Sign C22a: Environmental (low-emission) zone
Legal meaning
Low-emission zone.
Shape and colour
Rectangular white sign with a red-rimmed circle, the word milieuzone and a car symbol: closed to the named polluting vehicles.
Where the sign stands
On every access road of the zone, right after the junction where the zone starts, on the right; a plate names the excluded categories.
What the exam asks about this sign
The exam asks what a low-emission zone is: an area closed to vehicles that do not meet the emission rules, mostly older diesel cars and lorries. The sign applies until C22b. Trap: candidates think all cars are banned; only the vehicles the municipality names (often on a plate) may not enter.
Often confused with
- End of environmental zone
C22b— The same sign with a bar: end of the low-emission zone. - Zero-emission zone; closed to vehicles that are not zero-emission
C22c— Zero-emission zone: stricter, emission-free only. - Start of a parking-disc zone
E10— Also a zone sign, but for the parking disc.
Signs in the same series
- Closed to vehicles whose axle load is higher than indicated
C20 - Closed to vehicles heavier than the mass shown on sign.
C21 - End of environmental zone
C22b - Zero-emission zone; closed to vehicles that are not zero-emission
C22c - Closed to vehicles higher than indicated on the sign.
C19 - Closed to vehicles wider than indicated on the sign.
C18 - Closed to vehicles and combinations of vehicles which
C17 - Closed to pedestrians
C16