Vehicle registration plates of the European Union

Vehicle registration plates of the European Union are the mandatory number plates used to display the registration mark of a vehicle in the respective Member States. Most motor vehicles which are used on public roads are required by law to display them.

The common EU format of having a blue section on the left with EU stars and the country code was introduced by Council Regulation (EC) No 2411/98 of 3 November 1998 and entered into force on the November 11, 1998. It was based on a model registration plate which several member states had introduced, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

(1991), Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

(1992), and Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

(1994).

The EU format is optional in Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

and the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

implemented the EU format on a voluntary basis in 2009.

Within the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

, motorists with vehicles registered in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

may use number plates featuring the national flag

National flag

A national flag is a flag that symbolizes a country. The flag is flown by the government, but usually can also be flown by citizens of the country.Both public and private buildings such as schools and courthouses may fly the national flag...

of England

Flag of England

The Flag of England is the St George's Cross . The red cross appeared as an emblem of England during the Middle Ages and the Crusades and is one of the earliest known emblems representing England...

, Scotland

Flag of Scotland

The Flag of Scotland, , also known as Saint Andrew's Cross or the Saltire, is the national flag of Scotland. As the national flag it is the Saltire, rather than the Royal Standard of Scotland, which is the correct flag for all individuals and corporate bodies to fly in order to demonstrate both...

and Wales

Flag of Wales

The Flag of Wales consists of a red dragon passant on a green and white field. As with many heraldic charges, the exact representation of the dragon is not standardised and many renderings exist....

, or alternatively the Union Flag

Union Flag

The Union Flag, also known as the Union Jack, is the flag of the United Kingdom. It retains an official or semi-official status in some Commonwealth Realms; for example, it is known as the Royal Union Flag in Canada. It is also used as an official flag in some of the smaller British overseas...

, together with the code name "ENG" for England, "SCO" for Scotland, "Wales" or "CYM" for Wales, "GB" for Great Britain or "UK" for United Kingdom respectively. Although not officially recognised outside the UK, they are authorised by the DVLA. However, motorists with vehicles registered in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

fall within the jurisdiction of the Driver & Vehicle Agency

Driver & Vehicle Agency

The Driver & Vehicle Agency is a government agency of the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment. It was created in early 2007 through the merger of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Northern Ireland and the Driver and Vehicle Testing Agency .The merger brought together roles which are...

, which does not permit a similar scheme to operate in Northern Ireland; only the optional EU format, (featuring in this case the letters GB), being permitted.

