One of the fundamental problems facing local authorities in the 21st century is the dramatically increasing levels of air pollution. Just thirty years ago, the number of vehicles registered in Poland was around 6 million. By now, this number has increased fivefold and remains at around 30 million [1]. It is therefore not surprising that the quality of the air we breathe in urban agglomerations is generally characterised by high smog concentrations, which in the long term may lead to the occurrence of bronchial asthma, bronchitis or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [2]. In many Polish cities, traffic congestion is an intrinsic part of the urban landscape, and the density of car traffic during peak hours reaches bizarre levels. According to research, the popularity of passenger cars is the primary cause of the increase in air pollution [3]. City leaders are trying to tackle the smog problem through ad hoc measures, pollution mitigation measures – such as increasing urban green areas, but also, and this seems to be the most important, by reducing the causes of air quality depletion. Many local authorities are choosing to implement mechanisms that aim to reduce the density of passenger car traffic in city centres. Such instruments include the organisation of a paid parking system and the creation of clean transport zones.
Clean Transport Zones are specially lined areas where cars that have been classified by law as highly unsustainable are banned from driving. In practice, this restriction mainly applies to older vehicles (especially those with diesel engines) that have not been fitted with the appropriate filters. There are more than 320 such zones in Europe, half of which are located in Italy and a quarter in Germany. Their number in the EU is expected to increase to 507 by 2025 [4]. Over the past few years, no such scheme has been launched in Poland, apparently mainly due to opposition from the poorer sections of the population, who do not agree with the ban on older cars entering city centres [5]. According to research by the autobaza.pl website, cited by the Polish Press Agency, as many as 42% of those surveyed are against the introduction of clean transport zones in Poland.
The first European country to decide to introduce low emission zones was the Kingdom of Sweden. In Stockholm, trucks over 3.5 tonnes, among others, have not been allowed to enter since 1996. The effects of this have proved beneficial from an air quality perspective, leading to a reduction in particulate matter emissions by 15-20% and nitrogen oxides by around 5-8% [6]. In 2008, Berlin, London and Lisbon introduced similar traffic restriction zones, which allowed some 70,000 substandard cars to be removed from the streets of the German capital. Already in 2010, particulate emissions from vehicles there had halved and nitrogen oxide emissions had fallen by around 20%.
In Poland, the gateway for local governments to enable cities to introduce clean transport zones was the new Act on Electromobility and Alternative Fuels, passed by the Sejm on 11 January 2018. Article 39 regulating this issue entered into force on 22 February 2018. The aforementioned normative act was a partial implementation of Directive 2014/94/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on the development of alternative fuel infrastructure.
Importantly, local authorities were given the option of using the mechanisms in question, but were in no way obliged to do so. As a result, intensive public consultations and debates on the effectiveness and validity of introducing clean transport zones are currently underway in many urban centres in Poland. The first city in Poland to decide to use the proposed instruments was Krakow. The authorities of the Malopolska capital were unequivocal in their support for the implementation of low-emission areas. However, the process will be gradual, starting on 1 July 2024 and lasting until 2026. In Warsaw and Gliwice, public consultations are currently underway, but all indications are that the authorities in these centres will also decide to introduce ‘green’ zones [7].
Pursuant to Article 39(1) of the Act on Electromobility and Alternative Fuels, in order to reduce the negative impact of transport emissions on human health and the environment, a clean transport zone may be established on the territory of a municipality, comprising roads managed by the municipality, into which the entry of motor vehicles within the meaning of Article 2(33) of the Act of 20 June 1997 is prohibited. – Road Traffic Law other than:
- Electrical;
- powered by hydrogen;
- powered by natural gas;
- exempted by resolution of the municipal council in accordance with paragraph 4″.
As can be seen, although the legislator lists a closed catalogue of vehicles that may enter the clean transport zone, it gives the municipalities the opportunity to regulate this list by way of a resolution. Pursuant to paragraph 4 of the cited article, the municipal council, in the resolution establishing the clean transport zone, may establish additional subject and object exclusions from the ban on entering the zone, other than those specified in paragraph 2.
