[Baraka]

Foreigners wanting to enter "the zone" are required to display the appropriate sticker for their car (or stay out of it).

A few weeks or was it months ago, I heard about the sticker or umweltplakette (like they call it here) which is needed to enter some cities.

On my work we were told that the number of towns and cities is increasing rapidly and that's why I like to know abit more about it.

At the moment there are 3 cities I know of, that have zones for which you need to have a "Feinstaubplakette" (aka "Umweltplakette") in order to enter or drive through (or get fined when caught):

• Berlin
  
• Hannover
  
• Köln

I heard that there is a 3-month-period in which drivers are not yet finded, but instead they are issued with an information leaflet. After that period drivers will be finded, unless their cars display the sticker.

For the many more to come I can only say that there are plans for a few more cities to start at the beginning of March and others will start in fall 2008 and again others have not yet decided if or when to start.

My personal feeling is - yes, get a sticker if you plan to enter the city centers of those cities, but don't panic if you haven't got one. Most probably you will not be going there anyway (or you could use public transportation).

Can anyone give me more information and maybe tell me which sticker I might get for a MINI Cooper from 03/2002 and a MINI One D from 08/2005.

You should be able to get green (but I am no expert, so don't take my word for it).

Is this also applicable on the Eiffel roads or not?

Not. AFAIK it is only planned to have these zones in city centers and/or the "Ruhrgebiet" (Duisburg, Essen, Bochum, Dortmund, etc.) which is sort of one huge city center expanding over several cities. There are no plans to include the Autobahn or rural areas (yet).

Just keep your eyes open for the sign and stay clear...



One piece of money-saving-advice. Go to a TÜV (German technical inspection authority) and buy the sticker for around 5-10 Euros instead of online for 15-20 Euros. Also some dealerships sell them for little money.