License plate (Austria)

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This article deals with license plates in Austria .

Austrian license plates since 1990

License plate example (since 2002)
License plate example (1990-2002)
License plate example vehicle with electric drive (since 2017)
License plate example motorcycle (since 2002)

In 1988 it was decided to introduce new license plates in Austria. The first new number plates were issued in Tyrol from mid-November 1989; nationwide, from January 1, 1990, only new number plates were issued.

Basics

License plates are public documents. It is forbidden to change the license plates and to attach devices with which the license plate of a vehicle can be completely or partially covered or made illegible. If the number plate on a number plate is no longer clearly legible, the registered owner must request a new number plate; this applies mutatis mutandis to the coat of arms. If it is a white number plate without an EU emblem, new number plates with an EU emblem must be issued. If, however, it is an old black license plate, the registered holder must be assigned a new license plate if the license is valid and new license plates must be issued. License plates according to the old scheme (see #Disclosing license plates ) are still valid.

Systematics

The numbering scheme is made up of a "distinctive sign" and a "prefix". The distinctive sign consists of one or two letters and identifies administrative district (political district), statutory city , state government or federal authorities; The prefix consists of a combination of digits and letters and is assigned in ascending order.

License plates have black writing on a white background and narrow red-white-red marginal strips above and below. On motorcycles, the license plate is embossed in white on a red background. Since April 1, 2017, the license plate has been embossed in green letters on a white background for vehicles with a purely electric drive. The license plates must consist of Latin letters and Arabic numerals. Since November 2002, the license plates have a blue field with a white "A" under the EU star ring on the left. These license plates replace the international distinctive sign when driving within the EU, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Before November 1, 2002, blue stickers with the EU symbol for license plates were on the market. In principle, their use represents license plate manipulation, but they were tolerated by decree of the Ministry of Transport.

Some motorcycle owners cut off non-writing edge parts of license plates to save air resistance and space, which was occasionally punished by the police, during which a narrow folding of the sheet was tolerated. Since April 2005, license plates have generally been issued for motorcycles in a smaller format (with smaller font).

coat of arms

Identification letters and prefixes are separated by an emblem:

Federal authority mark (Bundesheer) with the Austrian federal coat of arms
Federal authority license plate (Bundesbusdienst) with the Austrian federal coat of arms
Diplomatic license plate of the Chilean ambassador in Vienna
License plate of the financial administration with the Austrian federal coat of arms
Fire brigade license plate with the corps badge of the fire brigades
  • With normal license plates it is the state coat of arms of the respective federal state and underneath the name of the federal state in black block letters. Only the coat of arms on Carinthia's license plates does not exactly match that of the state coat of arms .
  • For official vehicles of federal authorities, it is the federal coat of arms .
  • A hyphen acts as a separator for the diplomatic corps and consular corps .
  • From 2020, fire brigade vehicles will have their own subject area identifier , starting with FW-, followed by the fire brigade corps badge and a number and the identifier of the respective district.

Dimensions

License plates - mostly in a rectangular landscape format with rounded corners - have the following dimensions (width × height):

  • Single line: 520 × 120 mm, font height 67 mm (and therefore a little higher than usual in the EU because of the red, white and red border)
  • Two lines: 300 × 200 mm, font height 67 mm
  • Motorbike: 250 × 200 mm or since April 2005: 210 × 170 mm
  • Motorbike ( moped ): 115 × 150 mm (red with white lettering and white border or white with green lettering for vehicles with electric drive) - pentagonal: the lower edge is formed by two bevels that come together in a fifth corner
  • Oldtimer: 460 × 120 mm, font height 67 mm

License plates

The dimensions, the technical characteristics, the optical design, the reflective values ​​and the test methods to be used as well as the fee for the individual types of license plates are determined in accordance with Appendix 5e (to Section 25d). a.

  • A. License plate types and formats
    • A.1. Dimensions and text fields
    • A.2.1. Manufacturer's mark
    • A.2.2. Heraldic plaques
    • A.3. Shape and size of the characters
  • B. Materials and test properties
  • C. Charges for types of license plates

Code letter list

The code letters are regulated in the current version of the Motor Vehicle Act Implementation Ordinance 1967 .

Vehicles for high federal and state officials as well as state institutions

For vehicles for use by certain groups of people, the identifier consists of the letter A.

License plate of the Federal President
Label A 2

According to Section 53 of the Motor Vehicle Act, the license plates of motor vehicles that are used for the Federal President's journeys on festive occasions can be covered or replaced by plates with the federal coat of arms.

