page_title: Vehicle registration plates of Portugal
section_title: Special licence plates
hierarchical_section_title: Vehicle registration plates of Portugal / Special licence plates
caption_attribution_description: Portuguese trailer license plate of Lisbon
context_page_description: The Portuguese vehicle registration plate system for automobiles and motorcycles is simple and sequential. The system has no link to geographical locations or similar. It is an incremental numbering system consisting of three groups of two characters, separated by dashes. This system started in 1937 with AA-10-00, which ran out on 29 February 1992. This then went on to 00-01-AA and changed to 00-AA-01 in 2005. This last sequence was exhausted early in 2020, and it was announced on 3 March that it had been replaced by the sequence AA-00-AA. Moreover, the letters W and Y, never before used, and the letter K, used only for a short-lived series for imported vehicles in 1997, are being employed in the new system, meaning that this sequence should last more than six-and-a-half times as long as the previous. At current rates that it would not need replacing at least until the end of the 21st century, but the expected lifetime of the series is stated as being forty-five years.
  In 2020 with the change to the AA-01-AA, the yellow ribbon containing the date of first registration is being discontinued due to authorities in other countries mistaking the registration date as an expiration date.
context_section_description: The sequences MG-00-00, ME-00-00 and MX-00-00 are only used by Portuguese Army vehicles.
  The sequence AP-00-00 is only used by Portuguese Navy vehicles.
  The sequence AM-00-00 is only used by Portuguese Air Force vehicles.
  The sequence 00-01-KA to 80-79-KF was used for second hand imported vehicles in 1997. The letters K, Y and W were not used before as they are were not part of the Portuguese alphabet at the time.
  The Portuguese National Republican Guard uses the special sequence GNR A-01 to GNR Z-9999 in which the letter after the GNR identifies the type of vehicle (e.g. B for armoured vehicle, J for off-roader, L for patrol vehicle, T for traffic, etc.)
  Diplomatic vehicles use the sequences 000-CD000 (diplomats), 000-CC000 (consular personnel) and 000-FM000 (non-diplomatic embassy personnel) in which the first group of three numbers identify the country, with red characters on white and without the European blue ribbon.
  New, unregistered vehicles for sale use special plates with the name of the dealer followed by an identification number, with white characters on red and without the European blue ribbon.
  Trailers use another sequence which consist of two groups of characters separated by a dash. The first with one or two letters is the code of the regional registering office. The second is a sequential registration number with up to six digits.
  Vehicles for exportation use an inverse sequence of the trailers, first the registration number and second the office code. In this vehicles the letters "EXP" are placed in the yellow ribbon above the date.
  Industrial machines use the same sequence as cars and motorcycles but with black characters on red. These vehicles have an symbol indicating commercial class in the yellow ribbon rather than the year and month of registration.
  Duty unpaid vehicles use two groups of characters separated by a dash. The first is a sequential number up to five digits while the second is a letter. The year band is white, the colour is yellow like Netherlands vehicle registration plates.
  Iberlant NATO Base plates had a blue background with a yellow font and the sequence IBL-00-00.
  NATO plates start with NATO and followed by four numbers.
caption: Trailer plate
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