Vehicle registration plates ( or, more colloquially, ) are mandatory alphanumeric plates used to display the registration mark of a vehicle registered in Germany. They have existed in the country since 1906, with the current system in use since 1956. German registration plates are alphanumeric plates in a standardised format, issued officially by the district authorities.
All motorised vehicles participating in road traffic on public space, whether moving or stationary, have to bear the plates allotted to them, displayed at the appropriate spaces at the front and rear. Additionally, the official seals on the plates show their validity which can also be proven by the documentation coming with them. Motorcycles and trailers carry only a rear plate.
A significant feature of German vehicle registration plates is the area code, which can be used to tell the district of registration. It has developed into a widespread habit in Germany, even a children's game when travelling, to guess "where that vehicle is from".
Format and legal requirements
Legal The legal requirements for these licence plates are laid down in a federal law titled (Ordinance on the admission of vehicles for road traffic), or in the shortened version which replaced part of an older law named in 2011. The law distinguishes between meaning a specific combination of letters and digits, and which are the physical licence plates. In everyday language, these terms are often replaced indifferently by and rarely is the difference emphasized by restricted use of either or .
Physical characteristics German number plates are rectangular, with standard dimensions for cars, trucks, buses and their trailers. Plates bearing few characters may have reduced length but must retain the size and shape of the characters. Plates in two lines for the said types of vehicles measure . Motorcycles also have plates in two lines but with specific dimensions: Plates for "large motorcycles" (engine displacement over 125 cc or power output exceeding ) issued until 2011 combine a size of with characters of the same size as used for car plates, while those issued since 2011 have characters of reduced size and measure either or . Plates for "light motorcycles" (Leichtkrafträder up to 125 cc and ) combine a size of with characters of reduced size. This smallest size of plates is also used for agricultural tractors with a maximum speed of and their trailers and may also be issued as an exception for certain import cars, when a plate of regular size cannot be applied at the available space.
The characters on the licence plate, as well as the narrow rim framing it, are black on a white background. In standard size they are high, and wide for letters or wide for digits. The smaller plates bear characters of height and width, respectively. In the current system, introduced in 1956, they consist of an area code of one, two or three letters, followed by an identifier sequence of one or two letters and one to four digits. The total quantity of characters on the plate must not exceed eight. Identifiers consisting of one letter with one- or two-digit numbers are often reserved for motorcycle use since there is less space for plates on these vehicles, especially before the reduction of plate size to 180 × 200 mm and 220 × 200 mm in 2011.
Typeface Modern German plates use a typeface called FE-Schrift (, tamper-hindering script). It is designed so that the letter P cannot be altered to look exactly like an R, and vice versa; nor can the F or the L be forged to equal an E, etc. Another feature is the equal width of all characters, different from the old DIN 1451 script which had been in use since the introduction of the current system in 1956. FE-Schrift can be read by OCR software for automatic number plate recognition more easily than DIN 1451.
The present style was introduced in 1994 and became mandatory in 2000, so the number of licence plates issued in the old style has become very rare. As with many plates for countries within the European Union, a blue strip on the left shows a shortened country code in white text (D for = Germany) and the Flag of Europe (12 golden stars forming a circle on a blue background).
Material Traditionally, German licence plates are made of aluminium sheeting, with embossed characters rising above background level. Over the years, however, various other materials have been used, albeit to a small extent only. Since 2013, a new style of plates made of plastic is allowed. They are said to be less sensitive to mechanical damage and to cause less CO2 emission in their production, but are more expensive.
Number plates are retroflective, but must not be mirroring, concealed or soiled, nor may they be covered by glass, foil or similar layers. Occasionally, drivers who adorn their licence plate with a badge of their favourite football club are fined and ordered to restore the original state.
Constituent elements
Area code The first part or consists of one, two or three letters representing the district where the car was registered, such as B for Berlin or HSK for Hochsauerlandkreis. These letters basically refer to the German districts, yet after some changes in the law they are no longer unambiguous. When the current system was introduced, each district was assigned exactly one abbreviation. Whenever a district was merged with another or changed its name, their area code would be redefined. Whereas existing registrations would remain valid, any vehicle registered henceforth could only be issued the current code.When the districts of Eutin and Oldenburg in Holstein merged to form the new district of Ostholstein, in 1970, both their codes EUT and OLD became obsolete and were replaced by OH. In some cases an urban district and the surrounding non-urban district share the same letter code. Usually, these are distinguished by different letter/digit patterns.The urban district of Straubing has had one letter after the area code (SR-A 123), whereas the surrounding district Straubing-Bogen has two letters (SR-AB 123) in this place. The assignment of each code and combination is registered with the (ZFZR).
Since 2013, however, area codes long abolished were re-introduced, revoking the rule of unambiguity. In consequence, many districts now use more than one code,Up to 9 in Mecklenburgische Seenplatte (district): MSE, AT, DM, MC, MST, MÜR, NZ, RM, WRN and certain codes, on the other hand, are not assigned to one district only.ESB, formerly standing for Eschenbach district, is now issued by the districts of Neustadt a.d. Waldnaab, Amberg-Sulzbach, Bayreuth and Nürnberger Land. Likewise, several cities that share their code with the surrounding rural districts have started using any available codes for both districts without any distinction; the city of Regensburg, for example, and the surrounding rural district of Regensburg used different systems with their code R only until 2007.
