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Vehicle registration plates of the Netherlands

Vehicle registration plates of the Netherlands are vehicle registration plates issued by the RDW (Dutch Vehicle Authority).

RDW vehicle registration plates are assigned bearing the same "number" which is a sequence of characters composed of letters and digits as that is shown on the vehicle's registration document. The numbering scheme used bears no relation to the place of a vehicle's registration or ownership, and numbers – which are issued in strict time order – identify the vehicle, not its owner. Thus, if a vehicle changes ownership, the registration number remains unchanged.

If the car is registered before 1 January 1978, it may have a dark-blue number plate also called 'historical plates'. Taxis will have a light-blue number plate because they pay a different amount of tax to let people into the car legally. If a taxi does not have a blue number plate on it, it is an illegal taxi and the driver will charge a lesser fare to the person in the car.

A green plate is a 'trade plate', i.e. a temporary number plate used by motor traders or vehicle testers to save them the cost and time to register and tax every vehicle temporarily in their possession.

Earlier schemes

The Netherlands introduced a system of vehicle registration plates on 26 April 1898 – the third country in the world to do so, after France in 1893 and Germany in 1896. A plate bearing the number 1 was issued to one J. van Dam, who purchased the first Dutch-built motorcar, which was manufactured at his own Groninger Motor-Rijtuigen Fabriek. Plate numbers stayed with the owner, unlike the present system. From 1906, a new system used the format , where was a province code and a serial number. This system lasted until 1951 when the current system was introduced.

Province codes

Numbering schemes

The current Dutch license plate system uses black letters on a light-reflecting yellow background, although white reflecting letters on a dark-blue background are allowed for vehicles built before 1977. Since 2000, the blue band with the European flag and NL has been mandatory for all vehicles except vehicles built before 1977.

Dutch license plates can be formatted as follows:

Nowadays the letters used do not include vowels, to avoid profane or obscene language. To avoid confusion with the number zero, the letters C and Q are also omitted and letters M and W are not used because they are too wide.

Several combinations are banned on Dutch license plates to prevent obscenity, controversial political or historical references, and to ensure clarity and distinctiveness for vehicles. Here's the list:

  • BBB (political party)
  • FVD (also a political party)
  • GVD (a common Dutch expletive)
  • KGB (Soviet state security agency)
  • KKK (Ku Klux Klan)
  • KVT (a potential expletive)
  • LPF (a former political party)
  • NSB (the Dutch National Socialist Movement)
  • PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party)
  • PSV (a major football club, to maintain neutrality)
  • PVV (a major political party, to maintain neutrality)
  • SGP (a major political party, to maintain neutrality)
  • SS (Nazi Schutzstaffel)
  • SD (Sicherheitsdienst, a Nazi intelligence agency)
  • TBS (a measure for offenders with a psychiatric disorder)
  • VVD (a major political party, to maintain neutrality)

Letters and numbers are issued in strict alphabetical/numeric order. Thus a Dutch license plate indicates the date of registration of a car, but no information about where in the country the car comes from, or to whom it belongs.

Other formats

With the introduction of the GAIK series, several other formats have been introduced as well. All background colors used are retroreflective.

Recent changes

License plates subtly changed shape in 2002 when a new font was introduced, amongst other changes.

  • Combatting fraudulent reports of stolen license plates, license plates are replaced immediately but using the same number. The new license plate is tagged with a small number 1 over the first dash, which is increased with each new plate.
  • A blue background is used for taxis.
  • White letters on a blue or black background are used for classic cars older than 1 January 1978 and with a registration number in sidecode 1, 2, or 3.
  • Black letters on a white background are used for small trailers that hide the car's actual license plate.
  • Large trailers, caravans, etc. now have black/yellow license plates.
  • The letter Y is no longer used for cars, but instead for fast motorboats.
  • The letter combinations SDB to SDZ as well as SSB to SSZ are not issued as SD, SS and SA continue to have fascist connotations in the Netherlands. Registrations with the letter combination NSB were issued in 2010, although these were recalled because these were the initials of the Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging.
  • The letter combination KGB is not issued in side code 12.