Austria map with license plate

For vehicles for use by senior state officials, the identifier consists of the following letters:

  • B0 Burgenland Wappen.svg Burgenland
  • K0 Kaernten shield CoA.svg Carinthia
  • N0 Lower Austria CoA.svg Lower Austria
  • O0 Upper Austria coat of arms.svg Upper Austria
  • S0 Salzburg Wappen.svg Salzburg
  • ST Styria Wappen.svg Styria
  • T0 AUT Tyrol COA.svg Tyrol
  • V0 Vorarlberg CoA.svg Vorarlberg
  • W0 Vienna Wappen.svg Vienna

The identifiers for the "factual areas", which are state institutions such as the police, army, post office, customs station, etc. have been taken over unchanged from the old system (see below → Expiring identifiers ) or supplemented with useful abbreviations ( FVfor financial management since 2005).

All district and authority letters with coat of arms

A.

B.

D.

E.

F.

G

H

I.

J

K

L.

M.

N

O

P

R.

S.

T

  • T AUT Tyrol COA.svgState of Tyrol
  • TA Salzburg Wappen.svg Tamsweg
  • TD - Diplomatic Corps in Tyrol
  • TK - Consular corps in Tyrol
  • TU Lower Austria CoA.svg Tulln (compare WUand KG)

U

V

W.

Z

LPD = State Police Directorate

Prefix

Requirements

Normal prefixes must contain four to five characters, with only one identification letter five to six characters. There are always four characters for license plates for temporary registrations (customs license plates), and four or five characters for trial license plates and transfer license plates.

  • Prefixes must start with a digit and end with a letter.
  • All numbers and all letters must be in closed blocks; "Mixing" numbers and letters is not permitted. Only capital letters may be used; the use of the letter “Q” and the umlauts Ä, Ö and Ü is not permitted.
  • The number “0” in the first position in the number block is not permitted; likewise the letter "O" in the first place in the letter block (unless it is an identifier for officials or state institutions).
  • Four- and five-digit number blocks are without a thousand point.
Examples
  • KI – 12 AB for a license plate for the Kirchdorf district (Upper Austria)
  • Permissible combinations are:
    • KI – 1 AAA to KI – 99 ZZZ
    • KI – 10 AA to KI – 999 ZZ
    • KI – 100 A to KI – 9999 Z
  • Permissible combinations for Vienna are:
    • W – 10 AAA to W – 999 ZZZ
    • W – 100 AA to W – 9999 ZZ
    • W – 1000 A to W – 99999 Z

In the case of two-line license plates, moped and motorcycle license plates as well as trial and transfer license plates, four or five characters are sufficient in the prefix; there are always four characters in the case of signs for temporary registrations (customs signs). For single-line vintage license plates, three characters are sufficient, in the provincial capitals and in Vienna four characters; the only letter is always an "H".

Special features of two-line license plates

License plate example with or without line break
Moped license plate with line break

With two-line license plates, four or five characters are always sufficient; a multi-digit block of numbers or letters can be separated by a line break - even with desired labels.

Award of the first series

First series prefixes had to contain at least one digit and one letter. The authorities proceeded very differently when assigning the first license plates. For each federal state it was clear whether there were one, two or three letters at the end. The number pad was correspondingly shorter. Together with the distinguishing sign there were six characters (exception in the federal capital Vienna: seven characters).

The first registration district that required another position in the prefix was the Salzburg-Umgebung (SL) district. In the Innsbruck-Land district , the four-digit prefix was followed by IL 9 ZZZthe five-digit IL 11 AAA.

While Vienna began with W 10000 A(only one letter), the Styrian prefixes began with three letters:

  • BM 1 AAA
  • G 10 AAA

In Styria, the first place in letters was changed first: after WZ 9 AAAcame WZ 1 BAA.

Several series were used in Upper Austria from 1990 to 1999. In the cities of Wels and Steyr as well as all districts, there were initial prefixes with three digits and one letter, then with two digits and two letters:

  • LL 100 B to LL 999 Z
  • LL 10 AB to LL 99 ZZ

In the more populous districts of Braunau am Inn, Gmunden, Linz-Land, Vöcklabruck and Wels-Land, the series with one number and three letters was also used:

  • LL 1 AAB to LL 9 ZZZ

In the provincial capital Linz, prefixes with four digits and one letter L 1000 Bbis were L 9999 Zused. The final letters A, AAand AAAare still reserved for official and emergency vehicles in Upper Austria.