In accordance with the view expressed in the Commentary to the Act on Electromobility and Alternative Fuels, edited by Katarzyna Kokocińska, Ph.D., and Jakub Pokrzywniak, Ph.D., as the resolution is a local law act and constitutes a source of law binding on the territory of the given municipality, it is subject to publication in the provincial official daily, as resolutions in the nature of local law acts are subject to publication there (cf. Article 13.2 of the AktyNormU). While formally such a publication will certainly fulfil the function of “making the content of a resolution on establishing a clean transport zone publicly available”, it is impossible to conclude that recourse to such a publication is a common practice, particularly among entities other than residents of a given municipality (e.g. tourists), while the group of entities even potentially interested in the regulation in question is obviously broad. This is probably the reason why, in an attempt to solve the problem of limited accessibility to the content of these resolutions, the legislator obliged municipal councils adopting them to additionally indicate other ways of their dissemination. The Act does not indicate specific solutions to be used, so it will be the municipal council’s obligation to develop them on its own, with the important goal of reaching those interested with information about the content of the resolution.
The legislator also defines a catalogue of vehicles as to which the ban on entering the zones has been absolutely – irrespective of the will of the municipality – excluded. These are:
– vehicles of the Police, the Road Transport Inspectorate, the Internal Security Agency, the Intelligence Agency, the Military Counterintelligence Service, the Military Intelligence Service, the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Border Guard, the State Protection Service, the Prison Service, the National Fiscal Administration, fire protection units, the Maritime Search and Rescue Service and rescue services;
– vehicles used in the fleet serving the Prime Minister’s Office;
– vehicles used in the fleet serving road authorities and carrying out tasks on behalf of road authorities;
– vehicles of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland, as well as the armed forces of foreign countries, if an international agreement to which the Republic of Poland is a party so provides;
– vehicles of maritime offices carrying out tasks in the technical and protective coastal belt and in ports and marinas;
– appropriately marked vehicles used by persons with disabilities;
– vehicles of the Chief Environmental Inspectorate, other than those used exclusively for passenger transport;
– specialised means of sanitary transport used by emergency medical teams and sanitary transport teams;
– zero-emission buses and school buses.
The municipality has the option of choosing whether the Clean Transport Zone is to be in force for an indefinite or a designated period of time. If the second option is chosen, the duration of the zone must be set out in a resolution, but not shorter than 5 years. If the municipal council establishes a clean transport zone, it may consent to the entry into the zone of vehicles which do not meet the requirements set out in points 1 and 2 and those benefiting from exemptions under point 4. This consent may be valid only for three years from the date of establishing the zone and between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., provided that an appropriate fee is paid. In Article 39(6), the legislator limits the possibility for municipalities to spend the funds obtained from such fees only for specific purposes, such as the purchase of zero-emission buses, trams or other means of public transport. In addition, the Act unconditionally sets the maximum amount of the fees at:
– PLN 2.50 per hour for a one-off fee;
– PLN 500 for a subscription fee for one month.
The executive body of the municipality – the mayor or town mayor – is authorised to collect the fees.
