Euro plate

The Euro license plate or EU license plate , in Germany officially a vehicle license plate with EU identification , was introduced in the European Union to show that the EU countries belong together. It has a blue band on the left edge of the license plate . Above are the twelve yellow stars of the European flag and below in capital letters the country code . The color of the country code is usually white, in some countries (e.g. the back of Great Britain ) it is also yellow.

Various non-EU countries have introduced similar labels, but mostly use their own symbol instead of the European flag above the country code.

history

Luxembourg registration from 1988

As early as 1988, a decision was made in Luxembourg to display the European flag in the left part of the license plate.

Introduction in the EU

The decision to introduce the EU label was taken by the Council of the European Union in autumn 1998.

EU design

When designing the design, the EU was guided by the EU license plates introduced in Ireland in 1991, in Portugal in 1992 and in Germany from 1994 onwards , and adopted it as the standard .

The standard design of the EU symbol consists of a blue stripe on the left side of the license plate, with the twelve stars of the European flag on top and the nationality symbol on the bottom . The color scheme of the blue stripe and the stars are based on the European flag, the letters of the nationality code should be white or yellow. Yellow or white letters are used in France, Great Britain, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. With two-line license plates, the blue band is usually in front of the top line, but there are also variants with the blue band in front of the bottom line, e.g. B. in Belgium.

Introduction and exceptions

• In Denmark and Finland, the Europe symbol is optional and not mandatory.
• In Austria, the license plates with the standardized EU ID have been in existence since November 1st, 2002. Before that there were already stickers with the EU characters, which were additionally stuck to the license plate. While this was illegal, it was tolerated domestically.
• Even before joining the EU in 2004, Malta had introduced the euro registration number in 1995.
• In Belgium, the EU license plate has been issued to all new registrations since November 16, 2010.
• Croatia introduced the euro registration number on July 1st, 2015. Even before joining the EU in 2013, unofficial, glued-on euro bars occasionally appeared on the left edge.

Replacement for the oval nationality symbols

In the EU, EEA and EFTA countries as well as in member states of the Vienna Road Traffic Convention , the Euro plate is a replacement for the oval nationality symbol .

Non-EU countries

Various non-EU countries have introduced similar labels, but mostly use their own symbol instead of the European flag above the country code. Some of the new EU members, such as Poland and Lithuania, had temporarily introduced EU-like license plates with a state flag before they joined the EU, but have been using the shape with EU stars since they entered the EU.

Timeline flags of EU member states

Timeline of the license plate number of today's EU countries from 1960 until today
country	1960s										1970s										1980s										1990s										2000s										2010s										2020s
	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9
B.	1234.A			A.AB.12										ABC • 123																										ABC-123									123-ABC		1-ABC-123
BG	Пз • X • 1234																										ПЗ • 1234 • X						PA 1234 AX								PA 1234 AX								PA 1234 AX
DK	KA 12.123																	FROM 12 345																															FROM 12 345
																																																	FROM 12 345
D.	FL - AB 1234																																		FL AB 1234
EST																																	123 ABC												123 ABC
FIN	ABC-12												ABC-123																													ABC-123
F.	123 ABC 75																																				123 ABC 75													AB-123-AB
GR	123 • 123												AB-1234												ABC-1234																				ABC-1234
IRL	ABC 123										123 ABC																	87-AB-1234				91-AB-12345									00-AB-123456													131-AB-12345
I.	MI 123456																MI MI 123456									MI 123456									FROM 123AB					FROM 123AB
MR																																			FROM 1234 CD																					FROM 1234 CD
LV																																			AB-1234										AB-1234
LT																																	ABC 123												ABC 123
L.	12345						A 1234								FROM 123														FROM 123															FROM 1234
M.	1234																			A-1234																ABC ▪ 123
NL	AB-12-12				12-12-AB								12-AB-12					AB-12-AB														AB-AB-12							AB-AB-12		12-AB-AB										12-ABC-3
A.	W 123.456																														W 12345 A														W 12345 A
PL	FROM 1234																ABC 1234																								ABC 12AB						ABC 12AB
P	AA-12-34																																12-34-AB						12-34-AB								12-AB-34
RO	12,345-B						12-B-12345																										AB 12ABC															AB 12ABC
S.	A 12345													ABC 123																																														ABC 12A
																																												ABC 123
SK																																						AB-123AB							AB-123AB		AB 123AB
SLO																																	LJ A1-12A												LJ AB-12A						LJ AB-12A
E.	AB-12345											AB-1234AB																													1234 ABC
CZ																																						ABC 12-12				1A2 12-12			1AB 1234
H	AB • 12 • 12																														ABC-123														ABC-123
CY	FROM 123													FROM 123																	ABC 123														ABC 123									ABC 123
country	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	0	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9
	1960s										1970s										1980s										1990s										2000s										2010s										2020s