Award of the second series

With the introduction of approval by the insurers (1999), the systems of the first series were extended by one symbol (except for Vienna) and standardized:

  • I 1234 AB / I 123 AB
  • IL 123 AB

Letter combinations for vehicles with special uses

Some authorities (especially in the larger cities) reserve certain letter combinations for vehicles with special uses as part of the system. Such labels (“label sub-series”) are announced in ordinances that are announced in official gazettes of the authorities, for example in the Grazer Zeitung.

While Vienna had this marking from the beginning, other federal states made it mandatory for taxis only later, so that existing permits are also affected. (Most recently 2013 Carinthia). One reason for this is the monitoring of bus lanes, hospital driveways and the like. The clearly recognizable license plate is intended to prevent misuse, for example. B. a TAXI sign become impossible.

Example of a certain combination of letters for vehicles with special use: license plate of the BF series for the Graz professional fire brigade
Indicator for the F reiwillige F your weir from the (former). District Fürstenfeld
Historic vehicle (since 2019, single letter "H")
License plate of the TX series for taxis
A0 Preferred road users, e.g. B. Official vehicles of the state authorities, Red Cross, ... (L – 1234 A)
BB Federal Railway (W-1234 BB)
BE funeral (W-1234 BE)
BF professional fire brigade (G – 122 BF), in Graz before that also BFG
BH District Authority (DL – 100 BH)
EW power station (W-1234 EW)
FF Volunteer Fire Brigade (FF – 10 FF)
FW fire department (AM-12 FW)
GE Municipal vehicles (SW – 10 GE)
GT Commercial freight transport (W – 1234 GT)
GW gas works (W – 1234 GW)
H0 Historic vehicles (voluntary since 2019)
IBK City of Innsbruck (I – 504 IBK)
KP Rented commercial small transport vehicles (W – 1234 KP)
KT Small commercial transports (W – 1234 KT)
LM rental car (W-1234 LM) (probably based on a limousine )
LO line buses (W-1234 LO)
LR state government (P-123 LR)
LT Taxi (W-1234 LT)
LV State Administration (I – 110 LV)
MA vehicle of a magistrate (W-2412 MA)
MW rental car (P – 123 MW)
RD Rescue Service (Ambulance) (ME-100 RD)
RK Red Cross (WN – 12 RK)
T0 Taxi (S-123 T, ZE-1234 T)
TX Taxi (W-1234 TX, SW-12 TX, KU-100 TX; series up to KU-99 TX, however, are motorcycle license plates )
VB Verkehrsbetriebe, vehicle of Wiener Linien GmbH & Co KG , if it is not a line bus (e.g. operational inspection , auxiliary and maintenance vehicles, etc.) (W-1234 VB)

After the coat of arms or hyphen, all official and diplomatic license plates only consist of up to five digits.

Example:

N Niederösterreich CoA.svg 1 Governor of Lower Austria
TK – 10 Consular corps in the state of Tyrol

Police license plate

Police license plates according to the new scheme
Police license plates according to the old scheme

After the merger of the police and gendarmerie , new numbering was gradually introduced, which has not yet been completed. Whereas in the past only three or four-digit combinations of numbers were common after the license plate, the new scheme now means that the number combinations are always five-digit. The first digit determines the responsible state police department, whereby the LPDs are sorted alphabetically. This is also the number in the ISO_3166-2 federal state code . This results in the following characteristics:

Example / state
  • BP– 1 8888 - Burgenland
  • BP– 2 8888 - Carinthia
  • BP– 3 8888 - Lower Austria
  • BP– 4 8888 - Upper Austria
  • BP - 5 8888 - Salzburg
  • BP- 6 8888 - Styria
  • BP - 7 8888 - Tyrol
  • BP - 8 8888 - Vorarlberg
  • BP - 9 8888 - Vienna

Municipal guard vehicles do not have official license plates like the federal police. They wear the usual license plates of the respective district or custom license plates. So has z. B. the city police Kufstein with a vehicle KU-POL 1.

Number plate of your choice (desired number plate)

Desired license plate

In Austria license plates of your own choice are possible, for which the registered owner can apply for any combination of letters and numbers as a prefix. It was introduced in 1990 after the issue of “old” black license plates ended in favor of white license plates. (Section 48a  KVG , 12th Amendment to the Motor Vehicle Act, July 15, 1988).

Desired combinations

The prefixes consist of a combination of letters and digits, in reverse to normal marks. The letter section consists of one to five letters, all letters from A to Z except the Q can be chosen. A number from 1 to 99999 is used as part of the number ( leading zeros are not permitted). The total length of the label including the distinctive sign must be four to seven characters.