List

Member state	Abbr. Abbreviation An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase...	Example
	A Austrian car number plates - Appearance :The license plates are made of metal. On the left there is a blue bar like in other EU countries ; the text is in black letters on a white background. On the top and bottom, there are red-white-red stripes, which are the national colors of Austria...
	B Belgian car number plates Number plates in Belgium are driver specific. If you trade in your old car for a new one, you keep your old number plate.The rear license plate is state supplied, while the front license plate is owner supplied. This has its influence on the look of the front license plate which can be identical to...
	BG Bulgarian car number plates The standard Bulgarian license plate consists of a blue vertical strip on the left side of the plate containing either the flag of Bulgaria or that of the EU and the country code of Bulgaria , always followed on a white surface, using black font, by the one- or two-letter province code, four...
	CY
	CZ
	DK
	EST
	FIN Finnish car number plates Finnish car number plates usually carry three letters and three numbers separated with a dash, though vanity plates may carry just one of each. Since 1989 the code has no connection with the geographic location, except that Åland has its own type of plate...
	F French vehicle registration plates As of 14 April 2009, all French vehicle registration plates are issued using the XX-NNN-ZZ format, successfully introduced in Italy in 1994, composed of a series of 7 alphanumeric characters, made up of 2 letters, 3 numbers, and then 2 letters . There is no longer a local département code as in the...
	D German car number plates German car number plates show the place where the car carrying them is registered. Whenever German citizens change their main place of residence in Germany, they are required to buy new number plates. Number plates can be bought which are valid all year round or between 2 to 11 months within any...
	GBZ
	GR Greek car number plates Greek vehicle registration plates are composed of three letters and four digits per plate . The letters represent the district that issues the plates while the numbers begin from 1000 to 9999...
	H Hungarian car numbers Number plates in Hungary have a white background with black letters. Usually a three-letter combination is followed by a three-number combination. Plates issued before 1990 were in the format AA▪12▪34. Plates issued between 1990 and May 1, 2004, when Hungary joined the European Union had the...
	IRL Irish vehicle registration plates Registration marks on number plates in Ireland issued since 1987 have the format YY-CC-SSSSSS where the components are:* YY — a 2-digit year * CC — a 1- or 2-character county identifier Registration marks on number plates in Ireland issued since 1987 have the format YY-CC-SSSSSS where...
	I Italian car number plates Present Italian car number plates have black characters on a rectangular white background, with small blue side-fields on the right and left...
	LV
	LT
	L
	M
	NL Dutch vehicle registration plates Dutch vehicle registrations are issued by the national road traffic agency, the Rijksdienst voor het Wegverkeer . Vehicle registration plates are assigned bearing the same "number" as that shown on the vehicle's registration document...
	PL Polish car number plates In common with many countries, Polish car number plates indicate the region of registration of the vehicle encoded in the number plate.-General:...
	P
	RO Romanian car number plates The standard Romanian license plate consists of a blue vertical strip on the left side of the plate displaying the 12 stars of the European Union and the country code of Romania , always followed on a white surface, using black font, by the county code and a combination of two or three digits and...
	SK Slovak car registration plates Vehicles registered in Slovakia are generally assigned to one of the districts and since 1997, the licence plate coding generally consists of 7 characters and takes the form XX-NNNLL, where XX is a two letter code corresponding to the district, NNN is three digit number and LL are two letters...
	SLO
	E Spanish car number plates Vehicle registration plates of Spain currently use the format nnnn LLL where:* nnnn is a sequence number from 0000 to 9999,* LLL is a "counter" comprising three letters, which increments after the sequence number reaches 9999. The vowels A, E, I, O and U, plus Q and the special Spanish letter Ñ,...
	S Swedish car number plates Vehicle registration plates of Sweden are used for most types of vehicles and have three letters first and three digits after, if read from the left. The combination is simply a serial and has no connection with a geographic location, although the last digit shows what month the car has to undergo...
	GB British car number plates Vehicle registration plates are the mandatory number plates used to display the registration mark of a vehicle, and have existed in the United Kingdom since 1904...

Motorcycle plates

These are used for motorcycles and vehicles where mounting space is an issue, such as taxis which display their licence plate beside the registration plate, and vehicles imported from countries where the mounting space was not originally designed to take European-sized plates (e.g. USA).

Member state	Abbr. Abbreviation An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase...	Example
	F French vehicle registration plates As of 14 April 2009, all French vehicle registration plates are issued using the XX-NNN-ZZ format, successfully introduced in Italy in 1994, composed of a series of 7 alphanumeric characters, made up of 2 letters, 3 numbers, and then 2 letters . There is no longer a local département code as in the...
	D German car number plates German car number plates show the place where the car carrying them is registered. Whenever German citizens change their main place of residence in Germany, they are required to buy new number plates. Number plates can be bought which are valid all year round or between 2 to 11 months within any...
	I Italian car number plates Present Italian car number plates have black characters on a rectangular white background, with small blue side-fields on the right and left...
	LV Vehicle registration plates of Latvia Vehicle registration plates of Latvia consist two letters , a hyphen and one to four numbers e.g. AB-1234, or AB-123, or AB-12 or AB-1.- Colour and dimensions :...
	PL
	SLO
	E Spanish car number plates Vehicle registration plates of Spain currently use the format nnnn LLL where:* nnnn is a sequence number from 0000 to 9999,* LLL is a "counter" comprising three letters, which increments after the sequence number reaches 9999. The vowels A, E, I, O and U, plus Q and the special Spanish letter Ñ,...
	S Swedish car number plates Vehicle registration plates of Sweden are used for most types of vehicles and have three letters first and three digits after, if read from the left. The combination is simply a serial and has no connection with a geographic location, although the last digit shows what month the car has to undergo...
	GB British car number plates Vehicle registration plates are the mandatory number plates used to display the registration mark of a vehicle, and have existed in the United Kingdom since 1904...

List

Motorcycle plates

See also