Current series

Motor cars

  • 01-DB-BB, registration 1999/2000
  • 01-FB-BB, registration 2000
  • 01-GB-BB, registration 2000/2001
  • 01-HB-BB, registration 2001/2002
  • 01-JB-BB, registration 2002
  • 01-LB-BB, registration 2002/2003
  • 01-NB-BB, registration 2003/2004
  • 01-PB-BB, registration 2004/2005
  • 01-RB-BB, registration 2005
  • 01-SB-BB, registration 2005/2006
  • 01-TB-BB, registration 2006/2007
  • 01-XB-BB, registration 2007
  • 01-ZB-BB, registration 2007/2008 till 76-ZS-KB
  • 01-GBB-1, registration 2008 (no 00-GBB-1 and no 00-GBB-2) (no GVD)
  • 00-HBB-1, registration 2008/2009
  • 00-JBB-1, registration 2009
  • 00-KBB-1, registration 2009/2010 (no KKK)
  • 00-LBB-1, registration 2010 (no LPF)
  • 00-NBB-1, registration 2010/2011 (no NSB)
  • 00-PBB-1, registration 2011 (no PKK and no PSV and no PVV)
  • 00-RBB-1, registration 2011
  • 00-SBB-1, registration 2011 (no SGP and no SDB - SDZ and no SSB - SSZ)
  • 00-TBB-1, registration 2012 (no TBS)
  • 00-XBB-1, registration 2012
  • 00-ZBB-1, registration 2012/2013 till 79-ZXT-2
  • 1-KBB-00, registration 2013 (no KKK and no KVT)
  • 1-SBB-00, registration 2013 (no SGP and no SDB - SDZ and no SSB - SSZ)
  • 1-TBB-00, registration 2013/2014 (no TBS)
  • 1-XBB-00, registration 2014
  • 1-ZBB-00, registration 2014/2015 till 8-ZVK-67
  • GB-001-B, registration 2015
  • HB-001-B, registration 2015/2016
  • JB-001-B, registration 2016
  • KB-001-B, registration 2016
  • (L was reserved for agricultural vehicles but was not used after the Tweede kamer voted against a proposal for agricultural licence plates. Sidecode 11 has been used for this purpose since 1-1-2021)
  • NB-001-B, registration 2016/2017
  • PB-001-B, registration 2017
  • RB-001-B, registration 2017/2018
  • SB-001-B, registration 2018 (SP only SP-001-B till SP-154-P)
  • TB-001-B, registration 2018
  • XB-001-B, registration 2018/2019
  • ZB-001-B, registration 2019 till ZV-183-Z
  • G-001-BB, registration 2019
  • H-001-BB, registration 2019/2020
  • J-001-BB, registration 2020
  • K-001-BB, registration 2020/2021
  • L-001-BB, registration 2021
  • N-001-BB, registration 2021/2022
  • P-001-BB, registration 2022
  • R-001-BB, registration 2022
  • S-001-BB, registration 2022/2023 No S-001-DB to S-999-DZ
  • T-001-BB, registration 2023
  • X-001-BB, registration 2023/2024
  • Z-001-BB, registration 2024 till Z-671-SB
  • GBB-01-B, registration 2024/2025
  • HBB-01-B, registration 2025
  • JBB-01-B, registration 2025/2026
  • KBB-01-B, registration 2026 (current series, now KFG-F)

..S-01-D to ..S-99-D and ..S-01-S to ..S-99-S will not be used, and also .SD-01-B to .SD-99-Z and .SS-01-B to .SS-99-Z will not be used to avoid SD and SS combinations.

Motorcycles

  • MB-01-BB, registration 1979/1998
  • MB-BB-01, registration 1998/2011
  • 01-MB-BB, registration 2011/2026
  • 00-MBB-1, registration 2026/present (current series, now MBB)

Mopeds

  • 01-DBB-1, registration 2005/2006
  • 01-FBB-1, registration 2006
  • DB-001-B, registration 2006
  • FB-001-B, registration 2006/2008
  • D-001-BB, registration 2008/2011
  • F-001-BB, registration 2011/2015
  • DBB-01-B, registration 2015/2020
  • FBB-01-B, registration 2020/present (current series, now FXF-G)

D/FBS-01-D to D/FBS-99-D and D/FBS-01-S to D/FBS-99-S is not used, to avoid SD and SS combinations. Also, D/FxS-01-D to D/FxS-99-D and D/FxS-01-S to D/FxS-99-S (x is the second letter, D till Z) will not be used; and this also for D/FSD-01-B till D/FSD-99-Z and D/FSS-01-B till D/FSS-99-Z for the same reason.