Examples
  • GM–HANS 1 for a custom license plate from the Gmunden district
  • W–A 12345 for a custom license plate from Vienna

The desired combination can be rejected by the authority, for example National Socialist abbreviations. In 2015, together with the Mauthausen Committee, the Ministry of Transport created a list of Nazi codes and banned custom license plates by decree. This decree concerns the new issue and renewal of the license plates. Applicable marks are not yet affected, but not extended.

Reservation and costs

The reservation or assignment of a custom license plate can also be requested online from some of the issuing authorities.

Custom license plates are associated with a special fee, this is (as of October 2015) 228.30 euros and consists of:

  • Contribution to the Austrian Road Safety Fund: 200 euros
  • Administrative costs: 14 euros
  • Application costs: 14.30 euros

plus when you pick it up: 21 euros for the license plate

This reservation is valid for 15 years and can then be extended by paying another EUR 214 (= EUR 200 levy + EUR 14 administration costs). This money goes to the Road Safety Fund, a fund for endowing projects in the field of road safety.

A reservation for a custom license plate cannot be transferred to another person and therefore cannot be sold or given away. The same applies to legal persons . Custom license plates are not possible for authorities and diplomats.

validity

  • Before the 15-year period has expired, you can voluntarily waive your desired license plate, in which case the desired license plate must be exchanged for a normal license plate.
  • If the vehicle is deregistered or registration is revoked within the 15-year period, the right to use the license plate number remains unaffected.
  • After the 15-year period has expired, the following options arise:
    • Extension of the old custom license plate for another 15 years
    • Applying for a different license plate
    • Switch to a standard license plate

If the old license plate is not extended by the deadline and no other license plate is requested, the desired license plate must be exchanged for a normal license plate.

If you waive the desired license plate, only the fees for the new standard license plates have to be paid. No new approval has to be carried out.

Desired license plates are also valid for the full term of 15 years if the letter abbreviation for the respective district has been omitted. In the course of the merging of districts in Styria, the code letters of the former districts were omitted. This means that the standard license plates lose their validity in the event of a change of registration, while the desired license plates can also be transferred to other vehicles.

The desired number plate is limited to the sphere of activity of the authorizing authority. In the event of a change of address in the responsibility of another licensing authority, the desired number is not transferable.

License plates for special purposes

According to Section 49 (4) KFG, license plates for special purposes have a different-colored background with white instead of black writing and no blue stripe with an EU emblem on the left edge:

Test drive license plate
  • Blue (para. 4 line 3) for test drive license plates with approval, especially from repair shops and vehicle dealers. The attachment of these license plates to the motor vehicles may be made provisionally. The use of this license plate is generally only permitted when driving in Austria.
    Exceptions:
    In Germany and Hungary, a copy of the test drive must be carried with you (applies there as a normal registration certificate).
    A separate motor vehicle liability insurance must be taken out in Liechtenstein.
    In Switzerland and Italy: no additional requirements
    Blue license plates are only issued to commercial enterprises, the green transfer license plates are provided for private trips abroad (see below). A vehicle can be handed over to a prospective buyer for a maximum of 72 hours. Test drive license plates may not be used for private purposes.
Indicator for a
temporary admission
Transfer / export indicator
Trailer or deck license plate
  • Blue with a red stripe at the right end (para. 4 line 3) for temporary registrations (authorization for a maximum of one year if a private person has their normal place of residence (main residence) or a company does not have its registered office in Austria - corresponds to the customs license plates of other countries ).
  • Green (para. 4, line 4) for transfer indicators for transfers from home to abroad. The attachment of these plates may be made provisionally.
  • Red (para. 4 line 2) in normal size
    • for " trailers with foreign license plates that are to be towed with a motor vehicle with Austrian license plates" - although mandatory according to § 83 KFG - "if the applicant demonstrates that he has to carry out transports from abroad to Germany" (para. 3 no . 1). The red license plate with the license plate of the towing vehicle must be the foreign license plate cover (not to be confused with top marks for special motor vehicles according to § 48 paragraph 1 last sentence KFG.);
    • for "trailers not approved for traffic, which are to be towed with a motor vehicle with Austrian license plates, if the applicant can substantiate that the trailer is to be towed with the motor vehicle abroad" (para. 3 line 2);
    • For bicycle carriers mounted on the trailer coupling : With this type of bicycle transport, the rear license plate is often covered by the carrier itself or by the load. The remedy was to remove the license plate from the vehicle and reassemble it at the intended location on the carrier, up to the legal regulation in the legal gray area. With the 28th amendment to the KFG, the loophole in the law was closed and paragraph 3, item 3, made it possible to issue a third number plate for the motor vehicle in question, which can be permanently mounted on the bicycle rack. The legal wording was not clear, however, as a red number plate according to Paragraph 4 Z. 2 (in addition to the above-mentioned motorcycles and four-wheeled light vehicles) was expressly intended only for trailers according to Paragraph 3. This ambiguity has been eliminated with the addition of Paragraph 8 to Section 49, which has been in force since February 2013: On the one hand, it is now expressly permitted to re-assemble the rear label of the "towing vehicle" on the bicycle carrier mounted on the trailer coupling (line 1), provided that it is on this Appropriate devices for recording and illuminating the license plate are available. On the other hand, the issue of a red license plate with the license plate number of the vehicle is clarified for the bicycle carrier (line 2 in conjunction with paragraph 3 line 3). Although the red plates are official plates that may only be issued by the registration offices, the plates are not recognized in many (neighboring) countries. a. Also in Germany.

