Preparatory action : user-friendly information tool on urban and regional vehicle access regulation schemes 2 UVAR Exchange : final report

Urban Vehicle Access Regulations (UVARs) are used to regulate the movement of vehicles in urban areas and by cities to address issues such as air pollution, climate change, congestion and the protection of historic centres. However, UVARs can be very complex regarding admittance, time frames, exceptions, etc. (e.g., low emission zones (LEZs)), which leads to challenges around how the correct information can be transmitted to the road user/vehicle. UVAR signage is not harmonised across Europe and there are also issues when it comes to the sharing of information across borders, due to the current legal constraints, the ability to access / share data and data quality. This study has two objectives. Firstly, to improve the communication of information to drivers in the vicinity of UVARs, including physical signs, variable message signs (VMS) and cooperative intelligent transport system (C-ITS) messages. Secondly, the analysis of the technical and legal challenges related to data sharing and enforcement of UVARs, giving recommendations to enable the cross-border sharing of vehicle and driver information for enforcement. Solving this issue aims at the same time to avoid the need for foreign drivers to pre-register for separate LEZs and streamline compliance checks of foreign vehicles for UVAR authorities.