Details

The vehicle nationality numbers in the Abbr. Column are linked to the national number plate pages.

Standard license plate for EU countries

country	Abbr.	example	particularities	Introduced	Systematics 1	Selectable ( license plates )
Belgium	B.		new system and EU symbol since November 16, 2010	Nov 2010	(# - $$$ - ###) or ($ - $$$ - ###) nationally numbered, personal	1–8 characters, usually freely selectable
Bulgaria	BG		2000-2006 Bulgarian flag over BG	2007	(RR #### $$) Region: 1–2 letters	Partly freely selectable according to the region code
Denmark	DK		EU symbol voluntary	Oct 2009	($$ ## ###) numbered nationally	2–7 alphanumeric characters (including the Danish letters Æ, Ø and Å and up to 3 individual spaces); personal
Germany	D.		from January 1994 Berlin and Brandenburg , from July 1994 Saxony , from January 1995 the rest of the federal states, until 2000 voluntary	from January 1994 gradually	(RRR ∞ $$ ####) Region: 1–3 letters	systematic combination, partly freely selectable; FE font
Estonia	EST			2004	(### R $$) Region: 1 letter, vehicle-specific	systematic combination as well as freely selectable
Finland	FIN		EU symbol voluntary	2001	($$$ • ###) numbered nationally	systematic combination
France	F.			2009	($$ - ### - $$! RR) nationally numbered, region can be freely selected in the right field, vehicle-specific, often glued directly to the body panel at the rear	not possible
Greece	GR			2004	(BB $ - ####) Registration authority : 2 letters, vehicle-specific	not possible
Ireland	IRL			1991	(YYY-RR - #####) Registration year = number: 2–3 digits, region: 1–2 letters, vehicle-specific	not possible
Italy	I.		Region labeling voluntary	1999	($$ ### $$! RR) nationally numbered, vehicle-specific	not possible
Croatia	MR		From July 2016 new license plates with the EU symbol	July 2016	(RR ∞ #### - $$) Region: 2 letters
Latvia	LV		1992–2004 Latvian flag over LV on a white background on the left edge	2004	($$ - ####) numbered nationally	freely selectable
Lithuania	LT		1992–2004 Lithuanian flag over LT on the left edge	2004	($$$ ∞ ###) nationally numbered, vehicle-specific	freely selectable
Luxembourg	L.		1988–2003 only the European flag on the left margin	July 2003	($$ ####) nationally numbered, vehicle-specific	freely selectable, personal
Malta	M.			1995	($$$ • ###) numbered nationally	systematic combination, as well as freely selectable
Netherlands	NL			2000	($ - ### - $$) nationally numbered, vehicle-specific	not possible
Austria	A.		white border to the left of the EU stripe, upper and lower border with red-white-red stripes ( flag of Austria ), the only EU country with a larger shield height	Nov. 2002	(RR ∞ # &&&& $) Space between numbers and letter block Region: 1–2 letters	partially freely selectable according to the regional code: min. 1 letter, then min. 1 digit; Length for a single-digit regional code 3–6 characters, otherwise 3–5 characters, personal or company-specific
Poland	PL		2000–2006 Polish flag over PL	May 2006	(RRR ∞ &&&&) or (RRR ∞ &&&&&) Region: 2–3 letters	freely selectable according to the 2-digit regional code
Portugal	P		since 1998 year (above) and month (below) of the first registration on the yellow stripe on the right edge	1992	(## • $$ • ##! YYMM) numbered nationally
Romania	RO		1992–2006 Romanian flag over RO	2007	(RR ### $$$) Region: 1–2 letters	Letter combination can be selected
Sweden	S.		EU symbol voluntary from 2001, mandatory since 2014	2003	($$$ ∞ ## T) nationally numbered, vehicle-specific	freely selectable, then personal; in addition to the vehicle-specific license plate
Slovakia	SK		April 1997 to April 2004 State coat of arms over SK on a white background on the left edge	2004	(RR ∞ ### $$) Region: 2 letters	freely selectable according to the 2-digit regional code
Slovenia	SLO			2004, mod. 2008	(BB ∞ && • &&&) Region: 2 letters	Freely selectable according to the 2-digit regional code, at least 1 letter
Spain	E.		The E is sometimes covered with CAT in Catalonia , EH (Euskal Herria) in the Basque Country and GZ / GAL in Galicia (but forbidden)	Sept 2000	(#### $$$) nationally numbered, vehicle-specific	not possible
Czech Republic	CZ			2004	(# R & ∞ ####) Region: 1 letter	freely selectable up to 8 characters, at least 1 digit
Hungary	H		1990–2004 Hungarian flag over H on a white background on the left edge	2004	(DD $ - ###)	freely selectable with 6 characters, at least last character digit
Cyprus	CY		EU symbol voluntary from 2004, compulsory since 2013, license plate until June 2, 2013 front white / rear yellow, since then both white	2004	($$$ ∞ ###) numbered nationally	freely selectable