As indicated in the previously cited commentary to the Act on Electromobility and Alternative Fuels, edited by Katarzyna Kokocińska, Ph.D., and Jakub Pokrzywniak, Ph.D., the amount of the fee for entering the clean transport zone is determined by the municipality, while according to the provisions of para. 4c, it may not be higher than PLN 2.50 per hour and may only be charged for driving within the zone between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. (which de facto means that the adoption of the solution in question would in practice limit the zone’s operation to those hours), taking the form of a subscription fee or a lump sum. The fee for entering the clean transport zone shall be collected by the mayor of the commune, the mayor or the president of the city, allocating the funds obtained for the purposes enumerated in paragraph 4b – they may be used exclusively for the marking of the clean transport zone, purchase of zero-emission buses and covering the costs of conducting the analysis referred to in Article 37(1) of the Act (analysis of costs and benefits related to zero-emission buses). 1 of the Act (cost-benefit analysis of the use, in the provision of public transport services, of zero-emission buses and other means of transport using only engines for propulsion whose duty cycle does not result in the emission of greenhouse gases or other substances covered by the greenhouse gas emission management system). The thesis presented in the literature is that the aforementioned considerations result in the fact that, in this case, the only distinguishing feature of the clean transport zone in comparison with other places and public roads would be the charging of vehicles other than those privileged under the Act (as defined in Article 39(1)-(3) of the Act) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thus, the clean transport zone would have the character of a special charging zone, which would only potentially induce (it is difficult to determine the real effects of their collection) owners of internal combustion vehicles to give up or limit their movement in the area (see: P. Lissoń, Zadania gmin w dziedzinie elektromobilności, in K. Kokocińska, J. Kola (ed.), Prawne i ekonomiczne aspekty rozwoju elektromobilności, Warsaw 2019, p. 53).
Pursuant to Article 39(9) of the Act on Electromobility and Alternative Fuels, motor vehicles referred to in paragraph 1 and those benefiting from exemptions under paragraph 4, which are authorised to enter the clean transport zone, shall be marked with a sticker affixed to the lower left-hand corner of the vehicle’s windscreen. The purpose of this obligation is to enable monitoring systems and state authorities to identify cars that move through the zone without authorisation. Stickers do not have to be affixed to vehicles with ‘green’ number plates and those with other stickers identifying a green vehicle, as referred to in the regulations issued pursuant to Article 76(1)(1) of the Road Traffic Law.
The stickers, the design of which is set by the minister responsible for energy, are issued by the executive body of the municipality and the revenue from them is not bound by the spending restrictions mentioned earlier. There is an obligation on the part of the municipality to properly mark the Clean Transport Zones with road signs in order to enable drivers to identify such zones.
Clean Transport Zones can only be established on roads managed by a municipality. It therefore seems justified to indicate municipalities in the provision concerning the responsibility for the proper marking of the zones. In the case of general rules of road traffic organisation, including installation and de-installation of signs, Article 20 of the Act of 21 March 1985 on public roads provides that the administrator of the road shall, in particular, be responsible for: maintenance of the part of the road, road devices, earth structures, road engineering structures, road signs, traffic signals and road safety devices, except for the part of the road lane referred to in Article 20f(2). Pursuant to Article 19(2) of the aforementioned act, road administrators, subject to sections 3, 5, 5a and 8, are, for roads: 1) national roads – the General Director of National Roads and Motorways; 2) voivodship roads – the voivodship management board; 3) poviat roads – the poviat management board; 4) municipal roads – the head of commune (mayor, town president).
Article 40 is also relevant from the perspective of the issue at hand. According to it, the resolution of the municipal council establishing the zone should contain:
– boundaries of the Clean Transport Zone area;
– the way traffic is organised in the Clean Transport Zone;
– additional ways of publicising the content of the resolution on the establishment of the Clean Transport Zone;
– the amount and method of collecting the fees and the detailed procedure for issuing the sticker.
A draft of the above resolution, which constitutes an act of local law, is prepared by the executive body of the municipality. The municipal council adopts the resolution within 60 days of receiving it. Importantly, the Act imposes an obligation to hold public consultations on the introduction of Clean Transport Zones, but cities are not directly bound by the residents’ opinion.
According to the Warsaw City Hall, ‘under current law, Warsaw is obliged to create a clean transport zone next year, which will restrict the entry of the most air-polluting vehicles into the centre. The ban will only cover petrol cars over 28 years old and diesel vehicles over 19 years old. According to the data, these today account for about 3 per cent of the cars on the capital’s roads and are even responsible for more than 20 per cent of traffic air pollution” [8]. However, in the current legal order, neither the capital nor other cities have been obliged in any way to introduce clean transport zones. Such plans have indeed appeared in agreements between the European Union and the Polish government, but they have never acquired the character of a universally binding source of law. Such an obligation for cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants was to be provided for in the laws constituting the second milestone of the National Reconstruction Programme. The relevant normative acts should enter into force in the second quarter of 2024, but due to political conditions, it is impossible to clearly predict the further fate of the regulations in question.
