# Vehicle registration plates of Poland

Vehicle registration plates of Poland indicate the region of registration of the vehicle given the number plate.

## Law

According to Polish law, the registration plate is tied to the vehicle, not the owner. There is no possibility for the owner to keep the licence number for use on a different car, even if it's a cherished registration. The licence plates are issued by the powiat (county) of the vehicle owner's registered address of residence, in the case of a natural person. If it is owned by a legal person, the place of registration is determined by the person's address. Vehicles leased under operating leases and many de facto finance leases will be registered at the address of the lessor. When a vehicle changes hands, the new owner must apply for new vehicle registration document bearing their name and registered address. The new owner may obtain a new licence plate although it is not necessary. In such a situation the licence plates are usually carried over to the new owner, because the change carries an additional cost. Upon purchasing a vehicle from another person, if the vehicle has an EU plate, the new owner must replace it with a registration for their address and area, and give the EU plate to their powiat licensing authority to free up numbers in the future. If the car has a plate dated before May 1, 2006, the owner is free to do whatever they wish with it, as long as it is legal under Polish law. The plaque cannot be replaced if destroyed. The change of the whole set is required.
The change in system shown below in 2001 is related to the reduction in the previous year of the number of voivodeships in Poland from 49 to 16, based on the country's historic regions. The pre-2001 licence plates (white letters on black background) can be used indefinitely, but since they are obsolete they have to be replaced in case of change of vehicle's ownership.
In the pre-2001 model, there were not sufficient letters in the Polish alphabet for each of the old voivodeships to have a single letter. Only the standard latin alphabet was used (excluding Q), and the specific Polish characters with diacritics were excluded. Therefore, two letters had to be used to indicate the vehicle's origin (the middle administrative level of powiat was not introduced until 1999). Since the change, the first letter has always denoted the new voivodeship. One additional letter is used in cities with rights of powiat (this applies to 47 of 49 capitals of the old voivodeships, the exceptions being Ciechanów and Sieradz, and numerous major cities). Two additional letters are used in any other powiat.
It is not necessary for EU citizens to immediately re-register the vehicles they have brought with them if they are duly registered and taxed elsewhere in the EU, when living in Poland. This emerges from European law, although local regulations have to date not been changed to reflect the law, leading to officials locally sometimes giving incorrect advice on this point. When in doubt, motorists are recommended to refer to their respective embassies.

## Format
### Stickers and security measures

The licence plates are invalid without two adhesive stickers with holograms placed on the license plates, and, before 2022, an adhesive plaque bearing the same number as the plates inside the windshield. If the vehicle uses only one licence plate then the second sticker must be attached to the registration documents.

### Licence plate types and combinations

Each powiat uses a unique two or three letter code, with the first letter denoting the voivodeship. The number pools listed below are not used in any particular order, although one pool is usually depleted before the next one is used. A visible gap exists between the area code and series, but there is no possibility of confusion if the number is written down without it.
The following characters are used in licence plate examples:
* X – voivodeship code
* XY, XYZ – powiat code
* J, K, L – any allowed letter
* digits
The letters used in licence plates include all standard Latin alphabet letters outside of Q (not used at all in the Polish language). The letters B, D, I, O, and Z cannot be used in series area (on the right, after the gap), because they could be confused with similarly-looking digits. Custom plates are allowed to include these letters though. The leading 0 in numbers is part of the code and is never omitted.
Due to the pool of license plates combinations possibly running out in some areas, in 2022 the Ministry of Infrastructure issued a directive under which extra leading characters were introduced for several of the voivodeships:
* V for Lower Silesian (originally D)
* J for Lesser Poland (originally K)
* A for Masovian (originally W)
* Y for Subcarpathian (originally R)
* X for Pomeranian (originally G)
* I for Silesian (originally S)
* M for Greater Poland (currently unused, originally P)
Reportedly, the Warsaw district of Mokotów was the first to start issuing AE registration plates following the new directive.

