License plate (Sweden)
The license plates in Sweden (Swedish registreringsskyltar for the signs, registreringsnummer for the number) have been based on a supra-regional system since 1973, in which the vehicle is assigned a serial number that remains with the vehicle even if the owner changes. The serial number consists of two blocks. The first block always consists of three letters, the second of three digits or two digits followed by a letter.
Form and structure
The license plates consist of three letters and three digits, which from AAA 001 to ZZZ 999 and from AAA 00A to ZZZ 99Z are continuously assigned by the Transportstyrelsen (formerly Vägverket ) nationwide for all of Sweden. Unlike in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, for example, they are not tied to the person of the owner and his place of residence, but to the vehicle.
Design and dimensions
Since January 2014, only Euro plates have been issued. For vehicles on which normal-sized license plates cannot be attached, reduced license plates (dimensions 300 x 110 mm) can be issued on request. Motorcycle license plates measure 170 x 150 mm. Only short-term license plates, diplomatic license plates and license plates for off-road vehicles are carried out without blue stripes. The make and vehicle identification number and the date of issue are printed in small letters to improve security.
Euro plates have been the norm since April 2003. In the case of reorders, the proportion of signs without blue stripes fell more and more and was recently only eleven percent. Since 2002, part of the vehicle identification number has also been printed in small letters on the signs. Since then, the signs have also been made of aluminum. From 1983 to 2001 plastic signs were issued in various designs. Even before that, they were made of aluminum. Since badges were abolished in 2010, there is no longer any space for them on the new plates (since 2014).
Locked combinations
The letters I, Q, V, Å, Ä and Ö are not used. Combinations of letters that may result in an offensive or eye-catching word or abbreviation, such as: B. FAN (Swedish for devil), GAY, GUD (Swedish for god), NEJ (Swedish for no), SEX or WTC (abbreviation for World Trade Center ) are not awarded. Most recently, 150 letter combinations were blocked. In October 2010, 81 of these were released as a reserve. Currently (as of October 2018) 97 combinations are blocked. The blocks only affect new registrations, so that around 12% of the actually blocked combinations are currently (as of October 2018) still assigned. These will only disappear over time through final deregistration or scrapping.
The letter combination MLB is not displayed as it is reserved for film recordings and advertising. They are borrowed from Transportstyrelsen and may not be used on public roads. The combination is also used to illustrate license plate patterns.
Number of possible labels
A total of around 39 million combinations are now possible.
With the number plates issued up to 2019 according to the model AAA 000, there were only 12 million combinations, which gradually led to a shortage of license plates. Originally only the first letters A to G were issued. Over the years the following letters were issued until all initial letters were used from October 2015. In addition, blocks of older license plates that were previously used for vehicles that have now been scrapped were reused for new vehicles. Due to the increasing number of new registrations in Sweden, it was foreseeable that the license plates of the existing system would only be sufficient for another five to seven years (as of 2015) despite the remaining reserves and the re-allocation of older license plates. In May 2015, Transportstyrelsen published the proposal to issue license plates in which the third digit is replaced by a letter (AAA 01A to ZZZ 99Z without the letter O). This change took effect on April 1, 2017. This increased the number of conceivable number combinations to 39 million. The new license plates have been issued since 2019.
License plate change
In exceptional cases, in which there are special reasons for this, the license plate can be changed on request. If the signs are stolen, a sign change can be authorized if the owner has inconvenienced due to the misuse of the stolen signs (e.g. penalties not caused by the owner). If the vehicle has a letter combination that has been blocked in the meantime, a change may also be possible. An expressly unaccepted reason is to change the final digit in order to obtain a different tax month. Even the vehicle owner's view that the combination is unsuitable is not enough.
Change of ownership
Anyone who buys a new car in Sweden must have the vehicle assigned a license plate, which then always remains on the vehicle; in the event of a resale, only the new owner has to be announced. For this reason, used vehicles are also always purchased with the license plates.
