensive. Here is an overview of the fines and why it pays to enter the environmental zones well informed and with the correct sticker.
Special tax for e-cars
Subsidies on purchase, cheap electricity and no petrol tax: driving an e-car is cheap. This is what politicians generally want in order to promote the switch to electric vehicles. But the state loses a lot of money every year due to the lack of petrol tax. In the USA, e-car drivers are now being asked to pay.