  • Red (para. 4, line 2) in a reduced pentagonal design with a white border (or white with green letters and a green border for e-vehicles) for motorcycles and four-wheeled light vehicles "moped license plates". Mopeds (motorcycles) and four-wheeled light vehicles ( microcars ) only have a small red or white plate with white or green two-line writing on the back. The reservation numbering system is the same as for the other vehicles, mostly four-digit reservation numbers are assigned (five-digit in Vienna).

  • Standard license plate for mopeds (Vienna)

  • License plate for mopeds with electric drive (Feldkirch, Vorarlberg)

  • Test drive license plate (Dornbirn, Vorarlberg)

  • Custom license plate (former Fürstenfeld district)

  • Desired license plates are also possible for license plates for special purposes (§ 26 Paragraph 6 Z. 3), the maximum length of the prefix is ​​included
    • for transfer registration plates one character shorter than for white custom registration plates
    • four characters for license plates for temporarily registered vehicles

Change indicator

A variable number plate can be used in Austria by the registered owner for up to three different vehicles of the same class (motorcycle, car, truck, etc.) if they have been officially approved for this purpose. The two license plates, which are issued as interchangeable license plates, may only be used on one of the approved vehicles at the same time. The other vehicles may not be parked on public traffic areas without license plates.

Vehicles without license plates

Vehicles that cannot be driven faster than 10 km / h, wagons and unauthorized trailers do not require license plates because they are not required to be registered. Instead, a rectangular white board with the inscription "10 km" (formerly: "9 km") must be attached to the rear, which declares the maximum speed allowed.

It is often wrongly assumed that vehicles or trailers without license plates can be parked on roads with public traffic. But this is only allowed with a special permit, which you can hardly get, especially in cities.

Horse-drawn carriages

From 1693 and in modern times again from 2011, Fiaker carriages in Vienna, and earlier - since April 2000 - also in Salzburg , have mandatory number plates that can only be read from the back.

Expiring license plates

Systematics

License plate from 1947 to 1990
Motorcycle license plate
Army license plate
Small motorcycle license plate with reflective bar
Trailer license plate with red border
License plate from 1972 to 1990 with letters in the hundreds
Test drive license plate
Moped license plate

From 1947, tables were issued in the same form as they were customary in March 1938 (after the annexation to the German Reich, before the conversion to the Reich German system) (black background, white lettering, no coat of arms). The old number series of the individual authorities that were valid before 1939 were used again. Two-line license plates were separated after the thousand digit and executed without a thousand point.

Vehicles that are currently registered with a license plate according to this system and with "black" license plates can continue to be used with this license as long as nothing changes in the license.

Country code from 1947

From 1967 on, state institutions were also assigned their own code letters:

The letter combination EX ( executive ) intended for the police and gendarmerie has not been implemented by law.

Vehicles of the diplomatic corps were given the registration number WD with reference to the federal capital Vienna.
Vehicles of the consular corps were also given a K according to the federal state registration number , but in Upper Austria and Styria according to the mark of the state capital, i.e. LK or GK .

For special purposes, license plates with a different colored background were introduced:

  • black with yellow-red reflective bar for small motorcycles
  • black with red border for trailers
  • blue for test drives
  • blue with red stripe on the right for temporary approvals (customs license plate)
  • green for transfer trips
  • red for foreign trailers that are pulled by an Austrian towing vehicle, as well as for motorcycles .

