At the most generic level, access regulation is a ‘measures to regulate vehicular access to urban infrastructure’. This definition is taken from the 2013 European Commission Staff Working Document on Access Regulations ” A call for smarter urban vehicle access regulations” SWM (2013) 526, which was published to accompany the Urban Mobility Package.
Examples of Urban Vehicle Access Regulation areas include Low Emissions Zones, Congestion Charges, Traffic Limited Zones. While it theoretically also includes Parking Regulations, ReVeAL does not include them in its definition.

At a more conceptual level, an Urban Vehicle Access Regulation regulates under what conditions certain vehicles are allowed to access certain parts of a city. Such conditions can concern:

• vehicle weight or size
• time periods (time of day, day of the week etc.)
• emission levels (either per vehicle or within a certain area)
• resident status
• payment of a certain fee
• occupancy level

The “R” in UVAR stands for regulation and not for restriction. This is to denote the important quality of a UVAR not to restrict access to vehicles altogether but to specify and regulate the conditions under which vehicles are allowed to access a certain area.