Busan City Conducts Simulated Enforcement of Emission Grade 5 Vehicle Operation Restrictions

November 16-27 and November 6-24 Implementation ... Seasonal Fine Dust Management System to Start in December

No Fines for Violations, Notifications via Text Messages → Restricted Vehicles Notified and Low Emission Measures Required

Busan City will conduct two rounds of a 'Grade 5 Emission Vehicle Operation Restriction' mock crackdown throughout the city from the 16th to the 27th of this month and from November 6th to November 24th.

Busan City Hall.

This mock crackdown is organized to effectively promote the operation restriction to owners of Grade 5 emission vehicles, as the 5th Seasonal Fine Dust Management Plan will be implemented from December to March next year, restricting the operation of Grade 5 emission vehicles throughout the city.

During the mock crackdown period, although no fines will be imposed for violations of the operation restriction, notifications will be sent via mobile text messages to inform owners that their vehicles are subject to the restriction, encouraging early adoption of low-emission measures to be recognized as exempt vehicles.

The Seasonal Fine Dust Management Plan is a policy that implements strengthened fine dust reduction measures from December to March, a period when high concentrations of fine dust frequently occur, and was first introduced in December 2019 to protect public health.

During the 4th Seasonal Fine Dust Management Plan period from December last year to March this year, the average concentration of ultrafine dust in Busan decreased by 25% (from 28㎍/㎥ to 21㎍/㎥) compared to the same period in 2018 before the plan was implemented.

Additionally, during the 4th Seasonal Fine Dust Management Plan, Busan implemented the operation restriction on Grade 5 emission vehicles for the first time, resulting in a total of 356,351 vehicles being inspected and 24,359 violating vehicles being detected.

Besides restricting the operation of Grade 5 emission vehicles, the city will expand strengthened reduction policies during the 5th Seasonal Fine Dust Management Plan period.

To reduce road dust, 27 concentrated road dust scattering routes have been designated, and the cleaning frequency on these routes will be increased to 2 to 4 times or more per day.

Furthermore, special inspections of illegal fine dust emission sites, strengthened enforcement of vehicle emission controls, indoor air quality inspections at multi-use facilities, and the expansion of eco-friendly vehicle distribution will be promoted.

Also, if ultrafine dust exceeds certain standards during this period, emergency reduction measures will be issued, and additional urgent actions will be implemented to intensively reduce fine dust in a short period.

Key urgent measures include ▲ shortening and adjusting operations at workplaces and construction sites ▲ a two-day vehicle operation system for public institutions ▲ recommendations for shortened class hours or school closures ▲ enhanced road cleaning around schools and industrial complexes.

Lee Geun-hee, Director of the Environmental Policy Office of the city, stated, “Through this mock crackdown, we will actively promote the operation restriction of Grade 5 emission vehicles without low-emission measures ahead of the implementation of the Seasonal Fine Dust Management Plan.”

Busan City was selected as an ‘Excellent Institution’ in the ‘Comprehensive Evaluation of Emergency Reduction Measures for Ultrafine Dust’ conducted by the Ministry of Environment this year across 17 cities and provinces nationwide.

This evaluation was based on the performance of emergency reduction measures for ultrafine dust from May last year to April this year, and the city is accelerating preparations for the 5th Seasonal Fine Dust Management Plan to be implemented from December.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.