#### Cars, trucks, and buses

Format:
* XY 12345
* XY 1234J
* XY 123JK
* XY 1J345
* XY 1JK45
* XYZ J234
* XYZ 12JK
* XYZ 1J34 (first digit cannot be 0)
* XYZ 12J4 (last digit cannot be 0)
* XYZ 1JK4 (neither digit can be 0)
* XYZ JK34
* XYZ 12345
* XYZ 1234J
* XYZ 123JK
The number of available unique numbers with these mentioned formats is 1,100,000 for each two-letter powiat code, and 872,400 for each three-letter powiat code. The combinations "XYZ 1234" and "XYZ 123J" are not used, because they would lead to creation of numbers identical to these in the old system. Also, the two-letter powiat codes must be followed by a leading digit, "XY 1...", to avoid confusion with the "XYZ ..." scheme, as the gap is not significant. Electric vehicles have green background on their license plates.

#### Motorcycles, mopeds, and agricultural vehicles

Format:
* XY 1234
* XY 123J
* XY 1J34 (first digit cannot be 0)
* XY 12J4 (last digit cannot be 0)
* XY 12JK
* XY JK12
* XYZ J234
* XYZ 12JK
* XYZ 1J34 (first digit cannot be 0)
* XYZ 12J4 (last digit cannot be 0)
* XYZ 1JK4 (neither digit can be 0)
* XYZ JK34
* XYZ J23K
* XYZ J2KL (a digit cannot be 0)
Cars – reduced size
Format:
* X 123
* X 12J
* X 1J2
* X J12
* X 1JK
* X JK1
* X J1K
The plates are designed for cars imported from USA and Japan. Reduced size plates are the same width as US plates.

#### Classic cars

Format:
* XY 12J
* XY 123
* XYZ 1J
* XYZ 12
* XYZ J1
These plates use black text on yellow background with an additional picture of a vintage car on the right side. Vehicles are required to meet three criteria:
* manufactured at least 30 years ago
* the particular model must be out of production for at least 15 years
* consist of at least 75% of original parts
These criteria, however, can be waived for special cases, such as prototype vehicles that were never mass-produced, cars of considerable historical value, cars being part of museum exhibition or models representing technological breakthroughs. As such, issuing of these plates is always handled on a case-by-case basis by the conservation officer. Registered classic cars are not required to undergo yearly technical checkup unless used for transportation services, such as taxi.

#### Temporary and export plates

Format:
* X1 2345
* X1 234J
These plates use red text on a white background. The plates wear a seal with month and year of validation. The windshield plaque is not issued with it.

#### Electric car plates

Introduced on 1 January 2020, they are issued to battery-electric and hydrogen vehicles. They are similar to regular plates but the background colour is light green instead of white. Such vehicles are allowed to drive on bus lanes, therefore visibly different registration plates allow the police to establish whether a vehicle is doing so legally. Electric plates are also used in "American" plates with reduced space.

#### Testing vehicles

Format:
* X1 234 B
These plates use red text on a white background. The last character is always the letter B (which stands for badawcza, or "research type"). Only car manufacturers and automobile R&D centres are issued these plates.

#### Custom plates

Format:
* X1 JKLMN
These plates use standard black letters on a white background. Each custom number starts with the letter denoting voivodeship and a single digit, followed by the gap. This digit and next characters can be picked by the owner. Outside the availability the following constrains are used:
* after the gap between 3 and 5 characters can be used
* the first character must be a letter
* no more than 2 last characters can be digits
* all letters come before digits (i.e. they cannot be intermixed)
* any standard Latin letter outside Q can be used (unlike common licence plates)
* resulting plate must not contain or resemble offensive contents

#### Professional plates

Format:
* X12 34P56 (second letter is always "P")
Since July 2019 dealers of new cars can apply for special number plates with green letters on white background specifically for doing test drives. Those plates are issued exclusively for the company itself and not for a specific vehicle. This means they can be applied to multiple vehicles when needed. Only car retailers can obtain these and such cars can be driven only by the car dealer, owner of the company, their employees or customers, but only when accompanied by an employee.

