Vehicle registration plates of Portugal
Encyclopedia
Vehicle registration plate
A vehicle registration plate is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies the vehicle within the issuing region's database...
system for automobiles and motorcycles is simple and sequential. The system has no link to geographical locations or similar. It is an incremental numbering system consisting of three groups of two characters, separated by dashes. This system started in 1937 with AA-10-00, then went on to 00-00-AA and recently changed over to 00-AA-00. When this last sequence comes to an end, it will be replaced by the sequence AA-00-AA. A list of the first registration numbers issued each month since March 1992 (starting with 00-01-AA) is available at the website of the Automobile Association of Portugal.
The Portuguese System is similar to former Netherlands license plate systems, and follows the same lines as former AA-00-00 and 00-00-AA, current 00-AA-00, and future AA-00-AA, AA-AA-00 and 00-AA-AA.
Colours
Initially there were white characters on a black ground, all in plastic. In 1992, the design was changed to one of black characters on a white background in metal; in that same year, the European blue ribbon was added with the Portuguese 'P' denominator. In 1998, a yellow (formerly pink on some vehicles) ribbon on the right side was added with the month and year in which the car was first registered (e.g. 99/12 for December, 1999 - the year comes on top of the month). This is different from systems such as in Germany (where the numbers indicate the start and end month of the vehicle's registration) and more similar to systems such as in Italy (where the date indicates the year of vehicle registration). Note that the date is that of first registry ever of the vehicle, not the date the vehicle was registered in Portugal. Some vehicles carry plates that have a year and month seemingly out of tune with the alphanumeric sequence, and the reason for this is that these are imported used vehicles.Special licence plates
- The sequences MG-00-00, ME-00-00 and MX-00-00 are only used by Portuguese ArmyPortuguese ArmyThe Portuguese Army is the ground branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in co-operation with other branches of the Portuguese military, is charged with the defence of Portugal...
vehicles. - The sequence AP-00-00 is only used by Portuguese NavyPortuguese NavyThe Portuguese Navy is the naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in cooperation and integrated with the other branches of the Portuguese military, is charged with the military defence of Portugal....
vehicles. - The sequence AM-00-00 is only used by Portuguese Air ForcePortuguese Air ForceThe Portuguese Air Force is the air force of Portugal. Formed on July 1, 1952, with the Aeronáutica Militar and Aviação Naval united in a single independent Air Force, it is one of the three branches of the Portuguese Armed Forces and its origins dates back to 1912, when the military aviation...
vehicles. - The sequence 00-00-KA to 00-00-KZ was used for second hand imported vehicles in 1997, and later abandoned, as it only reached KF. The letters K, Y and W are not used as they are not part of the Portuguese alphabet.
- Portuguese National Republican GuardPortuguese National Republican GuardThe Portuguese National Republican Guard is the gendarmerie of Portugal. Members of the GNR are soldiers, who, unlike the agents of the Public Security Police , are subject to military law and organisation...
uses the special sequence GNR A-01 to GNR Z-9999 in which the letter after the GNR identifies the type of vehicle. - Diplomatic vehicles use the sequences 000-CD000 (diplomats), 000-CC000 (consular personnel) and 000-FM000 (non-diplomatic embassy personnel) in which the first group of three numbers identify the country, with red characters on white and without the European blue ribbon.
- Vehicles on sale use special plates with the name of the dealer followed by an identification number, with white characters on red and without the European blue ribbon.
- Trailers use another sequence which consist of two groups of characters separated by a dash. The first with one or two letters is the code of the regional registering office. The second is a sequential registration number with up to six digits.
- Vehicles for exportation use an inverse sequence of the trailers, first the registration number and second the office code. In this vehicles the letters "EXP" are placed in the yellow ribbon above the date
- Industrial machines use the same sequence as the automobiles and the motorcycles but with black characters on red. This vehicles have an "A" in the yellow ribbon replacing the date.