Such proposals appear to be weak, especially against the background of Western European regulations, but they are nevertheless causing opposition from many residents of the capital. Of course, it should be borne in mind that these are only initial assumptions and, in all likelihood – as time goes on and the EU’s Fit for 55 package is implemented – these regulations will be tightened.
The legitimacy of introducing the instruments in question into the Polish legal order is controversial, particularly in view of the disadvantaging of the poorer part of society due to the prohibition of entry of older vehicles into the centre of the largest cities. The proposed boundaries of the Clean Transport Zone for Warsaw include the district of Śródmieście and neighbouring fragments of the districts of Wola, Ochota, Saska Kępa, Grochów and Praga [9]. This area is the central point of the Warsaw agglomeration, which for many residents is important from the perspective of transport. However, it is worth bearing in mind the positive impact on the environment, which is confirmed by air pollution statistics in Western European cities following the introduction of low-emission zones [10].
REFERENCES:
[1] https://magazynauto.pl/wiadomosci/5-razy-wiecej-pojazdow-i-2-razy-tansze-paliwo-zmiany-w-polsce-przez-30-lat,aid,1291
[2] https://upacjenta.pl/poradnik/smog-jaki-ma-wplyw-na-nasze-zdrowie
[3] https://www.autodna.pl/blog/smog-a-samochody/
[4] https://transport.um.warszawa.pl/strefy-czystego-transportu-w-europie
[5]https://www.transport-publiczny.pl/wiadomosci/skad-sie-bierze-smog-i-jak-bardzo-winne-sa-auta-53970.html
[6]https://pap-mediaroom.pl/zdrowie-i-styl-zycia/az-42-badanych-jest-przeciwko-strefom-czystego-transportu-argumenty-za-i
[7]https://e.autokult.pl/czy-dzieki-strefom-czystego-transportu-w-polskich-miastach-rzeczywiscie-bedzie-zylo-sie-lepiej,6860088560659136a
[8] https://um.warszawa.pl/-/strefa-czystego-transportu-rekomendacje-naukowcow
[9] https://e.autokult.pl/czy-dzieki-strefom-czystego-transportu-w-polskich-miastach-rzeczywiscie-bedzie-zylo-sie-lepiej,6860088560659136a
[10]https://businessinsider.com.pl/technologie/motoryzacja/dlaczego-potrzebne-sa-strefy-czystego-transportu/5llngwe
SOURCES:
– legal acts:
- Directive 2014/94/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on the development of alternative fuel infrastructure (Official Journal of the EU L 307 of 28.10.2014, p. 1).
- Act of 11 January 2018 on electromobility and alternative fuels (Journal of Laws 2022, item 1083, as amended).
- Act of 20 June 1997. – Road Traffic Law (i.e. Journal of Laws of 2022, item 988, as amended).
- Act of 25 August 2006 on the system of monitoring and controlling fuel quality (i.e. Journal of Laws 2022, item 1315, as amended).
– other:
- A. Mituś [in:] Law on Electromobility and Alternative Fuels. Commentary, ed. F. Grzegorczyk, Warsaw 2021, art. 39.
- K. Kokocińska, J. Pokrzywniak (eds.), Act on electromobility and alternative fuels. Commentary, Warsaw 2020
- Kwiatkiewicz Piotr, Szczerbowski Radosław, Śledzik Waldemar – Electromobility. Infrastructure environment and technical challenges of intra-regional policy; FNCE 2020 ed.
- Pieriegud Jana, Gajewski Jerzy, Paprocki Wojciech – Electromobility in Poland against the background of European and global tenations; CeDeWu Sp. z o.o. ed. 2019 r.