#### Diplomatic plates

Format:
* X 123456
White symbols on dark blue background. The leading character is reserved for voivodeship, but in practice all vehicles are issued W and registered by the Masovian voivode no matter the physical location of the mission. The first three digits indicate a country or organization as listed in the table below.
| Code | Country |
| 001 | United States |
| 002 | United Kingdom |
| 003 | France |
| 004 | Canada |
| 005 | Germany |
| 006 | Netherlands |
| 007 | Italy |
| 008 | Austria |
| 009 | Japan |
| 010 | Turkey |
| 011 | Belgium |
| 012 | Denmark |
| 013 | Norway |
| 014 | Greece |
| 015 | Australia |
| 016 | Algeria |
| 017 | Afghanistan |
| 018 | Argentina |
| 019 | Brazil |
| 020 | Bangladesh |
| 021 | Egypt |
| 022 | Ecuador |
| 023 | Finland |
| 024 | Spain |
| 025 | Iraq |
| 026 | Iran |
| 027 | India |
| 028 | Indonesia |
| 029 | Colombia |
| 030 | Malaysia |
| 031 | Libya |
| 032 | Morocco |
| 033 | Mexico |
| 034 | Nigeria |
| 035 | Pakistan |
| 036 | Portugal |
| 037 | Palestine |
| 038 | Syria |
| 039 | Sweden |
| 040 | Switzerland |
| 041 | Tunisia |
| 042 | Thailand |
| 043 | Venezuela |
| 044 | Uruguay |
| 045 | Peru |
| 046 | Yemen |
| 047 | Costa Rica |
| 048 | Democratic Republic of Congo |
| 049 | Israel |
| 050 | Nicaragua |
| 051 | Chile |
| 052 | Holy See |
| 053 | South Korea |
| 054 | European Commission |
| 055 | Ireland |
| 056 | World Bank |
| 057 | International Monetary Fund |
| 058 | Philippines |
| 059 | International Finance Corporation |
| 060 | South Africa |
| 061 | Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights |
| 062 | Cyprus |
| 063 | Kuwait |
| 064 | United Nations |
| 065 | Russia |
| 066 | Slovakia |
| 067 | Czech Republic |
| 068 | Bulgaria |
| 069 | Hungary |
| 070 | Romania |
| 071 | Vietnam |
| 072 | Serbia |
| 073 | North Korea |
| 074 | Cuba |
| 075 | Albania |
| 076 | China |
| 077 | Mongolia |
| 078 | International Labour Organization |
| 079 | Organization for Cooperation of Railways |
| 080 | Diplomatic Club |
| 081 | Laos |
| 082 | Angola |
| 083 | Ukraine |
| 084 | European Bank for Reconstruction and Development |
| 085 | Lithuania |
| 086 | Belarus |
| 087 | Latvia |
| 088 | Croatia |
| 089 | Lebanon |
| 090 | Slovenia |
| 091 | Guatemala |
| 092 | Estonia |
| 093 | Macedonia |
| 094 | Moldova |
| 095 | Israel |
| 096 | Armenia |
| 097 | Sri Lanka |
| 098 | Kazakhstan |
| 099 | Saudi Arabia |
| 100 | Georgia |
| 101 | Uzbekistan |
| 102 | United Nations Human Settlements Programme |
| 103 | New Zealand |
| 104 | Azerbaijan |
| 105 | Sovereign Military Order of Malta |
| 106 | Cambodia |
| 107 | Frontex |
| 108 | Luxembourg |
| 109 | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| 110 | Panama |
| 111 | Qatar |
| 112 | Malta |
| 113 | United Arab Emirates |
| 114 | Montenegro |
| 115 | Senegal |
On top of the origin of the diplomatic mission, the vehicle's function can also be determined by the latter three digits:
* 001–199 – embassy diplomatic personnel private vehicles
* 200–299 – military attaché private vehicles
* 300–499 – embassy non-diplomatic personnel private vehicles
* 500–501 – chief of mission official vehicles
* 502–699 – embassy's other official vehicles
* 700–799 – consulate's diplomatic personnel private vehicles
* 801 – consul official vehicles
* 800, 802–899 – consulate diplomatic personnel official vehicles
* 900–999 – consulate's other official vehicles
Diplomatic vehicles are also required to carry a sticker with CD (corps diplomatique) or CC (corps consulaire).