Trucks/Lorries (payload 3.5 tons or more)

  • BB-BB-01, registration 1994/2012
  • 00-BBB-1, registration 2012/2025 BSD and BSS are both not used to avoid SD and SS combinations.
  • BB-001-B, (current series, now BD-J)

Trucks/Lorries (payload less than or 3.5 tons)

  • VB-BB-01, registration 1991/1998
  • 01-VB-BB, registration 1998/2002
  • 01-BB-BB, registration 2002/2006
  • 01-VBB-1, registration 2006/2009 (no 00-VSB-1 to 99-VSZ-9)
  • 1-VBB-00, registration 2009/2012 (no 1-VVD-00 to 9-VVD-99)
  • VB-001-B, registration 2012/2016
  • V-001-BB, registration 2016/2019
  • VBB-01-B, registration 2019/2024 No VVD-01-B to VVD-99-Z read just below.
  • V-01-BBB, registration 2024 till nowadays (now V-PGZ)

VBS-01-D to VBS-99-D and VBS-01-S to VBS-99-S is not used, to avoid SD and SS combinations. Also VxS-01-D to VxS-99-D and VxS-01-S to VxS-99-S (x is the second letter, D till Z) will not be used for the same reason. Also VSD-01-B to VSD-99-Z and VSS-01-B to VSS-99-Z is not be used for the same reason. No VVD-01-B to VVD-99-Z because VVD is a political party.

On 8 January 2024 after V-42-BBB follows immediately V-01-DBB because BBB is a political party. To avoid SD and SS combinations V-01-xSD till V-99-xSD and V-01-xSS till V-99-xSS is/will not used, x is D t/m Z. FVD, GVD, KGB, KKK, KVT, LPF and NSB are not used.

Trailers

  • WB-00-01, registration 1963/1977
  • 00-01-WB, registration 1977/1983
  • 00-WB-01, registration 1983/1989
  • WB-01-BB, registration 1989/2000
  • WB-BB-01, registration 2000/2008
  • 01-WB-BB, registration 2008/2021
  • 00-WBB-1, registration 2021/present (current series, now WSZ) (no WSD and no WSS)

Semi-Trailers

  • OB-00-01, registration 1963/1988
  • OB-01-BB, registration 1988/present (current series, now OX-DY)

Agricultural Vehicles

  • LBB-01-B, registration 2021/present (current series, now LRZ-J)

LBS-01-D to LBS-99-D and LBS-01-S to LBS-99-S is not used to avoid SD and SS combinations. Also in the future, LxS-01-D to LxS-99-D and LxS-01-S to LxS-99-S (x is the second letter, D till Z) will not be used for the same reason. LPF is not used.

Tractors

  • TBB-01-B, registration 2021. TBS is not used. TSD and TSS are both not used to avoid SD and SS combinations. TDS-01-D to TDS-99-D and TDS-01-S to TDS-99-S is not used, to avoid SD and SS combinations. Also TxS-01-D to TxS-99-D and TxS-01-S to TxS-99-S (x is the second letter, F to Z) is not be used, for the same reason. Also TSD-01-B to TSD-99-Z and TSS-01-B to TSS-99-Z is not be used for the same reason.
  • T-01-BBB, registration 31 December 2021/present (current series, now T-HKJ)

No T-..-xSD and no T-..-xSS, x is the second letter B to Z, to avoid SD and SS combinations. There exists T-01-FVD till T-99-FVD despite FVD is a political party! GVD is not used.

Electric scooters

  • E-01-BBD registration 1 July 2025/present (current series, now E-BDJ). No BBB because BBB is a political party.

And see now also The monthly update of the most latest license plates by the RDW on 31 March 2026.

Special-use license plates

This list is not exhaustive. The Dutch Wikipedia article contains more exceptions.

Vehicle registration

Since 1 January 2014, the Netherlands has had an all-plastic vehicle registration in credit card format. This and the driving license (which is the same size) are the only things needed to bring along while driving in the Netherlands. This registration has the same green appearance for every vehicle category, only the information on the card differs. It has a chip with more detailed information about the vehicle. All previously issued vehicle registrations will remain valid until the car changes ownership, or until the owner requests replacement vehicle registration documents. While a so-called overschrijvingsbewijs (a separate document that came with the vehicle registration) was needed previously to sell the vehicle, this has now been replaced with a code. The registration card and the correct code are enough to sell the vehicle, even without the original letter stating the code as issued during the new car registration.

References

External links