Prefix

At first only numbers were allowed. After not enough numbers were available, from October 1, 1972, one of the following letters (which did not appear in the system before) were assigned in place of the first digit of the prefix (hundreds of digits): A, C, E, J , M, R, U, X, Y, Z. Example: N 11.A02, N 11.C99 etc. (6th amendment to the KDV 1967)
From January 23, 1981, all letters except B, I, O , Q and W, taken. (11th amendment to the KDV 1967)

Number series of the individual authorities

Burgenland

These series were expanded by adding 10,000 and 100,000 respectively.

Examples for the Jennersdorf district: B 7.199; B 17.199; B 117.199

Lower Austria

These series were expanded by adding 30,000, 60,000, 90,000 and 100,000 respectively.

Examples for the Amstetten district: N 1.312; N 31,312; N 61,312; N 91,312; N 101,312; N 131,312; N 161.312
LPD = State Police Directorate

Salzburg

  • 000001-29,999; 100,000-129,999, 200,000-229,999; 300,000-329,999; 400,000–429,000 Federal Police Directorate Salzburg Salzburg
  • 30,000-49,000; 130,000–149,000 district administration Salzburg-Umgebung (Flachgau)
  • 50,000-59,000; 150,000–159,000 district administration Hallein (Tennengau)
  • 60,000-69,000; 160,000–169,000 District Commission Sankt Johann im Pongau (Pongau)
  • 70,000-89,000; 170,000–189,000 District Authority Zell am See (Pinzgau)
  • 90,000-99,000; District authority Tamsweg (Lungau)

Other federal states

The number systems are structured in a similar way as explained above

This number system is still used today by some institutions or administrative units as a district code (e.g. Red Cross Lower Austria , fire brigade or N.Ö. district health insurance fund  )

Letters in the numeric keypad

In Vienna, and also in the cities of Linz and Graz, 999,999 numbers each were sufficient, which were essentially assigned one after the other.

Since only characteristic groups and sequences of series of thousands were assigned to each district in the (eight) federal states with somewhat different systematics from country to country, it was quickly possible to use the number plates - namely from the digits to the left of the thousand point - with a little local knowledge District can be recognized.

The six-digit state number ranges for some districts were exhausted so much earlier than with complete number allocation.

Instead of laboriously reissuing old prefixes that had long been returned, the decision was made to create new series by mutating the hundreds digit to a letter. Even the letter "A" in the hundreds expands the number range by 10%, so for a single thousand (such as "N 19.xxx" "for Tulln) there are a hundred additional numbers (" N 19.Axx ").

For better reading, memorizing and noting, letters that were already used to identify countries or cities were eliminated, and even more difficult to distinguish between countries, such as F, G, H.

Such license plates with a letter from (A, C, E, J, R, U) were issued in several districts of Lower Austria, Styria and Linz-Land (Upper Austria). In Innsbruck-Land (T), however, letters from the series (A, C, D, E, F, H) and only after the 12 were used as a number in the thousands.

Output of the license plate

In Austria, a vehicle is generally registered with those authorities that are responsible for the residence of the registered owner or for the permanent location of the vehicle ( district authorities , municipal authorities in cities with their own statutes, police headquarters ). The administrative act of approval including issuing and return of the license plates was carried out there until February 28, 1998.

On March 1, 1998, these activities were transferred to the local insurance company registration offices. Such a registration office can be authorized to register vehicles from up to eleven administrative authorities. You can also reorder license plates that have been damaged, for example, and therefore need to be replaced.

Black license plates in circulation

Since January 1, 1990, no more black plates have been issued. According to Statistics Austria and VVO (Insurance Association Austria), 220,000 black license plates were still registered in mid-2014. That was around three percent of the vehicle fleet.

In 2019, according to Wiener Städtische Versicherung, there were 165,000 “black tables”. Most of the time, black license plates are still registered with the following authorities (three per federal state; without information for the official license plates and the entire Burgenland):

authority number
BH Neusiedl am See 2,451
BH Eisenstadt-Umgebung 1,558
Bra Oberwart 1,548
Bra Spittal an der Drau 2,946
LPD * Klagenfurt 1,324
BH Völkermarkt 1,232
BH Mistelbach 4,860
Bra Amstetten 4.122
BH Gänserndorf 3,875
BH Braunau am Inn 3.163
Bra Vöcklabruck 3,092
BH Grieskirchen 2,788
BH Salzburg-Umgebung 2,501
BH Sankt Johann im Pongau 1,273
BH Zell am See 0.936
BH Südoststeiermark 5,268
BH Hartberg-Fürstenfeld 3,091
BH Deutschlandsberg 3,022
LPD * Innsbruck 1,966
BH Kufstein 1,605
BH Innsbruck 1,472
BH Bregenz 2,307
BH Feldkirch 1,331
BH Bludenz 0.944
state number
Carinthia 11,910
Lower Austria 49.287
Upper Austria 33.161
Salzburg 06,883
Styria 30,178
Tyrol 09,433
Vorarlberg 05,355
Vienna 09,674
* State Police Directorate

Return of the license plate

Austrian license plates are public documents that have to be purchased by the registered owner, but after they have been used they have to be returned to the authorities for destruction. So it is not possible to collect old tablets.