Germany includes diacritical marks in the letters of some codes, that is the letters Ä, Ö, and Ü, but not ẞ. For a long time, German codes kept to the rule that a code with an umlaut would prohibit another code with the respective blank vowel, e.g. there could not be a district code FU as the code FÜ was already in use for Fürth. This rule was disregarded in 1996, when BÖ was introduced for Bördekreis in spite of BO existing for Bochum. However Bördekreis got BK in 2007, probably because of confusions abroad, for fines etc.
Development of the area code When the area codes were introduced, they were intended mainly as a means for police officers to identify speeders and other traffic offenders. However, they soon developed into everyday abbreviations of people's home areas and were cherished or despised. Sometimes, the codes of neighbouring districts were given mocking or spiteful meanings.Drivers from Offenbach are slandered to be (without sense) and even misspell it OF. When districts merged and only one of their codes could be continued, fierce disputes might ensue about which one.
The Büsingen exclave
Since 1968, a peculiar rule has applied to the municipality of which is a German exclave completely surrounded by Swiss territory. Although Büsingen belongs to the German district of Konstanz, it is part of the Swiss customs area. For this reason, a vehicle registered to a citizen of Büsingen does not bear KN for Konstanz but BÜS, signifying to Swiss customs officers that this is in fact a domestic vehicle. There are about 700 cars with this area code, which makes Büsingen the smallest and least-populated registration precinct in Germany.
List of area codes {| class="wikitable" ! List of license plate area codes of Germany
Codes starting with letter A Code City / rural district State Namesake Notes A Augsburg City Bavaria Augsburg From [A-AA 100 to 999]To [A-ZZ 100 to 999](Excludes [A-PS 100 to 999], reserved for city Police)From [A-AA 5000 to 9999] to [A-ZZ 5000 to 9999][A-X 1 to 999]Where X is: B, F, G[A-XY 1 to 99]Where either X or Y or both are: B, F, G Augsburg District From [A-A 1000 to 9999]To [A-Z 1000 to 9999]From [A-AA 1000 to 4999] to [A-ZZ 1000 to 4999][A-X 1 to 999]Where X isn't: B, F, G[A-XY 1 to 99]''Where neither X nor Y are: B, F, G |- | AA || Ostalb District || Baden-Württemberg || Aalen ||
| rowspan="2" | AB | Aschaffenburg District | rowspan="2" | Bavaria | rowspan="2" | Aschaffenburg | From [AB-AA 100 to 9999] to [AB-ZZ 100 to 9999][AB-X 1 to 999]Where X is: B, F, G, I, O, Q[AB-'XY 1 to 99]Where either X or Y or both are: B, F, G, I, O, Q
| Aschaffenburg City |From [AB-A 1000 to 9999] to [ AB-Z 1000 to 9999][AB-X 1 to 999]Where X is not: B, F, G, I, O, Q[AB-'XY 1 to 99]Where neither X nor Y are: B, F, G, I, O, Q
| ABG || Altenburger Land District || Thuringia || Altenburg|Altenburg ||
| ABI || Anhalt-Bitterfeld District || Saxony-Anhalt || Anhalt-Bitterfeld ||
| AC || Aachen Region || North Rhine-Westphalia || Aachen ||
| AE || Vogtland District || Saxony || Auerbach ||
| AH || Borken District || North Rhine-Westphalia || Ahaus ||
| rowspan="2" | AIB | Munich District | rowspan="2" | Bavaria | rowspan="2" | Bad Aibling | From [AIB-Q 1] to [AIB-Q 9999]
| Rosenheim District | Every other available combination
| AIC || Aichach-Friedberg District || Bavaria || Aichach ||
| AK || Altenkirchen (Westerwald) District || Rhineland-Palatinate || Altenkirchen|Altenkirchen ||
| ALF || Hildesheim District || Lower Saxony || Alfeld ||
| ALZ || Aschaffenburg District || Bavaria || Alzenau ||
| AM || Amberg City || Bavaria || Amberg ||From [AM-A 1 to 999] to [AM-Z 1 to 999]From [AM-AA 1 to 99] to [AM-ZZ 1 to 99]
| rowspan="2" | AN | Ansbach District | rowspan="2" | Bavaria | rowspan="2" |Ansbach | From [AN-AA 100 to 999] to [AN-ZZ 100 to 999][AN-X 1 to 999]Where X is: B, F, G, I, O, Q[AN-'XY 1 to 99]Where either X or Y or both are: B, F, G, I, O, Q
| Ansbach City | [AN-X 1 to 999]Where X is not: B, F, G, I, O, Q[AN-XY 1 to 99]Where neither X nor Y are: B, F, G, I, O, Q
| ANA || Erzgebirge District || Saxony || Annaberg-Buchholz ||
| ANG || Uckermark District || Brandenburg || Angermünde ||
| ANK || Vorpommern-Greifswald District(Excluding Greifswald City) || Mecklenburg-Vorpommern || Anklam ||
| AÖ || Altötting District || Bavaria || Altötting|Altötting ||
| AP || Weimarer Land District || Thuringia || Apolda ||
| APD || Weimarer Land District || Thuringia || Apolda ||
| ARN || Ilm District || Thuringia || Arnstadt ||
| ART || Kyffhäuser District || Thuringia || Artern ||
| AS || Amberg-Sulzbach District || Bavaria || Amberg-Sulzbach ||
| ASL || Salzland District || Saxony-Anhalt || Ascherleben ||
| ASZ || Erzgebirge District || Saxony || Aue-Schwarzenberg ||
| AT || Mecklenburgische Seenplatte District(Excluding Neubrandenburg City) || Mecklenburg-Vorpommern || Altentreptow ||