The Madrid City Council will not refund the money from fines issued for accessing the Low Emission Zone (ZBE) during the period when the previous mobility ordinance was in force ―until last March 24, when the new one was approved― because they do not have retroactive effect according to jurisprudence, the deputy mayor, Inma Sanz, confirmed this Wednesday after an event in the capital, as reported by Europa Press. The High Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) annulled several articles of the regulations related to these zones in 2024 following an appeal filed by the Vox municipal group, but since the ruling was not final, the sanctions continued to be applied. This Tuesday, the Supreme Court (TS) rejected the appeal that the Madrid City Council filed against said judgment.
The area of Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility, led by Borja Carabante, pointed out as soon as the Supreme Court’s ruling was known that the new regulations, approved thanks to the absolute majority of the PP in the capital, render the high court’s judgment ineffective. Even so, they had not yet indicated what would happen with the fines imposed until March 2025 for accessing a ZBE.
The drivers’ defense organization, European Motorists Association (AEA), asked the mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, to annul the sanctions. According to the association, between September 2021 and November 2025, the City Council of the capital has imposed “3,361,751 fines, for an economic value of more than 650 million euros.” They ask for the money from the fines issued until last April 6 to be returned, even though the new ordinance had already been approved by then. Since the TSJM ruling, the organization has urged drivers to appeal all sanctions related to low emission zones.
The same was requested after the ruling was known by the still municipal spokesperson for Vox, Javier Ortega Smith, immersed in an internal battle with his party and whose spokesperson position in the capital has been up in the air since his party expelled him from the formation. The former secretary general announced, precisely upon leaving the Supreme Court, that he will present an urgent motion at the next plenary session of Cibeles, on the 29th of this month, in which he will ask Almeida to return the fines.
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Sanz pointed out this Wednesday that the jurisprudence that supports not giving retroactive effect to judgments, “beyond the appeals that may be filed.” That is, those people, as happened with the waste fee, who are within the period to appeal the sanction or who have already done so and their appeal has not yet been resolved.
The Supreme Court’s ruling came almost a month after the City Council approved in Plenary, amidst criticism and complaints from the opposition, the new Sustainable Mobility Ordinance, promoted by the area led by Carabante.
The novelties of the regulations, included in two last-minute amendments introduced by the PP itself, include that registered cars without an environmental sticker will be able to circulate in Madrid as long as European pollution limits are met and that the days and hours of the Regulated Parking Service can be extended in areas with high parking demand. Vox and Más Madrid presented total amendments, and the PSOE presented six specific ones. Carabante was proud of the approval, which he considered “a success.”
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