News

Driving licence · The British Embassy has urged those licence holders who have yet to apply for a Spanish one to do so in good time. UK driving licence holders resident in Spain before 15 March have been reminded by the British embassy that they have until 15 September to exchange their licence for a Spanish one if they have not done so already. This follows an agreement in March between the UK and Spain…

The Municipal Assembly of Faro has approved new regulations for caravanning and motorhome activities in the municipality. The document, according to the municipality of Faro, was prepared with the intention of regulating the activity and avoiding the so-called informal concentrations of these vehicles, which occur throughout the municipality, “bringing some negative effects, namely resulting from the use of vehicles without conditions of habitability and environmental sustainability, which do not guarantee basic hygiene conditions and cause…

This is what the law says about whether it is allowed to drive with flip-flops, a question asked by many motorists every summer A recurring question every summer among drivers in Spain is whether it is against the law to drive a vehicle in flip-flops. Article 17 of the country’s General Traffic Regulations state that “drivers must be in a position to control their vehicles at all times”. Here lies the dilemma of what footwear…

The DGT said the safety move, designed to help prevent accidents on the hardshoulders of the country’s busiest roads, would come into effect from Saturday 1 July. Spain’s Directorate-General of Traffic (DGT) has forecast that there will be almost 95 million long-distance road journeys during the months of July and August this year, which is 1.75% more than the movements recorded last summer. Special traffic regulation and control operations will be in place every weekend…

The President of the Republic has approved the decree of the Assembly of the Republic that eliminates the obligation for a driver to display car insurance on the windscreen of a vehicle. This means that the second amendment of Decree-Law n.º 291/2007, of August 21st, is carried out, which institutes the compulsory insurance system for motor vehicle civil liability, amended by Decree-Law n.º 153/2008, of August 6th. On June 2, parliament approved this amendment and…

Spanish police are also cracking down on some offences this year that are still largely unknown to road users. Regulations for road users in Spain have changed in 2023. The Directorate-General of Traffic and local authorities are cracking down some previously existing offences and also issuing fines for newly-introduced laws. One of these new fines relates to whether or not a vehicle can enter a low emission zone (ZEB) in towns or cities that have…

The concept of incentivised affordable housing is also being introduced to increase supply in the short term. Spain’s new housing law which imposes new limits on rent increases and evictions will come into force today – Friday, 26 May. The Official State Gazette (BOE) published the new law on Thursday, 25 May, but outlined that new tax incentives applicable to personal income tax on the leasing of property for housing will come into force on…

The warning comes after new figures show motorbikes are the most dangerous means of road transport. Motorcyclists in Spain are being reminded that they can be hit with 500 euro fines for tailgating and weaving in and out of traffic. The warning comes after new figures show motorbikes are the most dangerous means of road transport with a 17-times greater risk of death on a motorbike than in a car, per kilometre travelled. In the…

The 2021- 2030 national energy and climate plan set a target of 190,000 sales of electric vehicles by 2023 to help reduce emissions. Sales of electric vehicles are surging across Spain and have almost doubled in the first fourth months of this year compared to the same period in 2022. Sales of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles – including cars, quadricycles, commercial and industrial vehicles and buses – totalled 37,347 between January and April of…

The increase in accidents in Spain and the referendum in Paris that voted against electric scooters for hire calls into question this mode of transport that is becoming increasingly fashionable in Spain’s major cities. According to Spain’s traffic authority, the DGT, Personal Mobility Vehicles (or PMVs, including electric scooters) are vehicles with one or more wheels, equipped with a single seat or platform and powered exclusively by electric motors, with a maximum design speed of…