¹ Systematics:

• B = registration authority; D = date of approval (letter code); J = year of registration; M = month of registration
• N = region identified by number; R = region identified by letters
• S = tax month; T = month of the technical inspection
• $ = continuous letters; # = running number; & = Letter or number
• ∞ = coat of arms / badge (s) ;! = Separation special field

Similar marks of other states and special areas of the EU

Marks similar to the euro mark are used in non-EU countries in Europe, Africa and Asia . There are also areas that are under the sovereignty of an EU member state that are not or only partially part of the EU - these are marked with an asterisk (*) in the first column.

In most of the states of North and South America , but also in Australia and Oceania, the name of the state is shown in full in the upper or lower part of the license plate.

In Europe

List of license plates in Europe that are similar to the Euro plate:

country	Abbr.	example	Special features / description	Introduced	Systematics 1	Selectable ( license plates )
Albania	AL		Double-headed eagle of the national coat of arms over AL on a blue background on the left edge	2011
Bosnia and Herzegovina	BIH		Since 2009 BIH on a blue background on the left edge 1994 / 95-1998 Coat of arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina via BIH on a blue background in the left margin used in Muslim areas	2009
Faroe Islands *	FO		Faroese flag over FO on a blue background on the left edge	1996
Gibraltar	GBZ		GBZ under the wreath of stars on a blue background on the left edge	?
guernsey	GBG		Flag of Guernsey over GBG on the left edge
Iceland	IS		Flag of Iceland over IS on the left edge	2004		freely selectable
Isle of Man	GBM		Triskele of the Isle of Man over GBM on red bar	1994
jersey	GBJ		Coat of arms jerseys over GBJ
Kosovo	RKS		RKS in gold on a blue background on the left edge	2010
Moldova ⸺ Transnistria	MD ⸺ PMR	⸺	Flag of the Republic of Moldova flying over MD since 2015. 2011–2015 Coat of arms of the Republic of Moldova over MD on a blue background in the left margin. Before that, coat of arms of the Republic of Moldova over MD on a white background. ⸺ Flag of Transnistria over hologram badge	Apr. 2015 ⸺		⸺ freely selectable
Montenegro	MNE		MNE in the lower half of the blue bar	2008
North Macedonia	NMK		NMK in the lower half of the blue bar; until 2019 MK	2012		freely selectable
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus	CY			2018
Norway	N		Flag of Norway over N on a blue background at the left edge	2006
Russia ⸺ Donetsk People's Republic	RUS ⸺  ?	⸺	RUS and the flag of Russia at the bottom right ⸺ Flag of the Donetsk People's Republic and the DPR at the bottom right	1993/94 ⸺ 05/2015 12/2015
Serbia	SRB		SRB in the lower half on a blue background in the left margin	2011
Turkey	TR		TR in the lower half on a blue background on the left edge	1996		freely chosen text
Ukraine	UA		Flag of Ukraine over UA on a blue background in the left margin since 2015. 2004–2015 coat of arms over UA on the flag of Ukraine on the left edge, previously only the Ukrainian flag	2015 1995		freely selectable
United Kingdom	GB	Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales):	EU symbol voluntary, only GB is official together with EU or national flag. The left margin can be designed differently for the 4 parts of the country: unofficial abbreviation (e.g. ENG for England ); National flag or flag of the region possible instead of EU flag.	2001	(RRJJ $$$) Region of first registration, vehicle-specific	freely selectable
		Northern Ireland:	Northern Ireland has a different labeling system . Only GB is official together with the EU flag.		($ RR ####)
Belarus	BY		Flag of Belarus over BY on the left edge	2004