Vehicle change

When changing vehicle, the license plate usually remains with the owner and is transferred to another vehicle. In the past, when the owner changed, a new number had to be assigned, even if the old owner did not want to keep "his" number. However, it is now possible to adopt the license plate. However, all of this only applies if the area code remains the same. If the existing license plates are still without a blue field when the vehicle is changed, new " vehicle license plates with EU identification " must be ordered in good time when the license plate is transferred to another vehicle .

An expiring license plate can only be transferred to another vehicle if it is a desired license plate.

Manufacturing

The license plates are manufactured by a number of licensed companies on request from the authorities, who manufacture the boards with large security requirements individually (desired license plates, repeat orders) or in series (new registrations).

Trivia

Archduke Eugen with the first official Viennese license plate

Archduke Eugen received the first official Viennese license plate with the registration number A 1 in 1906.

In Linz around 1980 company cars of the management levels of the two large industrial companies of the nationalized VÖEST and Chemie Linz had numbers from the L 8.xxx and L 6.xxx series.

Before the new license plates were introduced in 1988, the population was presented with several suggestions for selection. Among them there was also a version that, based on the American model, had a slogan such as: Vienna is different, Graz has it, it starts in Linz, ...

Versions with the old colors white on black were not available, although there was a group that campaigned for these colors to be retained. Among them was Friedensreich Hundertwasser , who himself designed new license plates in these colors. After one argument for the introduction of the white color was the larger reflective surface, the Hundertwasser design had larger letters. These would not have allowed custom license plates with the length that is now possible. A few copies of this proposal were also made and sold or raffled. However, his initiative did not come until 1989, after the decision in Parliament, although it was well received, it came too late. Transport Minister Rudolf Streicher stuck to the decision.

The city of Schladming protested against the GB license plate for the Gröbming branch , which falls within this area of ​​responsibility and did not want the abbreviation for the smaller market town on the license plate. An application was made to use a neutral abbreviation such as DT for Dachstein-Tauern Region. However, this was rejected with the note that all abbreviations are assigned after the name of the competent authority, i.e. the name of the district or the respective city. The same argument was made with regard to the Salzburg district. There is also a deviation in the Salzburg-Umgebung district , for example , it has the license plate SL , although SU would be correct.

Rust is the only statutory city that does not have its own distinctive sign, but uses the distinctive sign E , as there is a joint licensing authority for the cities of Rust and Eisenstadt with the Burgenland State Police Directorate (formerly: Federal Police Directorate Eisenstadt).
Conversely, the cities of Leoben and Schwechat have their own distinctive signs, although they are neither statutory cities nor districts, since the responsible state police department is responsible for the areas of these two municipalities, but not for the rest of the respective district. From April 2020,
Klosterneuburg (city, branch of BH  Tulln ) received its own distinctive sign with KG (formerly: TU or until 2016 WU ). This was requested by a municipal council resolution in December 2017 on the grounds of simplifying monitoring of parking space management (privileges for community residents) and approved by the Ministry of Transport in December 2019.

The abolition of the federal police headquarters on September 1, 2012 and their reorganization into state police headquarters had no effect on the code letters. Although there is only one state police department per federal state, the police commissioners set up as branch offices of the state police departments were treated as separate authorities - analogous to the Gröbming political branch - to determine the number plates . Since there is no police station in Rust, there is still no separate ID for this city.

As part of changes in the district structure, the code letters had to be changed in 2012 for the first time since the introduction of the white license plates. The abolition of the BA label for Bad Aussee in particular led to violent but ultimately unsuccessful protests.

In March 2014 it became known that since the 1990s Carinthian license plates - legally valid public documents - have been using a false heraldic version of the coat of arms. Above all, the representation of the three lions deviates significantly from the description of the coat of arms according to the state constitution.