#### Service plates

Format:
* H#J K234
* H#J 12KL
Vehicles utilised used by the Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration use licence plates beginning with "H", instead of the voivodeship code. The second letter denotes the service, for example "HP" is used by the Polish Police. Any standard Latin letter outside Q can be used (unlike common licence plates). These services are also allowed to use common licence plates.
Codes:
* HA# – Central Bureau of Anticorruption
* HB# – Government Protection Bureau
* HC# – Customs Service
* HK# – Internal Security Agency, Foreign Intelligence Agency
* HM# – Military Counterintelligence Agency, Military Intelligence Agency
* HP# – Police
* HS# – Fiscal Control
* HW# – Border Guard

#### Military plates

Format:
* U# 12345
* UC 1234T
* UK 1234
The Polish military uses licence plates beginning with "U" instead of the voivodeship code. The following letter denotes the usage of the vehicle. For example, military trucks have licence plates beginning with "UC". The trailing T in the number denotes a tracked vehicle. The military are not obliged to use the standard licence plates on tracked vehicles, armoured cars and armoured personnel carriers — they can be painted on the vehicle itself or applied as a sticker.
Codes:
* UA# – Cars, offroad vehicles and specialistic vehicles based on cars or off-roaders
* UB# – Armoured personnel carriers
* UC# – Military trucks
* UD# – Buses
* UE# – Trucks
* UG# – Special trucks
* UI# – Transport trailers
* UJ# – Special trailers
* UK# – Motorcycles

## Cost of purchasing registration plates

* Regular: 80 PLN
* Motorcycles: 40 PLN
* Mopeds: 30 PLN
* Custom Regular: 200 PLN
* Custom Motorcycles: 140 PLN
* Classic Cars: 100 PLN
* Temporary: 30 PLN