Due to the lack of a regional distinction, a change of residence of the owner or the sale of the vehicle to another administrative district does not result in a change in the registration number, only the changed owner data must be properly reported, whereupon new vehicle documents are issued for the current vehicle owner.
The signs will only be withdrawn when the vehicle is disposed of at the end of its useful life and thus finally deregistered or the vehicle is transferred to another country. It is therefore possible to precisely trace the entire history of a vehicle's ownership. It is even possible to query all data on a vehicle over the Internet. The owner can even be found out directly via SMS .
tax
The last digit of the license plate indicates the tax month ("uppbördsmånad"). If the identifier ends with a letter, the number in front of it is used. The person who owns the vehicle at the beginning of this month is liable for tax.
| Final digit | Tax month |
|---|---|
| 1 | April |
| 2 | May |
| 3 | June |
| 4th | August |
| 5 | October |
| 6th | November |
| 7th | December |
| 8th | January |
| 9 | February |
| 0 | March |
Special license plate types
License plates for taxis
Taxis are assigned license plates with a yellow background, followed by the letter T (e.g. ABC 123 T) after the normal letter-number combination . Newly issued signs from 2014 are designed as Euro plates. Older license plates were a little less wide than regular license plates and had neither an inspection sticker nor a European identification.
If a taxi is later resold as a used car, the taxi numbers will be replaced by corresponding white standard numbers (e.g. ABC 123 Twhile belonging to a taxi company, ABC 123after being resold to a private person).
Since April 1, 2017, the letter T has not been printed on taxi license plates for cost reasons.
Desired license plate
Since 1988 it has been possible to purchase a personal license plate for 6,000 SEK (approx. 579 euros ) . The vehicle must first be registered with the owner with the standard license plate number, after which the owner can be assigned a desired license plate number. In principle, any wording (with two to seven characters) can be selected, but not combinations that correspond to the normal characteristics (three letters and three digits), contain offensive expressions, possibly violate naming rights (e.g. trademarks ) or which already were awarded. All applications are checked accordingly. The letters I, Q, V, Å, Ä and Ö can also be used for desired license plates. In order to avoid combinations that look similar, the letter O and the number 0 are considered to be the same character when checking for duplications. Only six characters may be used on signs that differ from the standard size. Signs with seven characters have generally only been possible since 2004.
The test sticker was attached to the right edge of the personal identification number. Since 2000, it has also been possible to extend the normal 10-year service life. An extension for five years costs 3500 Swedish kronor (approx. 338 euros ), an extension for ten years as with the first application costs 6000 Swedish kroner (approx. 579 euros). When the right to sign is extended, another check is carried out to determine whether the desired combination is permitted. If no extension is requested, the signs must be sent in.
If the vehicle is resold, the owner of the desired number plate must remove his personal plate from the vehicle and re-attach the original number plates that were assigned to the vehicle.
The income from the allocation of desired license plates is passed on to Skyltfonden (Schilderfonds), which supports projects to improve road safety.
In 2000, when extensions became possible, 3,404 signs were issued or extended. This number has not been reached again since then. When up to seven characters were allowed in 2004, the number rose to 2,661. In the other years since 2000, only lower numbers were achieved, in 2011 and 2012 it was below 2000. The signs are relatively rare. In November 2013, 17,611 license plates were issued, of which only 13,511 plates were actually tied to a vehicle and could therefore be used in traffic. At the same time, a total of 7,088,390 vehicles were registered, so that a desired number plate was only registered for approx. 0.2% of the vehicles.
Temporary registration mark
These have white letters on a red background. Information on the period of validity is embossed on the right and left edges. These marks are used for temporary approval e.g. B. used when importing or exporting vehicles.
When importing a vehicle, the license can only be issued for use to a limited extent ("begränsad omfattning"). This can be the case if the vehicle does not come from the EEA or was previously only registered for a limited period in the country of origin. The limitation means that the vehicle may not be used for all journeys, but only for journeys that are absolutely necessary for import and regular registration. This includes journeys from ports, train stations, etc. to a parking lot or workshop as well as journeys to and from an organization that is allowed to carry out the necessary checks prior to regular approval. The shortest proportionate travel route must be selected in each case. With this type of approval, there is a white “B” on the lower right of the license plate.
