From December 1, 2023: The Most Polluting Cars will be Banned from Downtown Sofia

Society | December 15, 2022, Thursday // 16:48|  views

@dir.bg

From December 1, 2023, a ban on the entry of the most polluting cars into the center of Sofia will come into force, which will be valid from December to the end of February, the Sofia Municipal Council (SOM) decided today with the adoption of the report on changes to the Ordinance of areas with low emissions of harmful substances in the atmospheric air on the territory of the Metropolitan Municipality.

The petitioners are municipal councilors from the GERB-SDS group in SOM. The report, which was postponed several times, was supported by the Democratic Bulgaria group and independent municipal councilor Boris Bonev. "Patriots for Sofia" and BSP voted "against" with the argument that the changes are discriminatory and "punish" the poorest, limiting their opportunities to move to the center.

From December 1 until the end of February, the entry of the most polluting cars into the wide center of Sofia, described as the small ring, is prohibited, said the chairman of the Council, Georgi Georgiev. He specified that the ban does not affect those living in the zones, as well as people with disabilities who have been issued stickers for preferential parking, of which there are over 15,000 according to the municipality's data.

Violators will be monitored by cameras in the city. Penalties will be imposed under the Clean Air Act on the owner of the vehicle or the person to whom it is provided for use.

We limit not the oldest, but the most polluting cars, which after the annual technical inspections received the lowest environmental category. This seemingly unpopular measure is part of the struggle of the Metropolitan Municipality for cleaner air and care for the health of Sofia residents. The measures were taken on the basis of research and recommendations of experts and professors from three universities in the country”, indicated the chairman of the SOM.

According to him, this is a widespread European practice, it was not invented by the Metropolitan Municipality.

According to the ordinance in the "Small Ring" Zone - between the boulevards "Vasil Levski", "Patriarch Evtimii", "Gen. Skobelev", "Slivnitsa" and "Opalchenska Street", from December 1, 2023 the entry of the most polluting cars will be restricted from the first ecological group. A year later, the same restrictions will apply to cars from the second ecological group.


Small Ring

For the "Big Ring" Zone - between "Slivnitsa", "Danail Nikolaev", "Sitnyakovo", "Peyo Yavorov" boulevards, "Atanas Dukov" Str., "Henrik Ibsen" Str., "P. Yu. Todorov" boulevard, "Ivan Geshov" Blvd. and "Konstantin Velichkov" Blvd., it is planned that there will be changes from December 1, 2025, when the entry of the most polluting cars from the first ecological group will be prohibited, and from December 2027 –for those from the second ecological group.


Big Ring

Georgi Georgiev also informed that according to the regulation adopted today, a ban on solid fuel heating with wood and coal will be introduced, which, however, will not come into force from 2023, and there is a three-year grace period for people to replace their heating appliances. Nearly 6,000 households have already benefited from the program of the Metropolitan Municipality for the replacement of heating appliances, which continues into the next year, announced the chairman of the SOM.

The five ecological groups:

First

Motor vehicles with two-stroke engines that are not subject to measurements.

1. Cars up to 8 seats and up to 3.5 tons (lightweight cars and minibusses/vans) with forced ignition of the working mixture, also called gasoline.

- No eco category, manufactured before July 1, 1992, which emit up to 4.5% carbon monoxide (CO) at idle.

- From category Euro 1 and Euro 2, manufactured before January 1, 1996, which emit up to 3.5% CO when idling.

2. Cars up to 8 seats and up to 3.5 tons (cars and vans and vans) with compression ignition engines, also called diesel

- Categories from EURO 1 to EURO 4, manufactured before January 1, 2002, which have a smoke level under atmospheric filling up to 2.5 m at minus first degree and at forced filling up to 3.0 m at minus first degree

Second

1. Cars and vans with gasoline engines

- From categories Euro 1 to Euro 3, produced before January 1, 1998, which at idle emit up to 0.5% CO, and at high revs up to 0.3% CO.

2. Cars and vans with diesel engines

- Categories from Euro 2 to Euro 5, produced before January 1, 2007, with a smoke level of up to 1.5 m at minus first degree.

Third

1. Cars and vans with gasoline engines

- From categories Euro 3 to Euro 5, the intermediate standard EEV and Euro 6 produced before January 1, 2002, which emit up to 0.3% CO at idle and up to 0.2% CO at high revs.

2. Cars and vans with diesel engines

- From categories from Euro 4 to Euro 6, produced before September 1, 2009, with a smoke level of up to 0.7 m at minus first degree.

Fourth

1. Cars and vans with gasoline engines

- From categories Euro 5, intermediate EEV and Euro 6, manufactured after September 1, 2009, which emit up to 0.2% CO at idle and up to 0.1% CO at high revs.

2. Cars and vans with diesel engines

- From categories Euro 5, intermediate EEV and Euro 6, produced after September 1, 2009, with a smoke level of up to 0.5 m at minus first degree.

Fifth

Motor vehicles that are driven only by electric motors and do not have an internal combustion engine, as well as vehicles with a hydrogen fuel cell.

If the car is equipped with a device that allows the engine to run on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), also called propane butane, or compressed natural gas (CNG), also called methane, it can also enter this environmental group if the checks at engine operation show low pollution rates.

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