## District indicators

| Lower Silesian Voivodeship | Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship | Łódź Voivodeship | Lublin Voivodeship |
| DB – Wałbrzych (city county) DBA – Wałbrzych County DBL – Bolesławiec County DDZ – Dzierżoniów County DGL – Głogów County DGR – Góra County DJ – Jelenia Góra (city county) DJA – Jawor County DJE – Jelenia Góra County DKA – Kamienna Góra County DKL – Kłodzko County DL – Legnica (city county) DLB – Lubań County DLE – Legnica County DLU – Lubin County DLW – Lwówek Śląski County DMI – Milicz County DOA – Oława County DOL – Oleśnica County DPL – Polkowice County DSR – Środa Śląska County DST – Strzelin County DSW – Świdnica County DTR – Trzebnica County DW, DX – Wrocław (city county) DWL – Wołów County DWR – Wrocław County DZA – Ząbkowice Śląskie County DZG – Zgorzelec County DZL – Złotoryja County | CAL – Aleksandrów Kujawski County CB – Bydgoszcz (city county) CBR – Brodnica County CBY – Bydgoszcz County CCH – Chełmno County CG – Grudziądz (city county) CGD – Golub-Dobrzyń County CGR – Grudziądz County CIN – Inowrocław County CLI – Lipno County CMG – Mogilno County CNA – Nakło County CRA – Radziejów County CRY – Rypin County CSE – Sępólno County CSW – Świecie County CT – Toruń (city county) CTR – Toruń County CTU – Tuchola County CW – Włocławek (city county) CWA – Wąbrzeźno County CWL – Włocławek County CZN – Żnin County | EBE – Bełchatów County EBR – Brzeziny County EKU – Kutno County EL , ED – Łódź (city county) ELA – Łask County ELC – Łowicz County ELE – Łęczyca County ELW – Łódź East County EOP – Opoczno County EP – Piotrków Trybunalski (city county) EPA – Pabianice County EPD – Poddębice County EPI – Piotrków Trybunalski County EPJ – Pajęczno County ERA – Radomsko County ERW – Rawa Mazowiecka County ES – Skierniewice (city county) ESI – Sieradz County ESK – Skierniewice County ETM – Tomaszów Mazowiecki County EWE – Wieruszów County EWI – Wieluń County EZD – Zduńska Wola County EZG – Zgierz County | LB – Biała Podlaska (city county) LBI – Biała Podlaska County LBL – Biłgoraj County LC – Chełm (city county) LCH – Chełm County LHR – Hrubieszów County LJA – Janów Lubelski County LKR – Kraśnik County LKS – Krasnystaw County LLB – Lubartów County LLE – Łęczna County LLU – Łuków County LOP – Opole Lubelskie County LPA – Parczew County LPU – Puławy County LRA – Radzyń Podlaski County LRY – Ryki County LSW – Świdnik County LTM – Tomaszów Lubelski County LU – Lublin (city county) LUB – Lublin County LWL – Włodawa County LZ – Zamość (city county) LZA – Zamość County |
| Lubusz Voivodeship | Lesser Poland Voivodeship | Masovian Voivodeship (incl. Warsaw) | Opole Voivodeship |
| FG – Gorzów Wielkopolski (city county) FGW – Gorzów Wielkopolski County FKR – Krosno Odrzańskie County FMI – Międzyrzecz County FNW – Nowa Sól County FSD – Strzelce-Drezdenko County FSL - Słubice County FSU – Sulęcin County FSW – Świebodzin County FWS – Wschowa County FZ – Zielona Góra (city county) FZA – Żary County FZG – Żagań County FZI – Zielona Góra County | KBC – Bochnia County KBR – Brzesko County KCH – Chrzanów County KDA – Dąbrowa Tarnowska County KGR – Gorlice County KLI – Limanowa County KMI – Miechów County KMY – Myślenice County KN – Nowy Sącz (city county) KNS – Nowy Sącz County KNT – Nowy Targ County KOL – Olkusz County KOS – Oświęcim County KPR – Proszowice County KR, KK – Kraków (city county) KRA – Kraków County KSU – Sucha Beskidzka County KT – Tarnów (city county) KTA – Tarnów County KTT – Tatra County KWA – Wadowice County KWI – Wieliczka County | WA – Warsaw (Białołęka district) WB – Warsaw (Bemowo district) WBR – Białobrzegi County WCI – Ciechanów County WD – Warsaw (Bielany district) WE – Warsaw (Mokotów district) WF – Warsaw (Praga-Południe district) WG – Garwolin County WGM – Grodzisk Mazowiecki County WGR – Grójec County WGS – Gostynin County WH – Warsaw (Praga-Północ district) WI – Warsaw (Śródmieście district) WJ – Warsaw (Targówek district) WK – Warsaw (Ursus district) WKZ – Kozienice County WL – Legionowo County WLI – Lipsko County WLS – Łosice County WM – Mińsk Mazowiecki County WMA – Maków Mazowiecki County WML – Mława County WN – Warsaw (Ursynów district) WND – Nowy Dwór County WO – Ostrołęka (city county) WOR – Ostrów Mazowiecka County WOS – Ostrołęka County WOT – Otwock County WP – Płock (city county) WPI – Piaseczno County WPL – Płock County WPN – Płońsk County WPR – Pruszków County WPU – Pułtusk County WPY – Przysucha County WPZ – Przasnysz County WR – Radom (city county) WRA – Radom County WS – Siedlce (city county) WSC – Sochaczew County WSE – Sierpc County WSI – Siedlce County WSK – Sokołów Podlaski County WSZ – Szydłowiec County WT – Warsaw (Wawer district) WU – Warsaw (Ochota district) WW ****(last K, L, M, N, V, R, S) – Warsaw (Włochy district) WW ****(last F, G, H, J, W) – Warsaw (Wilanów district) WW ****(last A, C, E, X, Y) – Warsaw (Rembertów district) WWE – Węgrów County WWL, WV – Wołomin County WWY – Wyszków County WX – Warsaw (Żoliborz district) WX ***Y# – Warsaw (Wesoła district) WY – Warsaw (Wola district) WZ – Warsaw West County WZU – Żuromin County WZW – Zwoleń County WZY – Żyrardów County | OB – Brzeg County OGL – Głubczyce County OK – Kędzierzyn-Koźle County OKL – Kluczbork County OKR – Krapkowice County ONA – Namysłów County ONY – Nysa County OOL – Olesno County OP – Opole (city county) OPO – Opole County OPR – Prudnik County OST – Strzelce Opolskie County |
