German top court allows cities to introduce diesel driving bans

Germany’s Federal Administrative Court has ruled that German cities are generally allowed to introduce driving bans for older diesel cars to enforce EU clean air rules as a last resort. The court upheld two decisions by local courts in Stuttgart and Düsseldorf in which judges had called upon cities to impose or consider driving bans for older diesel cars to meet EU clean air standards. The federal court set certain limits to driving bans. In the case of Stuttgart, where the court had called a ban of older diesel cars the only suitable measure to meet the standards, the federal court said the city had to introduce them step-by-step, depending on the models’ emissions norm, and include exemptions, for example for small businesses and certain resident groups. In the case of Düsseldorf, the court said that the city had to seriously look into diesel driving bans, too.

Find the press release on the court ruling in German here.

Find background in the CLEW factsheet Diesel driving bans in Germany – The Q&A.

Note: The Clean Energy Wire will publish an article on this topic later today.