Transfer indicator
Flyover marks have black characters on a blue-green background. They are used by vehicle manufacturers or dealers for driving unregistered or de-registered vehicles or for test drives. As with the standard identifier, the character combination consists of three letters and three digits (e.g .:) ABC 123. There is only one license plate for the rear of the vehicle. These license plates are given to the respective company (e.g. dealer or workshop) and can be used again and again - even together with regular license plates on the vehicle, for example during test drives before a sale or after repairs. In such cases, the respective company to which the transfer license plate was assigned and its insurance company are responsible for the vehicle.
Newly issued signs from 2014 are designed as Euro plates. Before that, the license plates did not have a blue stripe.
Provisional license plate
Provisional license plates are issued by the police at short notice if a license plate is lost. They have handwritten black letters on a yellow background and bear the stamp of the issuing police station.
Military license plate
Military vehicles still have license plates, the font and design of which correspond to the old license plate system from before 1973. They show yellow letters on a black background and only consist of five to six digits.
The military vehicle register is not administered by the civilian Transportstyrelsen , but by the Försvarets materielverk (for example: Armed Forces Procurement Office).
Diplomatic plates
These have black characters on a light blue background and can be one or two lines. You have two letters at the beginning, then three digits and another letter at the end (e.g. AF 083D). The first two letters indicate the sending country and the last letter the diplomatic status of the vehicle owner. The two letters standing for the sending country are assigned starting with AA, whereby the countries are sorted alphabetically according to their name in French . Therefore, AA is South Africa (French. Afrique du Sud ), AB for Albania (French. Albanie ), etc. Germany has AD (French. Allemagne ), Austria has AL (French. Autriche ) and Switzerland DE (French. Suisse ). This regular sorting ends with DT, which was assigned to Zimbabwe (French Zimbabwe ).
All of the following combinations are either for international organizations such as B. DU for the UNHCR , or for countries that later set up a diplomatic mission in Sweden, such as B. newly formed states. For example, the code FN stands for New Zealand , which only opened an embassy in Sweden in 2008. Changes have been made to the original license plates as a result of government changes. So is Russia (French. Russie ) as the successor state of the Soviet Union (French. Union of républiques socialistes soviétiques ) between Turkey (French. Turquie ) and Uruguay classified. It is similar with Serbia (French Serbie ), which has taken the code of Yugoslavia (French Yougoslavie ) between Vietnam and Zambia (French Zambie ).
Certain combinations are not assigned at all. As with the regular license plates, the letters I, Q, V, Å, Ä and Ö are not used. Furthermore, there are no labels with the letter O. The combinations AE, BB, DC, EW and EZ are currently not assigned.
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The letter at the end of the license plate represents the position of the vehicle owner:
- A stands for the ambassador or the head of the respective embassy
- B for embassy vehicles
- C for diplomats
- D administrative and technical staff
- E for consulate vehicles (not honorary consulate)
- F Consul (not honorary consul)
- G Consulate staff
- H International organizations
- I employees of international organizations
Racing vehicle license plate
For rally vehicles and racing motorcycles there have been orange reflective signs with normal dimensions and European identification since 2014.
Use of historical marks
Owners of historic vehicles often drive at events with their old license plate, which is attached to the front of the vehicle, with the currently valid one remaining behind. This is mostly tolerated, although the old license plates actually became invalid when the new system was converted in 1973.
Previous license plates and license plate features
Determination of the demonstration month for the technical review (until 2018)
Until May 2018, the month for the annual technical inspection for most vehicles under 3.5 t gross vehicle weight was also determined by the final number, which is also relevant for the tax month. The month of presentation was always three months before the tax month. The review was allowed to take place in the five months prior to the tax month. This did not apply to new vehicles and vehicles more than 30 years old. Since May 2018, the review must take place no later than 14 months after the last one. For new vehicles and vehicles that are more than 30 years old, different rules have been and still apply. The rules for other types of vehicles are different.