| Podkarpackie Voivodeship | Podlaskie Voivodeship | Pomeranian Voivodeship | Silesian Voivodeship |
| RBI – Bieszczady County RBR – Brzozów County RDE – Dębica County RJA – Jarosław County RJS – Jasło County RK – Krosno (city county) RKL – Kolbuszowa County RKR – Krosno County RLA – Łańcut County RLE – Leżajsk County RLS – Lesko County RLU – Lubaczów County RMI – Mielec County RNI – Nisko County RP – Przemyśl (city county) RPR – Przemyśl County RPZ – Przeworsk County RRS – Ropczyce-Sędziszów County RSA – Sanok County RSR – Strzyżów County RST – Stalowa Wola County RT – Tarnobrzeg (city county) RTA – Tarnobrzeg County RZ – Rzeszów (city county) RZE – Rzeszów County | BAU – Augustów County BBI – Bielsk Podlaski County BGR – Grajewo County BHA – Hajnówka County BI – Białystok (city county) BIA – Białystok County BKL – Kolno County BL – Łomża (city county) BLM – Łomża County BMN – Monki County BS – Suwałki (city county) BSE – Sejny County BSI – Siemiatycze County BSK – Sokółka County BSU – Suwałki County BWM – Wysokie Mazowieckie County BZA – Zambrów County | GA – Gdynia (city county) GBY – Bytów County GCH – Chojnice County GCZ – Człuchów County GD – Gdańsk (city county) GDA – Gdańsk County GKA – Kartuzy County GKS – Kościerzyna County GKW – Kwidzyn County GLE – Lębork County GMB – Malbork County GND – Nowy Dwór Gdański County GPU – Puck County GS – Słupsk (city county) GSL – Słupsk County GSP – Sopot (city county) GST – Starogard Gdański County GSZ – Sztum County GTC – Tczew County GWE – Wejherowo County | SB – Bielsko-Biała (city county) SBE – Będzin County SBI – Bielsko-Biała County SBL – Bieruń-Lędziny County SC – Częstochowa (city county) SCI – Cieszyn County SCZ – Częstochowa County SD – Dąbrowa Górnicza (city county) SG – Gliwice (city county) SGL – Gliwice County SH – Chorzów (city county) SI – Siemianowice Śląskie (city county) SJ – Jaworzno (city county) SJZ – Jastrzębie-Zdrój (city county) SK – Katowice (city county) SKL – Kłobuck County SL – Ruda Śląska (city county) SLU – Lubliniec County SM – Mysłowice (city county) SMI – Mikołów County SMY – Myszków County SO – Sosnowiec (city county) SPI – Piekary Śląskie (city county) SPS – Pszczyna County SR – Rybnik (city county) SRB – Rybnik County SRC – Racibórz County SRS – Ruda Śląska (city county) ST – Tychy (city county) STA – Tarnowskie Góry County STY – Tychy County SW – Świętochłowice (city county) SWD – Wodzisław Śląski County SY – Bytom (city county) SZ – Zabrze (city county) SZA – Zawiercie County SZO – Żory (city county) SZY – Żywiec County |
| Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship | Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship | Greater Poland Voivodeship | West Pomeranian Voivodeship |
| TBU – Busko-Zdrój County TJE – Jędrzejów County TK – Kielce (city county) TKA – Kazimierza Wielka County TKI – Kielce County TKN – Końskie County TLW – Włoszczowa County TOP – Opatów County TOS – Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski County TPI – Pińczów County TSA – Sandomierz County TSK – Skarżysko-Kamienna County TST – Starachowice County TSZ – Staszów County | NBA – Bartoszyce County NBR – Braniewo County NDZ – Działdowo County NE – Elbląg (city county) NEB – Elbląg County NEL – Ełk County NGI – Giżycko County NGO – Gołdap County NIL – Iława County NKE – Kętrzyn County NLI – Lidzbark Warmiński County NMR – Mrągowo County NNI – Nidzica County NNM – Nowe Miasto Lubawskie County NO – Olsztyn (city county) NOE – Olecko County NOG – former Olecko-Gołdap County (Powiat olecko-gołdapski [pl]): divided into Olecko County (NOE) and Gołdap County (NGO) in 2002 NOL – Olsztyn County NOS – Ostróda County NPI – Pisz County NSZ – Szczytno County NWE – Węgorzewo County | PCH – Chodzież County PCT - Czarnków-Trzcianka County PGN – Gniezno County PGO – Grodzisk Wielkopolski County PGS – Gostyń County PJA – Jarocin County PK – Kalisz (city county) PKA – Kalisz County PKE – Kępno County PKL – Koło County PKN – Konin County PKO, PN – Konin (city county) PKR – Krotoszyn County PKS – Kościan County PL – Leszno (city county) PLE – Leszno County PMI – Międzychód County PNT – Nowy Tomyśl County PO, PY – Poznań (city county) POB – Oborniki County POS – Ostrów Wielkopolski County POT – Ostrzeszów County POZ, PZ – Poznań County PP – Piła County PPL – Pleszew County PRA – Rawicz County PSE – Śrem County PSL – Słupca County PSR – Środa Wielkopolska County PSZ – Szamotuły County PTU – Turek County PWA – Wągrowiec County PWL – Wolsztyn County PWR – Września County PZ – Poznań County PZL – Złotów County | ZBI – Białogard County ZCH – Choszczno County ZDR – Drawsko Pomorskie County ZGL – Goleniów County ZGR – Gryfino County ZGY – Gryfice County ZK – Koszalin (city county) ZKA – Kamień Pomorski County ZKL – Kołobrzeg County ZKO – Koszalin County ZLO – Łobez County ZMY – Myślibórz County ZPL – Police County ZPY – Pyrzyce County ZS – Szczecin (city county) ZSD – Świdwin County ZSL – Sławno County ZST – Stargard County ZSW – Świnoujście (city county) ZSZ – Szczecinek County ZWA – Wałcz County |

