Hoy No Circula Exemptions

[bigmutt]

I've tried to find some info for a foreigner friend living in D.F. but cannot seem to get consistent info on this;
can anyone here help?
He is not a resident but a regular tourist on an FM3 who stays 6 months of the year.

My friend has U.S.-plated car here, and he has a current handicapped placard from California with the accompanying certificate with his name, etc. The car is not new enough to go through the voluntary verification process & get a Zero.

There is an exemption for discapacidad driver/passenger with proper identification documents but the law (as published in Gaceta Oficial del D.F.) does not spell out what specific documents are needed or if they need to be displayed or whatever.

What he has is apparently recognized as valid in all the U.S. states and in Canada, so he thinks it would also be recognized in Mexico. I told him "not necessarily".

But he hasn't been able to get definative clarification, either by calling the several phone lines of Secr. Medio Ambiente or by writing to them. Also no help from the U.S. embassy here. (big surprise, eh?)

Anyone have any suggestions for getting something definative? He asked me to help by going down to the offices of Secr. Medio Ambiente because he cannot get around very easily, but I want to save myself a trip if I can.

thanks.

[Rodrigo84]

I may have found something for you, http://www.sma.df.gob.mx/sma/links/d...ri2sem2008.pdf

Look on page 5 under Definiciones:

Vehiculos de coleccion y/o para discapacitados: aquellos que cuentan con la placa correspondiente expedida por las dependencias autorizadas del Gobierno del Distrito Federal o de otros Estados

Then take a look at page 11 in section I.11 it says:

I.11 Los vehiculos que ostenten tarjeta de circulacion y matricula de vehiculos que transportan personas con discapacidades quedaran extentos de las restricciones senaladas por el Acuerdo "Hoy No Circula" y por el Programa de "Contingencias Ambientales", simpre y cuando transporten a la persona discapacitada.

However, I think you remember I told you about someone that had a Texas handicapped sticker and was harassed by the police. He went down to Agricultura and they gave him a special sticker that allowed him to not have any more problems. This was some years ago, perhaps before the above rule was clarified. I'd still recommend going to Agricultura and getting someone there to get it straight.

However, I can also tell you that you can try to get a juez civil or civil judge that can give you an Acta, basically a legal order, provided the law allows it, so that it clarifies to the police what the rule is.

A friend of my cousin got stopped because he had just a Louisiana plate (just on the rear, not on the front), because that state only gives one plate, but the law states in D.F. you need two and police read this to mean foreign vehicles. The police officer only gave him a ticket, because he had a D.F. license, but the guy got ticket reversed and the police officer was suspended for a short period. The judge in the case was a civil judge and wrote him an Acta to avoid such issue in the future. A friend of mine got an Acta because his vehicle didn't have seat belts, though the law requires you to have your seat belts on. That is a possibility. An Acta only costs like $5 USD or so and there is no time limit on it.

[bigmutt]

Great information, Rodrigo, and good advice.
Thanks very much, We'll do as you suggest.

Rick

[bigmutt]

Originally Posted by Rodrigo84

http://www.sma.df.gob.mx/sma/links/d...ri2sem2008.pdf

Then take a look at page 11 in section I.11 it says:

I.11 Los vehiculos que ostenten tarjeta de circulacion y matricula de vehiculos que transportan personas con discapacidades quedaran extentos de las restricciones senaladas por el Acuerdo "Hoy No Circula" y por el Programa de "Contingencias Ambientales", simpre y cuando transporten a la persona discapacitada.

Rodrigo, I tried to find the section you quoted above but couldn't; there is no "I.11" on page 11 or any other page; what actual page of the Gaceta is it from?? I'm looking at Gaceta page 58 for Section I.11 but there is only I.1 and then I.2, I.3 and so on.

Anyway, what I'm suggesting my friend "hang his hat on" is this subsection of the Gaceta, of Junio 19, 2008:

http://www.consejeria.df.gob.mx/gace...019%2008_1.pdf

There, when you go to their page 8, also PDF pg 8, you find section Sexto, which is a list of exceptions or exemptions, and of those, number VI says:
VI. Que transporten o sean conducidos por personas con discapacidad y que además cuenten con las placas de matrícula de identificación respectiva, o porten el documento, distintivo o autorización que para tal efecto expida la autoridad competente;

What threw me a bit was that your quoted Gaceta is a more recent one, namely June 30th. And it does not seem to contain any of these exemptions. At least not in the part that comes up when you go to the link that you provided. That link, though, doesn't take you to the whole Gaceta published that day but only some pieces of it.
Do you know how I can find the WHOLE publication of that day?

So, I call to Medio Ambiente on Agricultura, numerous phone numbers and transfers later I'm talking to a Javier Martinez who tells me that a plastic placard along with a numbered certificate corresponding to that placard, with name, address, DOB, etc. should suffice in meeting the requirements of the above-quoted regulations.

But of course this was after I'd been told by several other officials there that ONLY an actual license plate with the handicapped symbol meets the requirements.
When I asked Martinez if I could come down to Agricultura office to get something concrete concerning this interpretation, he said no, it's not needed, that there's really nothing they could give me, and that if stopped by the police, the person with the placard should have a copy of the section of the Gazeta above, along with the paper certificate that accompanied the placard. But of course he could not guarantee that the cop wouldn't still press the issue.

So, what do you think? Let me know.

It's the usual "a different answer from every person you ask" bureaucratic merry-go-round.

I've told my friend that he should still try to get that Acta that you've mentioned, but neither of us knows quite how to go about it. Where do you find these civil judges and how do you get them to help you?


well, there you have it, the latest in our quest to avoid problems for our handicapped friend. (he said he may just be forced to buy a new car here, or give up on retiring in D.F.)

Rick