Control sticker (until 2009)
Up to and including 2009 there was a control sticker for Swedish license plates, which was a tax stamp and inspection sticker in one. In the previous system, these functions were provided with separate brands. By decision of the Swedish government in autumn 2009, no new control badges have been issued since 2010. The abolition was done with a view to the lack of necessity, since the police have sufficient technical possibilities to electronically check the validity of a license anytime and anywhere.
The aim of this measure is to save 50 million Swedish kronor (around five million euros) in administrative costs every year . The proposal was previously criticized by the tax authority Skatteverket , among others , because it made it difficult to identify cars that were not registered. The police pointed out that the equipment with mobile computers would not be fully guaranteed for a few years and that the previous sticker was a good selection criterion for controls.
Even before the abolition, many vehicle owners had not carried out the application of the new brand, although they had been fined, and were using outdated brands. After the abolition, old control stickers may remain on the vehicle.
The control sticker was attached to the back plate between the letters and the numbers. It indicated when the next tax was due. Each year had a different color: yellow for 2007; Green for 2008; Red for 2009; Blue for 2010. After the color blue, we started again with yellow. This rolling scheme was introduced in 1979. Previously it had u. a. also given plaques in the colors orange and purple. At the top left were the three crowns as a symbol of the Swedish state, at the top right the last two digits of the respective year. In the middle there was a large number that indicated the respective tax month. Below this number, the number of the license plate was printed again in small letters. The design of the background changed over the years. Since 1997, the area with the large number has been gray. By scratching this number away, a code became visible that was required to decommission the vehicle.
After payment of the tax and successful verification, the badges were sent by post to the holder and affixed by him. The last dispatch of these badges took place on December 18, 2009, because after that it was no longer expected that the brand would still fulfill a function before the turn of the year 2009/10.
In addition to the regular control stickers, there were also temporary stickers that were sent to the owner when a vehicle was put into operation (e.g. after it was temporarily shut down). These had the same format and color as the regular plaques for the respective year of issue. However, they did not have a large number printed on them. Instead, they had three white fields that contained additional data.
Old system (1906–1973)
For the old license plates, which were issued from the introduction of mandatory registration for motor vehicles in 1906 until the introduction of the new system in 1973, there was a regional system of distinction: at the beginning of the license plate there was one or two letters that indicated the administrative district ( Län ), in which the vehicle owner was domiciled (see list below) . This was followed by up to five digits, which were assigned consecutively from 1 to 99999 (e.g. A 12345for a license plate from the city of Stockholm).
The number plate 1 was always reserved for the vehicle of the landshövding , the political director of an administrative district; in Stockholm the license plate was used A 1for the king's vehicle.
In the administrative districts with the letters A, B, E, F, L, M, O, P, S, T, W, X and Z, all possible number combinations were assigned in the 1950s and 1960s, so that another letter was added after the code letter was inserted (e.g. OA 12345for a license plate from Göteborgs och Bohus län administrative district).
The basis of the old system were the Läns letters (Swedish Länsbokstav ):
| Letters | district | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| A. | Stockholm (city) | a separate administrative unit until 1968; 1969 merged with Stockholms Län (letter AB) |
| FROM | Stockholm County | used from 1969; Merger of the City of Stockholm with the Province of Stockholm |
| AC | Västerbotten County | |
| B. | Stockholm County (excluding Stockholm City) | until 1968; merged with the city of Stockholm from 1969 (letter AB) |
| BD | Norrbotten County | |
| C. | Uppsala län | |
| D. | Södermanland County | |
| E. | Östergötland County | |
| F. | Jönköpings län | |
| G | Kronobergs län | |
| H | Kalmar Lan | |
| I. | Gotland County | |
| K | Blekinge län | |
| L. | Kristianstads Lan | part of Skåne County since 1997 (letter M) |
| M. | Malmöhus län | since 1997 part of the newly founded Skåne län, which has adopted the letter M. |
| N | Hallands Lan | |
| O | Göteborgs och Bohus län | since 1998 part of the newly established Västra Götalands län , which has taken over the letter O |
| P | Älvsborgs län | since 1998 part of Västra Götalands län (letter O) |
| R. | Skaraborgs län | since 1998 part of Västra Götalands län (letter O) |
| S. | Värmland County | |
| T | Örebro län | |
| U | Västmanland County | |
| W. | Dalarna County | until 1997 the country was called Kopparbergs län |
| X | Gävleborg County | |
| Y | Västernorrlands Lan | |
| Z | Jämtland County |
These letters are still often used today e.g. It is used, for example, in statistics or the like, where in tables or other overviews the letter is often used instead of the full name of the country , so that they have retained practical significance even after the old vehicle registration system was abolished in 1973. Certain changes occurred in the 1990s (see table), but these no longer had any effect on the license plate.