## History
### 1922–1937

From July 1922 Polish car number plates had two letters denoting voivodeship (being an abbreviation of its name), or single letter W denoting capital city of Warsaw, and up to five digits. Except for letter identifier, each voivodeship had own range of numbers (except for autonomic Silesian Voivodeship, which used ŚL identifier and own numbers from 1). Plates were white, with red letters and black digits, separated with red dash.
There were also temporary plates with PR letters and presidential plates with WZK letters (for President of Poland chancellery). Military plates had only four white digits on black background.

### 1937–1939

From 1937 there was a new different system of registration numbers introduced, with white letters on black plates. There was one letter denoting vehicle type, two-digit number denoting voivodeship, and three-digit individual number after a dash. Letters A, B, C, D, E, H, K, L, X, Y, Z were used for cars, trucks and buses, T for taxicabs, M, N, P, R, S, U for motorcycles and W for military vehicles. A range of numbers 00 to 19 meant capital city of Warsaw, 20 to 24 indicated Białostok Voivodeship, and so on, in alphabetical order, up to 95 to 99 for Wołyńskie Voivodeship.
During World War II there were plates introduced by occupants.

### 1944–1956

From 1946 Polish car number plates had the LNN-NNN format, with L being a letter and N being a digit. The full name of the province was located at the bottom.

