Málaga city council to refund over 1.3 million euros in emission zone fines

The Málaga City Council in Spain announced it will voluntarily refund more than 1.3 million euros in fines collected for its Low Emission Zone (ZBE).

The local government decided to stop issuing these fines and return the money after the High Court of Andalusia ruled that the city's specific enforcement policy was discriminatory. The city began applying the ZBE in its historic center and surrounding streets in December 2024.

The rules initially allowed vehicles registered in Málaga to enter the zone, while vehicles without environmental labels from outside the city were prohibited. The council planned to expand these sanctions to vehicles with "B" labels from outside the city starting in December 2026. However, the political group Vox challenged this in June 2025, leading the court to rule against the city because it only penalized vehicles from outside the municipality.

This case follows a similar situation in Madrid, where the city collected 650 million euros in ZBE fines. Although the Supreme Court declared part of those fines illegal, the money is not being returned automatically and must be claimed by individuals. In Madrid, the city updated its ordinance to fix economic report errors while keeping the ZBE active. The Spanish government recently approved a modification to Royal Decree 1052/2022 to ensure cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants implement effective ZBEs.

This change requires municipalities to apply the national traffic regulations' penalty system without using transitional periods that delay enforcement. Despite this, local governments still choose where to place these zones and how to restrict them, which may lead to minimal impact in some areas.