Outside of Europe

List of license plates outside Europe that are similar to the euro plate. Many of them do not have a colored bar, but mostly the flag and the country code underneath:

country	Abbr.	example	Special features / description	Introduced
Armenia	AT THE		On the left on a white background the flag of Armenia over AM	August 2014
Algeria	Double room		On the right, on a white background, the flag of Algeria over DZ ; With diplomatic license plates DZ above the stars of the European flag in white (front) or yellow (back) on a blue background on the left
Equatorial Guinea	GQ		On the left a plaque from the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) via GE
Azerbaijan	AZ		On the left on a white background the flag of Azerbaijan over AZ
Australia	OUT		On the left on a blue background, the corresponding state abbreviation (e.g. VIC or NSW ) above state-specific symbols. Special license plates for vehicles, on which a license plate with European dimensions can also be attached.	2000
Bahrain	BRN		On the left the flag of Bahrain , on the right the country name in Arabic البحرين and English	06/2010
Benin	RB		On the right the flag of Benin in the outline of the territory over RB
Burkina Faso	BF		On the right the flag of Burkina Faso circled over BF in the outline of the territory
Burundi	BU		On the left the flag of Burundi over BU
Ivory Coast	CI		On the right the outline of the territory in a circle above CI
Gabon	G		On the left a plaque of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) , on the right the outline of the territory in a circle above RG
Georgia	GE	⸺ The breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia issue license plates that are forbidden in the Georgian heartland: ⸺	Since 2014 the flag of Georgia left over GE on a blue background. Until September 2014, the flag of Georgia left over GE or before GEO on a white background. ⸺ On the right in the white field under ABH the flag of Abkhazia ⸺ On the left in the white field the flag of South Ossetia and below it the RSO	2014
Ghana	GH		On the right the national flag of Ghana and below the national symbol GH . Variant: In the middle below the identifier GH on the left and the flag on the right
Guinea	GN		On the right the flag of Guinea in the circled country outline, below it RG
Guinea-Bissau	GW		On the left the flag of Guinea-Bissau and below it RGB
India	IND		Different variants: Usually IND on the left edge. The first two letters represent the abbreviation for the state or union territory. Commercial vehicles have a yellow background.
Iran	IR		On the left the flag of Iran over IR IRAN on a blue background, on the right a separated area with ايران (Iran) over digits of the province (e.g. "۱۱" (11) for the province of Tehran )
Israel	IL		On the left on a blue background the flag of Israel over IL and Israel in Hebrew and Arabic	200x
Jordan	JOR		On the left on a ground of different colors depending on the vehicle class, country name in Arabic الأُرْدُنّ and English (Jordan)	2007
Cameroon	CAM		On the left a plaque from the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) via CMR
Cape Verde	CV		On the left a flag of Cape Verde
Kazakhstan	concentration camp		On the left on a white background the flag of Kazakhstan over the concentration camp	since 08/2012
Qatar	Q		On the left the stylized flag of Qatar with the white inscription QATAR	since 12/2011
Kyrgyzstan	KGZ		Region code since 2015 at the top left, underneath the flag of Kyrgyzstan and KG on a white background. 1994-2015 the flag of Kyrgyzstan on the left	2015
Republic of the Congo	RCB		On the left a plaque from the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) via RC
Democratic Republic of Congo	CGO		On the left the flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and below it CGO	since 2009
Cuba	C.		Left CUBA on a blue bar	since 05/2013
Lesotho	LS		On the left a blue Mokorotlo , below it in block letters the name of the country
Lebanon	RL		Since 2017, left on a blue background, country name Lebanon ( Arabic , DMG Lubnān ) in Arabic as well as the cedar symbol and below that the type of vehicle in Arabic 2007-2017 cedar symbol on the left on a blue background and the type of vehicle below in Arabic	2017
Madagascar	RM		Different variants, mostly with a country outline in the blue stripe on the left
Malawi	MW		On the left the flag of Malawi above the country name
Mauritania	RIM		On the right in the blue stripe a white outline of the country in a white circle, RIM in the middle in Arabic and below in Latin letters
Morocco	MA		On the left, on a red background or on a red field of the territory, a green pentagram of the flag of Morocco over white letters MAROC
Mexico , Quintana Roo	MEX		On the left the abbreviation QR . Special license plate for vehicles on which only a license plate with European dimensions can be installed
New Zealand	NZ		On the left, on a blue background, a Southern Cross, as in the New Zealand flag . Permitted special form for custom license plates (rare)
Niger	RN		On the right the flag of Niger in the country outline, below it RN
Palestine	PS		At the top right the letter P in Arabic script, below it in Latin script
Zambia	ZA		Left ZAMBIA above the coat of arms of Zambia
Sierra Leone	WHALE		At the top left the flag of Sierra Leone
Syria	SYR		On the left on a blue background a diagonally waving flag of Syria in a circle, below it SYR
Tajikistan	TJ		On the left the flag of Tajikistan and underneath TJ	2010
Tanzania	EAT		On the left the flag of Tanzania
Togo	TG		On the left the flag of Togo , below it TG
Chad	TD		On the right a plaque from the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) via TCH
Turkmenistan	TK		On the left the flag of Turkmenistan over TM	1994
Uganda	EAU		At the top left the flag of Uganda
Uzbekistan	UZ		On the right the flag of Uzbekistan over UZ	10/2008
Central African Republic	RCA		On the left a plaque from the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) via RCA