Historic plates
Currently it is possible to get an old (white on black) number plate for historic cars. This number is not the official car license, but rather an alias for it. Therefore old-timers with black number plates also have a new license number, but it is only in the car's license, and not shown on the car itself.Registering Office codes
Trailers and vehicles for export have the following registering office code letters in their licence plates:- A - Ponta DelgadaPonta DelgadaPonta Delgada is a city and municipality on the island of São Miguel in the archipelago of the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal. It includes 44,403 residents in the urban area, and approximately 20,113 inhabitants in the three central parishes that comprise the historical city: São Pedro,...
(AzoresAzoresThe Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
) - AN - Angra do HeroismoAngra do HeroísmoAngra do Heroísmo , locally referred to as Angra, is a municipality and city on the island of Terceira, within the Portuguese autonomous region of the Azores. The municipal area has a population of 35,581 and an area of . Along with Praia da Vitória to the north, it is one of two municipal...
- AV - Aveiro
- BE - BejaBeja (Portugal)Beja is a city in the Beja Municipality in the Alentejo region, Portugal. The municipality has a total area of 1,147.1 km² and a total population of 34,970 inhabitants. The city proper has a population of 21,658....
- BN - BragançaBragança (Portugal)Bragança is a city and municipality in north-eastern Portugal, capital of district of Bragança, in Alto Trás-os-Montes subregion of Portugal. In 2001, the population of the municipality was 34,774, in an area of 1173.57 km².-History:...
- BR - BragaBragaBraga , a city in the Braga Municipality in northwestern Portugal, is the capital of the Braga District, the oldest archdiocese and the third major city of the country. Braga is the oldest Portuguese city and one of the oldest Christian cities in the World...
- C - CoimbraCoimbraCoimbra is a city in the municipality of Coimbra in Portugal. Although it served as the nation's capital during the High Middle Ages, it is better-known for its university, the University of Coimbra, which is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest academic institution in the...
- CB - Castelo BrancoCastelo Branco, PortugalThe city of Castelo Branco is made up of one parish with a population of 30,649.It is located in Castelo Branco Municipality in Castelo Branco District.-History and landmarks:...
- E - ÉvoraÉvoraÉvora is a municipality in Portugal. It has total area of with a population of 55,619 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Évora District and capital of the Alentejo region. The municipality is composed of 19 civil parishes, and is located in Évora District....
- FA - FaroFaro, PortugalFaro is the southernmost city in Portugal. It is located in the Faro Municipality in southern Portugal. The city proper has 41,934 inhabitants and the entire municipality has 58,305. It is the seat of the Faro District and capital of the Algarve region...
- H - HortaHorta-Meaning:* horta, 'orchard' or 'vegetable garden' in Portuguese and Valencian/Catalan, Spanish huerta-People:* Nelson Horta , a Cuban Journalist, now living in Miami,Florida USA* Adolfo Horta , a Cuban boxer...
- L - LisbonLisbonLisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
- M - FunchalFunchalFunchal is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira. The city has a population of 112,015 and has been the capital of Madeira for more than five centuries.-Etymology:...
(MadeiraMadeiraMadeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
) - P - PortoPortoPorto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
(Oporto) - PT - Portalegre
- SA - SantarémSantarém, PortugalSantarém is a city in the Santarém Municipality in Portugal. The city itself has a population of 28,760 and the entire municipality has 64,124 inhabitants.It is the capital of Santarém District....
- SE - SetúbalSetúbalSetúbal is the main city in Setúbal Municipality in Portugal with a total area of 172.0 km² and a total population of 118,696 inhabitants in the municipality. The city proper has 89,303 inhabitants....
- VC - Viana do Castelo
- VI - ViseuViseuViseu is both a city and a municipality in the Dão-Lafões Subregion of Centro Region, Portugal. The municipality, with an area of 507.1 km², has a population of 99,593 , and the city proper has 47,250...