### 1956–1976

From June 19, 1956, Polish car number plates had 2 letters and 4 digits, and after May 13, 1964, letters could stand after digits.
Individual elements meant:
* first letter: code of voivodeship,
* second letter: code of powiat,
* digits: code of vehicle.
Codes of voivodeships:
* A – Białystok Voivodeship
* B – Bydgoszcz Voivodeship
* C – Kielce Voivodeship
* E – Koszalin Voivodeship
* F – Łódź Voivodeship
* G – Gdańsk Voivodeship
* H – Opole Voivodeship
* I – city of Łódź
* K – Kraków Voivodeship
* L – Lublin Voivodeship
* M – Szczecin Voivodeship
* O – Olsztyn Voivodeship
* P – Poznań Voivodeship
* R – Rzeszów Voivodeship
* S – Katowice Voivodeship
* T – Warsaw Voivodeship
* W – capital city of Warsaw
* X – Wrocław Voivodeship
* Z – Zielona Góra Voivodeship
Codes of special forces:
* Y – Citizen's Militia
* D – army (cars)
* U – army (other vehicles)
* N – Border Guard

### 1976–2000

Plates from the 1976–2000 series are still valid. They have white letters on black background. The coding used was three letters and four digits (XYZ 1234) or three letters, three digits and one letter (XYZ 123A), although at the beginning the configuration with a letter in the end was used for public cars only.
The following coding was used for the 49 regions of the country:
* Biała Podlaska: BP, BA, BS
* Białystok: BK, BT, BI
* Bielsko-Biała: BB, BL, BO
* Bydgoszcz: BY, BG, BD, BC
* Chełm: CH, CM, CU
* Ciechanów: CI, CN, CA
* Częstochowa: CZ, CE, CO
* Elbląg: EL, EG, EB
* Gdańsk: GD, GK, GA, GN
* Gorzów Wlkp.: GO, GW, GR
* Jelenia Góra: JG, JE, JA
* Kalisz: KL, KZ, KP
* Katowice: KA, KT, KB, KC, KD, KX
* Kielce: KI, KE, KJ
* Konin: KN, KM, KF
* Koszalin: KO, KG, KY
* Kraków (Cracow): KR, KK, KW, KV
* Krosno: KS, KU, KH
* Legnica: LG, LC, LI
* Leszno: LE, LS, LN
* Lublin: LU, LL, LB
* Łomża: LO, LM, LA
* Łódź: LD, LZ, LF, LW
* Nowy Sącz: NS, NO, NA
* Olsztyn: OL, ON, OT
* Opole: OP, OE, OD
* Ostrołęka: OS, OK, OR
* Piła: PI, PA, PY
* Piotrków Tryb.: PT, PK, PU
* Płock: PL, PC, PB
* Poznań: PO, PN, PZ, PW
* Przemyśl: PR, PM, PE
* Radom: RA, RO, RD
* Rzeszów: RZ, RE, RW
* Siedlce: SE, SD, ST
* Sieradz: SI, SA, SB
* Skierniewice: SK, SN, SF
* Słupsk: SL, SP, SG
* Suwałki: SU, SW, SO
* Szczecin: SZ, SC, SM
* Tarnobrzeg: TG, TB, TE
* Tarnów: TA, TN, TW
* Toruń: TO, TU, TY
* Wałbrzych: WB, WY, WH
* Warsaw: WA, WS, WI, WU, WG, WF, WX, WZ, WM, WT, WP, WV
* Włocławek: WL, WK, WE
* Wrocław: WR, WO, WC, WW
* Zamość: ZA, ZM, ZC
* Zielona Góra: ZG, ZE, ZN
The following codes were used for special forces:
* Militia/Police: MO
* Military: U
* Border Guard: HW
* "Nadwislanskie" Troops of the Interior Ministry: HN
* Foreigner plates (in green background): I
* Test plates (in red background): X
Special plates:
* Diplomatic: XY 12 345, The first two numbers are denoting the region of ambassador (e.g. 02 - Germany) and blue background.
* Temporary: X 12 34 56, with yellow font.

### 2000–present

Since the year 2000 Polish car plates have black letters pressed onto white reflective blanks with an EU stripe and country code. The switch was made to conform with other EU countries and to increase visibility. The licence plates issued until May 1, 2006, bear a Polish national flag. Plates issued after that date have the 12 EU stars instead of the flag.