Similar marks of employees of international organizations or armed forces

organization	Abbr.	Example / description / special features	Special features / description	Introduced
Employees of EU institutions in Belgium	EU		EUR with twelve stars Employees of EU institutions who lived in Belgium could apply for special license plates (until November 15, 2010)
US forces in Germany	United States		NATO symbol over USA on a blue background in the left margin	2000

See also

• Desired license plate
• License plate (Europe)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Council Regulation (EC) No. 2411/98 of November 3, 1998 (PDF) .
2. ↑ 12 most frequently asked questions about the EU license plate. ARBÖ, October 10, 2002.
3. ↑ new license plates from July 2015 (English), on croatiaweek.com, accessed on May 16, 2015.
4. ↑ Council of the European Union : Council Regulation (EC) No. 2411/98 of November 3, 1998 on the recognition of the distinguishing mark of the Member State of registration of motor vehicles and motor vehicle trailers in intra-Community traffic . In: EUR-Lex (Ed.): Official Journal . L 299, November 10, 1998, p. 1–3 : "Article 3: Member States that require vehicles registered in another Member State to bear a distinctive sign when participating in traffic on their territory shall recognize the distinguishing sign of the registering Member State, which is placed on the left edge of the plate in accordance with the Annex , as equivalent to the other distinguishing marks that they recognize for the purpose of indicating the country of registration of the vehicle. "
5. ↑ Annexes - Distinguishing Sign of Motor Vehicles and Trailers to International Traffic - Convention on Road Traffic on November 8, 1968. Retrieved December 14, 2019 . 
6. ↑ Mogelijke combinaties ZONDER rekening te houden met de reliëfstempel CV van de DIV die aan ieder gepersonaliseerde kentekenplaat voorafgaat (possible combinations ...). (PDF; 13.3 kB) Retrieved on April 13, 2018 (Dutch). 
7. ↑ skat.dk (Danish)
8. ↑ German history - Federal Republic of Germany since unification in 1990 ( Memento of the original from March 31, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on kennzeichen-guide.de