- VR - Vila Real
Until the 1970s only the codes A, AN, C, H, L, M and P existed. After that, other registering offices were created with new codes.
The following special codes are also used for trailers: D - Diplomatic; F - non-diplomatic embassy.
History
Local licence plates were issued at least since 1901, which usually consisted of the full name or the abbreviation of the name of the district, followed by a serial number. (e.g. "LISBOA 123" or "LXA. 123" for a vehicle in Lisbon).A national car registration system was established in 1911. The country was divided in five zones (North, Center, South, Azores and Madeira), each having an identification number sequence for the licence plates, respectively N-000, C-000, S-000, A-000 and M-000. In the mid-1930s there were already so many vehicles registered, especially in the South Zone which included the City of Lisbon, that the identification number was already up to five digits. As this created some difficulties in the identification of vehicles by authorities it was decided to change the system.
In 1937, the second Portuguese car registration system was established. This consisted of the sequence AA-10-00 to ZZ-99-99. The division in zones was kept. The letters AA to LZ were reserved for the South (Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
), the MA to TZ to the North (Oporto) and the UA to ZZ to the Center (Coimbra
Coimbra
Coimbra is a city in the municipality of Coimbra in Portugal. Although it served as the nation's capital during the High Middle Ages, it is better-known for its university, the University of Coimbra, which is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest academic institution in the...
).
The vehicles registered with the old system had to change to the new one. In Lisbon the vehicles of the series S-000 and S-1000 changed to the series AA-00-00, those of the S-10000 to the AB-00-00, the S-20000 to the AC-00-00 and the S-30000 to the AD-00-00. In Oporto the changes were from the N-000 and N-1000 to the MM-00-00 and from the N-10000 to the MN-00-00. In Coimbra all vehicles changed to the series UU-00-00. In the new licences, the vehicles kept the previous numbers, with the exception of those of the tens of thousand (e.g. the vehicle C-123 would change to UU-01-23, the N-1234 to MM-12-34 and the S-12345 to AB-23-45).
The letters MG, and later ME and MX were reserved for the Army, AP for the Navy, AM for the Air Force and EP for the government civil ministries. The letters CD, CC and FM were reserved for diplomatic vehicles (respectively for diplomatic, consular and non-diplomatic personnel), but with red characters on white ground. The letters TA, TB and TC, in red plates with white characters were reserved for temporary licences respectively in Lisbon, Oporto and Coimbra. National Republican Guard and the former Fiscal Guard had special sequences beginning respectively with the letters GNR and GF.
In the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
and Madeira
Madeira
Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
the new system was only adopted in 1962. By this time the Azores were themselves divided in three registering districts: Ponta Delgada
Ponta Delgada
Ponta Delgada is a city and municipality on the island of São Miguel in the archipelago of the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal. It includes 44,403 residents in the urban area, and approximately 20,113 inhabitants in the three central parishes that comprise the historical city: São Pedro,...
, Angra do Heroismo
Angra do Heroísmo
Angra do Heroísmo , locally referred to as Angra, is a municipality and city on the island of Terceira, within the Portuguese autonomous region of the Azores. The municipal area has a population of 35,581 and an area of . Along with Praia da Vitória to the north, it is one of two municipal...
and Horta
Horta
-Meaning:* horta, 'orchard' or 'vegetable garden' in Portuguese and Valencian/Catalan, Spanish huerta-People:* Nelson Horta , a Cuban Journalist, now living in Miami,Florida USA* Adolfo Horta , a Cuban boxer...
. In this case the groups of letters AN were reserved for Angra, AR and AS for Ponta Delgada and HO for Horta. For Madeira were reserved the groups MA and MD. The white letters on red TD, TG, TH and TF were for temporary licences respectively in Ponta Delgada, Angra, Horta and Madeira.