The international codes according to ISO 3166-2 for coding the upper administrative levels in the individual states are also based in the case of Sweden on the old license plates.
Web links
- Information about the different license plates (Swedish) (PDF file; 212 kB)
- Request of vehicle data
- Tax sticker color system
- License plate types
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Sveriges registreringsskyltar förändras ( Memento of the original from October 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the Swedish transport authority Trafikstyrelsen, 8 May 2013
- ↑ Overview of Swedish license plates on the website of the competent authority Transportstyrelsen (Swedish) ( Memento of the original from October 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.6 MB)
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from November 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Spärrade bokstavskombinationer - Transportstyrelsen. Retrieved October 20, 2018 (Swedish).
- ↑ http://www.aftonbladet.se/bil/article21582223.ab
- ↑ http://www.vibilagare.se/bilfragan/bilfragan-varfor-alltid-mlb
- ↑ a b [1]
- ↑ http://teknikensvarld.se/sa-ser-sveriges-nya-registreringsskylt-ut-185256/
- ^ Ordinance on road traffic registers. From: Swedish Reichstag (Swedish), accessed March 5, 2017.
- ↑ New license plates from 2019 ( memento of the original from August 20, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . From: Transportstyrelsen (Swedish).
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Dagens Nyheter on the details of the tax regime, May 13, 2006 (Swedish)
- ↑ https://transportstyrelsen.se/sv/Nyhetsarkiv/inte-langre-nagra-t-pa-taxiskyltar/
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from July 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.nzembassy.com/sweden/relationship-between-nz-and-sweden/nz-and-sweden
- ↑ Regulation 2010: 112 from 2010, consolidated version from 2015 with later changes
- ↑ https://www.transportstyrelsen.se/tsfs/TSFS%202010_112.pdf
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated December 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Auto, Motor & Sport Sweden, October 8, 2008 (Swedish) ( Memento of the original from September 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Page of the Transportstyrelsen about the history of the badge (Swedish), accessed on December 21, 2009 ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Albania | Andorra | Belgium | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Bulgaria | Denmark 2 | Germany ( list ) | Estonia | European Union | Finland | France 2 | Greece | Ireland | Iceland | Italy | Kazakhstan 1 | Croatia | Latvia | Liechtenstein | Lithuania | Luxembourg | Malta | Moldova | Monaco | Montenegro | Netherlands 2 | North Macedonia | Norway | Austria | Poland | Portugal | Romania | Russia 1 | San Marino | Sweden | Switzerland | Serbia | Slovakia | Slovenia | Spain 2 | Czech Republic | Turkey 1 | Ukraine | Hungary | Vatican City | United Kingdom 2 | Belarus | Cyprus 3
Other or disputed areas:
Åland |
Faroe Islands |
Gibraltar |
Isle of Man |
Channel Islands Alderney, Guernsey, Jersey |
Kosovo |
Transnistria
Former states of the
German Democratic Republic |
Yugoslavia |
Czechoslovakia |
Soviet Union
1 Lies mostly in Asia . 2 Has additional areas outside of Europe. 3 Geographically located in Asia, but a member of the EU .
License plates of the states of:
Africa |
Asia |
North America |
South America |
Oceania