page_title: Vehicle registration plate
section_title: Europe
hierarchical_section_title: Vehicle registration plate / Europe
caption_attribution_description: English: Registration plates of regular private automobile vehicles throughout Europe, including dependencies and disputed territories. This map shows the most up-to-date current versions of (rear) license plates in Europe.
context_page_description: A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate or license plate, is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. All countries require registration plates for road vehicles such as cars, trucks, and motorcycles. Whether they are required for other vehicles, such as bicycles, boats, or tractors, may vary by jurisdiction. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric ID that uniquely identifies the vehicle or vehicle owner within the issuing region's vehicle register. In some countries, the identifier is unique within the entire country, while in others it is unique within a state or province. Whether the identifier is associated with a vehicle or a person also varies by issuing agency. There are also electronic license plates.
context_section_description: In the European Union (EU), white or yellow number plates of a common format and size are issued throughout, although they are still optional in some member states. Nevertheless, some individual member states still use differing non-EU formats – Belgium, for example, still permits vehicles to display the older small white number plates with red lettering, and the registration plates that are issued by the government body which assigns these are of the smaller format, too. In 1908 number plates were only three numbers and one letter long. Italy still permits smaller plates to be attached to the front of a vehicle, while the rear plate complies to the usual EU format. The common design consists of a blue strip on the left of the plate, which has the EU motif (12 yellow stars), along with the country code of the member state in which the vehicle was registered. Lettering on the plate must be black on a white or yellow reflective background.
  According to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, vehicles in cross-border traffic are obliged to display a distinguishing sign of the country of registration on the rear of the vehicle. This sign may either be placed separately from the registration plate or may be incorporated into the vehicle registration plate. With registration plates in the common EU format, vehicles registered in the EU are no longer required to carry an international code plate or sticker for traveling within the European Economic Area. The common EU format is also recognized in countries signatory to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. As are registration plates of other European countries similar to the EU format, such as Norwegian ones; with the Norwegian flag replacing the circle of stars. Both the common EU format, and i.e. Norwegian registration plates satisfies the requirements laid out in the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic; According to the convention, when the distinguishing sign is incorporated into the registration plate, it must also appear on the front registration plate of the vehicle, and may be supplemented with the flag or emblem of the national state, or the emblem of the regional economic integration organization to which the country belongs.
  Diplomatic plates are usually denoted by the letters "CD" in Europe which stands for Corps Diplomatique located usually at the beginning of the number plate (France, Belgium, Italy) or middle (Netherlands, Portugal). The United Kingdom uses "D" for "diplomat".
  In order to combat registration plate fraud, Germany developed a typeface which is called fälschungserschwerende Schrift (abbr.: FE-Schrift), meaning "falsification-hindering script". It is designed so that, for example, the O cannot be adjusted to look like a Q, or vice versa; nor can the P be painted to resemble an R, amongst other changes. This typeface can more easily be read by radar or visual registration plate reading machines, but can be harder to read with the naked eye, especially when the maximum allowed number of 8 characters in "Engschrift" (narrower script used when available space is limited) are printed on the plate. Many countries have since adopted FE-Schrift, or developed their own anti-fraud typeface.
caption: Plates in Europe
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