See also

Web links

Commons : License plates of Austria  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Wrong coat of arms on Carinthian number plates". kleinezeitung.at, March 23, 2014, accessed on October 13, 2018.
  2. ↑ 78th Federal Act amending the Motor Vehicle Act 1967 (37th KFG amendment) , ris.bka.gv.at, accessed on August 26, 2019.
  3. ↑ Appendix 5e to § 25d - Entire legal regulation for the Motor Vehicle Act Implementation Ordinance 1967 (pdf, 747 KB), as amended
  4. ↑ Source: Entire legal regulation for the Motor Vehicle Act Implementation Ordinance 1967, section Identifiers for motor vehicles and trailers , as amended
  5. ↑ a b c d New Year - new Murtal district on steiermark.orf.at on January 1, 2012, accessed on August 8, 2018.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h These labels are not or rarely in use because the embassies are in Vienna. This leaves only a few cases, such as TD-1/ TD-2for the Alpine Convention .
  7. ↑ Paragraph new license plate on steiermark.orf.at on November 14, 2012, accessed on August 6, 2018.
  8. ↑ See examples W 86469A + BH 21282 on olavplates.com.
  9. ↑ Grazer Zeitung, Official Gazette for Styria, 5th issue , issued on February 1, 2013, ZDB -ID 1291268-2 , p. 62: Ordinance of the district administration of Deutschlandsberg of January 24, 2013, 11.0 / 211-1999.
  10. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Carinthia: “TX” license plate for all taxis (PDF; 5.3 MB), Hallo Taxi issue 03/2013@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.taxi60160.at
  11. ^ Wiener Klein-Transporteure: New seal of approval for more quality and a better image ots.at, Vienna Chamber of Commerce, October 13, 2016, accessed on October 13, 2018.
  12. ↑ Desired license plate . help.gv.at.
  13. ↑ "All about the custom license plate". on "Die Geldmarie", accessed on August 8, 2018.
  14. ↑ 12th Amendment to the Motor Vehicle Act, Federal Law Gazette No. 375/1988 .
  15. ^ Nazi codes on license plates abolished on ORF-Ö1 on July 23, 2015; accessed on August 8, 2018.
  16. ↑ Federal Law Gazette I No. 72/2015 : Amendment of the Motor Vehicle Act 1967 (pdf, 106 KB).
  17. ↑ Desired license plate number - application to service.salzburg.gv.at , accessed on October 18, 2015.
  18. ↑ Custom license plates for KF, JU and BA, later also: MZ, HB, FF, FB, RA can be transferred to other vehicles during the validity period (15 years). Small newspaper on October 27, 2011 (offline).
  19. ↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: test drive license plate ), WKO Salzburg.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / portal.wko.at
  20. ↑ Federal Law Gazette  I No. 57/2007, 28th KFG amendment , § 49 Paragraph 8 , July 31, 2007.
  21. ↑ The same incorrect unit of measurement "km" for speed ("km / h") was also found on road signs indicating speed limits until around 1980.
  22. ↑ tel. Info Fiaker family Winter, Salzburg. fiaker-salzburg.at
  23. ↑ Police receive "Ex" license plates . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna September 6, 1967, p. 5 , middle right ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized). .
  24. ↑ List with all old Austrian license plates and all their numerical codes (PDF; 7.7 MB).
  25. ↑ There are still 220,000 black license plates "on the way" on oesterreich.orf.at on August 6, 2014, accessed on August 6, 2018.
  26. ↑ Despite being from 30 years ago, 165,000 black tafers still “drive” on Austria's streets , OTS report from January 2, 2020
  27. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: vehicle registration number on stadtbekannt.at, accessed on February 13, 2014.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.stadtbekannt.at
  28. ↑ Note. The knowledge about the existence of these apparently reserved marks was shared behind closed doors, but not published. It is obvious that the luxury-class cars equipped with them were given a certain privilege. Cars with these numbers were sometimes parked in the pedestrian zone on the main square in front of the old town hall, the seat of the long-term mayor of the SPÖ.
  29. ↑ Questions to Friedensreich Hundertwasser . In: Der Spiegel . No. 48 , 1988 ( online interview). .
  30. ↑ Free creation of Hundertwasser license plates with the license plate generator.
  31. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: License plate: Seen in black . In: Courier on December 5, 2011.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / kurier.at
  32. ↑ "Traffic: Klosterneuburg receives its own license plate" orf.at, December 9, 2019, accessed on December 10, 2019.
  33. ↑ "KG" -Taferl for Klosterneuburg is coming! noen.at on December 9, 2019, accessed on July 16, 2020.
  34. ↑ "Taferlstreit in Ausseerland". In: Die Presse on November 12, 2011, accessed on August 8, 2018.
  35. ↑ Wrong “coat of arms on Carinthian number plates”. In: Kleine Zeitung on March 23, 2014, accessed on August 8, 2018.