Linea Directa 200 LEFT COL CAR INSURANCE

PROPERTY SEARCH

Date Published: 14/10/2026

Málaga’s Low Emission Zone cameras switch off this Wednesday after court ruling

Ayuntamiento finally complies with a May court decision, but the fate of 46,000 existing fines remains unclear

Málaga’s Low Emission Zone cameras fall silent this Wednesday 14 October, five months after a court first ruled the scheme discriminatory. The Ayuntamiento confirmed it will stop issuing fines, bringing an end to months of back and forth over a ruling it had continued to defy.

The root of the problem lay in how the zone treated different drivers. Under the Mobility Ordinance, a car without an environmental sticker could still enter the city centre if it was registered in Málaga, while an identical car registered elsewhere would be fined. The High Court of Justice of Andalucía, based in Málaga, ruled back in May that this distinction was unlawful, finding no “proportionate, environmentally imperative and non-discriminatory technical justification” for it, and warning it breached “the principle of freedom of enterprise and market unity.”

Despite that, the Ayuntamiento kept issuing fines while it weighed up an appeal, prompting repeated calls from both Vox and Con Málaga to halt the sanctions immediately. A further court order dated 29 September, communicated to the parties this Tuesday, spelled it out again: the Mobility Ordinance, as it applies to the Low Emission Zone, is “rendered ineffective.”

Mobility Councillor Trinidad Hernández confirmed on COPE radio that the council won’t appeal, and is instead drafting a new ordinance, something she says could take “nine or ten months.” She was candid about the pressure councils are under to have a penalty system at all. “There was blackmail: if we didn’t, we wouldn’t receive the transportation subsidies, which are very important,” she said. “And that’s why we established it, even knowing the system wasn’t perfect.” She also laid blame with central government, arguing it had “left the municipalities without legal certainty” by requiring low emission zones in larger towns without clear national guidance.

Jesús Ruiz Ballesteros, legal vice secretary of Vox Málaga, whose party brought the original appeal, welcomed the move. “Compliance with court rulings is an obligation of public administrations and a fundamental guarantee for citizens,” he said, adding that the clarification should finally “provide legal certainty and put an end to the uncertainty” around the zone.

Con Málaga’s Toni Morillas took a sharper line, pointing out that more than 46,000 fines had been issued in the last eight months alone, 11,000 of them in June and July, and accusing the PP led council of prioritising “revenue collection over sustainable mobility.” Morillas also criticised the zone’s rollout, noting it launched without proper public transport alternatives and without any of the 5,000 promised park and ride spaces.

That leaves one major question unresolved: what happens to the fines already issued. At €200 each, reduced to €100 for prompt payment, the total at stake could run between €4.6 million and €9.3 million, not even counting fines issued since July. Hernández has handed that decision to Gestrisam, the council company responsible for collections, overseen by Finance Councillor Carlos Conde, while acknowledging she doesn’t expect everyone fined has actually paid. For now, nobody at the Ayuntamiento has said whether refunds will be automatic or whether residents will need to claim them, leaving thousands of Málaga drivers waiting to find out if they’ll see their money again.

Image: Ayuntamiento de Málaga

Linea Directa Bottom Article A-L CAR INSURANCE

Sign up for the Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin and get an email with all the week’s news straight to your inbox

Special offer: Subscribe now for 25% off (36.95 euros for 48 Bulletins)