In the beginning of the 1980s it was decided to end with reservation of letter sequences by zones, as a result Lisbon registred vehicles used sequences that were reserved for Oporto from 1982, with the NA to NL sequence, or from 1987 the sequences OA to OL, PA to PL, RA to RL or SA to SL, and from 1990 of former Coimbra reserved sequences, for instance, UA to UL or XA to XZ (the latter being the last left side letters sequence used). Oporto letter sequences, in fact, always consisted of a combination of the two letters, both alphabetically equal or above M. Despite the previous facts, only from 1992, with the 00-00-AA sequence the reservation of letter sequences by zones ended and a really national sequential system was introduced.
Still before the ending of the reservation of letters by zone, new registering offices opened, and some groups were reserved for them: EM and EV for Évora, ZA and ZB for Braga, ZC and ZD for Vila Real, ZE and ZF for Aveiro, ZG and ZH for Guarda, ZI and ZL for Santarém, ZM and ZN for Setúbal and ZO and ZP for Faro. As Évora was considered a central office it also had a temporary licences code: TE. However most of these sequences were never used or were used already as part of the national sequence.
In 1992, with the end of the AA-00-00 sequence, a new one was introduced, the 00-00-AA. Just before that time the black plates were changed by white ones, which included the European blue ribbon with the national code "P" on the left.
In 1998 a yellow ribbon with the date of the first register of the vehicle was introduced on the right side of the plate. This is mandatory for all newly registered vehicles, whether new or second-hand imports. In 2005 the 00-00-AA sequence ended, and 00-AA-00 was introduced.
Sequences with the letters CU and OO, were not used since right side letters sequences were introduced, the first because it coincides with a slang word for Buttocks
Buttocks
The buttocks are two rounded portions of the anatomy, located on the posterior of the pelvic region of apes and humans, and many other bipeds or quadrupeds, and comprise a layer of fat superimposed on the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius muscles. Physiologically, the buttocks enable weight to...
and the second to avoid confusion with 00 (zero, zero). The CU sequence was used in 1982 on Lisbon registred vehicles and OO in 1966, 1967, 1978, 1979 and 1982 on Oporto registred vehicles.
Former Portuguese Overseas Territories plates
The models of Portuguese car plates were followed by the then Portuguese colonies. At the beginning the model of 1911 was followed. Each colony had a group of one to three letters which designated the colony itself or a district inside the colony. The letters were followed by a serial number (e.g. G-1234 for a car registered in Guinea or CVS-1235 for one registered in the south-east district of Cape Verde).In the 1950s and 1960s, the licensing systems in all colonies were changed to systems based on the Portuguese one of 1937. By territory the sequences used were:
- AngolaAngolaAngola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
: Axx-00-00 - the second and third letters were reserved by district - Cape VerdeCape VerdeThe Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...
: CVx-00-00 - the third letter identified the district (S: southeast, B: northwest) - Portuguese GuineaGuinea-BissauThe Republic of Guinea-Bissau is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north, and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west....
: G-00-00 - Portuguese IndiaGoaGoa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
: Ixx-00-00 - the second and third letters were reserved by district (IGA to IGZ for GoaGoaGoa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
district) - MacauMacauMacau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
: M-00-00 and latter Mx-00-00 - the second letter was sequential (ME-00-00 numbers did not cause problems as Portugal withdrew its armed forcesArmed forcesThe armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their governing body, and to defend that body and the nation it represents from external aggressors. In some countries paramilitary...
in the 1970s) - MozambiqueMozambiqueMozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
: Mxx-00-00 - the second and third letters were reserved by district - São Tomé and PríncipeSão Tomé and PríncipeSão Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is a Portuguese-speaking island nation in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa. It consists of two islands: São Tomé and Príncipe, located about apart and about , respectively, off...
: STP-00-00 - Portuguese TimorEast TimorThe Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
: T-00-00 and latter TP-00-00
With some minor differences, these systems are still in use in São Tomé and Príncipe, Mozambique, Macau, and Angola. Cape Verde has adapted the system to use different two-letter codes for each island.