In partnership with
WaypointSur
Edited by Andrew Lawrence
The neighbour tax
If you paid a fine for driving into Málaga city centre's low-emission zone, the council has decided to give the money back once the court ruling against the zone is final. About 13,600 paid fines, roughly €1.38 million by the council's own estimate. Not a rounding error.
The ZBE covers the historic centre of Málaga city; the letters stand for Zona de Bajas Emisiones — low-emission zone. It restricted cars without a DGT environmental label, the coloured sticker on the windscreen. Camera fines began on 30 November 2025.
An unlabelled car got in free if its road tax was domiciled in Málaga city when the ordinance took effect on 30 November 2024, and it had not changed owner since. The same model, same age, same missing sticker, with its road tax going to Marbella, Fuengirola, Mijas or Torremolinos, got a fine. The air, apparently, could tell the difference.
The rule, and the ruling
The high court of Andalucía, the TSJA, annulled the zone's access rules on that single ground: treating cars differently by tax town without a proportionate reason. It rejected the other challenges and left standing Málaga's legal duty to run a low-emission zone. The judgment is dated 6 May; the clarification that settled what it meant reached the council on 13 October.
Mobility councillor Trinidad Hernández defended the design in El País on 14 October as one that "beneficiaba a los malagueños y a las malagueñas" — "benefited the people of Málaga". A fair description of the exemption. Also, as it turned out, the problem.
The court struck the rule; it did not order refunds. The council chose those on its own. The rule turned on where a car's road tax was domiciled, not on where its driver lives.
Our read: whatever replaces the rule, repeating the same road-tax privilege would repeat the defect.
What we said before
As we've mentioned before, things keep changing. On 6 October we wrote that a final annulment would not by itself reopen a firm, paid fine; still true. On 15 October we asked whether Málaga would publish a route for paid fines by 31 December. It did, on 19 October, the day the council announced it would revoke and refund them once the ruling is final. A route is not money yet.
When
Processing starts once the ruling is final. Gestrisam, the council's tax and fines agency, expects that on 25 November, when the 30-working-day window closes for a recurso de casación — appeal to the Supreme Court. The council has said it does not intend to appeal. We found no report of one as of 29 October, though that comes from the press and the council's own statements, not a court docket. No payment date has been given. Expect the money when it arrives. Confirmed October 2026.
What to file
The form: Mod. 224, the council's form, signed. Its title is Aportación de datos bancarios — bank details submission.
On it: the fine's file number (on the notice and the payment receipt, so keep those) and your IBAN.
The proof: that the account is yours. Your bank's stamp on the form, a passbook copy or another bank document showing the full IBAN and your name. Or ask the bank for a certificado de titularidad — bank ownership certificate.
Whose account: the person entitled to the refund. The form has a representative section; what authorisation a representative must show is not stated, so ask before assuming.
Where: online, through the sede.malaga.eu refund procedure, with Cl@ve or a digital certificate. In person at any OMAC citizen office, or at Gestrisam, Avenida Sor Teresa Prat 17, Málaga. Book either at citaprevia.malaga.eu; both need a cita previa — booked appointment.
When: any time. File now and the account is on record when processing starts.
How much: what you paid, on our reading of the council's notice. €200, or €100 if you took the early-payment discount within 20 calendar days from the day after notification. Interest has not been confirmed.
Our Málaga ZBE guide is updated for the refund and carries these steps.
If you never paid
Do nothing. Open notices are suspended, including those already at the apremio — enforcement stage. They will be cancelled once the ruling is final, without a request. New notices have stopped.
What Gestrisam told us, and what it did not
We sent Gestrisam seven questions on 23 October. Its reply on 28 October restated that open files are suspended and pointed us to its published notice. Thorough, in its way.
Unconfirmed in writing, then: foreign or non-Spanish bank accounts, non-resident applicants, foreign-plate cars, who holds the refund right on a leased or company car, interest and how to find a paid fine if the receipt is gone. If that is you, Gestrisam is on 951 92 92 92 and [email protected], and you may get further than we did.
Phase two of the zone, extending the restriction to B-label cars from 30 November 2026, is on hold. One thing at a time.
Spanish-lite
Vengo a entregar el modelo 224 para la devolución de una multa de la ZBE. — I am here to hand in form 224 for the refund of a ZBE fine.
¿Me puede dar un certificado de titularidad de la cuenta? — Can you give me a certificate of account ownership?
The bottom line
Málaga built a zone that waved through unlabelled cars taxed in the city and fined the same cars taxed down the road in Fuengirola or Marbella; the Costa's capital treated its neighbours as outsiders, and the court struck the rule for the distinction. The council has chosen to refund what it collected once the ruling is final, with no payment date yet, which is more grace than the fines came with. Get the form in; the rest runs on Gestrisam's clock.
Enjoy the weekend — A. and the WaypointSur team, road tax paid in the wrong town.
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