At a glance
Antwerp city centre becomes a low emission zone (LEZ) for fine particles from 1 February 2017. Will you still be able to drive there?
Since 1 February 2017, not all cars can access Antwerp city centre anymore!
From 1 February 2017, Antwerp city centre becomes a low emission zone for fine particles. In practice, this means that from that date, a certain number of vehicles (roughly 20% of the current vehicle fleet, mostly diesel cars over 10 years old) can no longer drive within a 20 km² radius of the city centre.
Banning the most polluting vehicles from Antwerp city centre
Antwerp isn't the first city to introduce a low emission zone (LEZ, or Lage EmissieZone) to ban the most polluting vehicles from entering. The cities of London and Paris have already introduced similar rules. Brussels introduced it in 2018, Ghent will do so in 2020. Other cities will follow.
Which part of the city is affected?
The whole of Antwerp city centre becomes an LEZ, including most of the Singel ring road. If you're driving on the Singel while your vehicle is banned from the centre, you'll still be able to turn around at certain points.
The E19 and E34 motorways bypassing Antwerp are not affected.
Which vehicles can no longer drive in the city centre?
Access to the LEZ concerns all diesel, petrol, LPG or natural gas vehicles in category M (private car, (mini)bus, coach), N (goods transport) or T (tractors). You'll find the category corresponding to your vehicle on your registration document.
Some categories of vehicles can enter the LEZ without any problem, others can only access it after registration or after paying a fee, and the most polluting vehicles are banned from the city centre altogether. Drivers entering the LEZ with a non-authorised vehicle are automatically fined.
The access conditions for the LEZ become even stricter in 2020 and 2025!
How do you make sense of the regulations?
To find out everything about this regulation, the boundaries of the zone, to test or register your vehicle, or if you have any questions, visit the website:
https://www.slimnaarantwerpen.be/fr/lez/conditions
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