Environmental badge, temporary deregistration and DGT notifications

The environmental badge is the sticker that the DGT assigns to each vehicle according to its energy efficiency and environmental impact. It serves to know, at a glance, if your car can drive and park in the low emission zones (ZBE) that town halls activate, especially in large cities and during high pollution episodes.

Checking which badge corresponds to a vehicle is free: you only need the number plate, without identifying yourself, on the DGT electronic headquarters. Obtaining the physical sticker is not mandatory by law throughout Spain, but without it, and without the appropriate category, you may be excluded from certain streets, regulated parking and municipal tax benefits. Each town hall sets its own restrictions, so it is advisable to check your city ordinance.

Managora checks the category that corresponds to your vehicle and gets the badge for you to stick on your windscreen. You can see the details and the updated amount in the environmental badge file.

Label 0 (Zero, blue): the most efficient. It is given to battery electric vehicles (BEV), extended-range electric vehicles (REEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) with a minimum range in electric mode and fuel cell vehicles.

ECO label (green and blue): plug-in hybrids with less electric range, non-plug-in hybrids (HEV) and natural gas (CNG or LNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vehicles.

Label C (green): more recent petrol and diesel passenger cars and light vans, as well as heavy vehicles from the latest registrations. Label B (yellow): slightly older passenger cars and light vans. The oldest vehicles (diesel and petrol prior to the dates set by the DGT) do not receive any badge and are the first affected by the restrictions. The exact registration dates for each category are published by the DGT; Managora checks them for you before processing.

Temporary deregistration administratively pauses a vehicle without losing its ownership. While it lasts, you cannot drive it. It is useful when you are not going to use it for a season (a long stay away, a restoration, a seasonal vehicle). It has a maximum duration of 1 year, extendable for periods of 1 year with no limit on renewals. Upon expiry, the vehicle remains temporarily deregistered: to drive it again you must expressly request its reregistration.

There are 3 common scenarios. Voluntary temporary deregistration is requested by the owner. Deregistration due to theft or robbery is activated with the police report to the State Security Forces and Bodies, who communicate it ex officio to the DGT, and it is maintained as long as the vehicle does not appear. Handing it over to a dealership leaves the vehicle temporarily deregistered automatically and the company remains as the depositary: you are freed from the associated obligations while they have it in deposit, until they sell it to a third party.

An important nuance about insurance and the MOT (ITV): if the vehicle is kept on private property, you do not need to maintain them during the deregistration; if it remains on the public road, you must keep the mandatory insurance and the ITV in force. Managora processes the temporary deregistration, its extensions and the subsequent reregistration. You have the official amount for the procedure in the temporary vehicle deregistration file.

The Electronic Road Address is the electronic mailbox where the DGT leaves its communications and notifications (fines, files) with the same legal validity as a paper letter. It is a free service. For natural persons (individuals), registering is voluntary; for legal persons (companies and other entities) that own or lease vehicles, it is mandatory, and since 1 November 2022 the DGT stopped sending them paper notifications.

If your company is obliged and does not register, the DGT will still assign it an Electronic Road Address ex officio and will notify you that way, with the risk of not receiving the notices by email or SMS and the deadlines running without you knowing. That is why it is advisable to register and provide a contact email and mobile phone to receive the notice every time there is a pending notification.

The deadline is key: from the moment the notification is made available to you, you have a limited number of days to access it; if you do not read it within that period, it is considered notified anyway and the deadlines to pay or appeal begin to count. Managora registers your DEV, monitors the mailbox and notifies you in time. You have the details in the Electronic Road Address file.

All 3 procedures can be done at the DGT electronic headquarters, but they require a digital certificate, electronic DNI or Cl@ve (the Spanish state electronic identity system), and knowing well which scenario applies in each case. Managora takes care of the entire process: we check your vehicle data, prepare the application, submit it to the DGT on your behalf and return the receipt to you.

Start with the procedure you need: checking and obtaining your environmental badge, temporarily deregistering a vehicle you are not going to use or registering for the Electronic Road Address so you do not miss any traffic notifications. In each file you will see what documentation is needed and the updated amount before contracting.