Vehicle registration plates of the Netherlands

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.[2] 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.[3] Plate numbers stayed with the owner, unlike the present system. From 1906, a new system used the format xx-ddddd, where xx was a province code and ddddd a serial number. This system lasted until 1951, when the current system was introduced.

Province codes

• A: Groningen
• B: Friesland
• D: Drenthe
• E: Overijssel
• G, GZ, GX: Noord Holland
• H, HZ, HX: Zuid Holland
• K: Zeeland
• M: Gelderland
• N: Noord Brabant
• L: Utrecht
• P: Limburg
• R: so-called "Departementen" overseas areas.

The current Dutch licence 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 prior to 1977. Since 2000, the blue band with the European flag and NL has been mandatory for all vehicles except vehicles built prior to 1977.

Dutch car number plates can be formatted as follows:

Year	Format	Format (Sidecode)	Comment
1951–1965		1	This series is currently in use for imported oldtimers (pre-1973), using leftover serial letters not originally issued. The series DE, DH, DL, DM, DR, AE, AH, AL, AM, AR and DZ are used for cars, ZM, ZF and NM for motorcycles and BE for commercial vehicles.
1965–1973		2	This series is currently in use for special permit vehicles (ZZ).
1973–1978		3	Yellow plates were first introduced in 1975. These were initially optional but became mandatory from 1st January 1978, a few months before this series ended. This series is currently in use for imported "youngtimers" (1973 - 1977 vehicles), starting with Y (YA, YB, YD currently issued.)
1978–1991		4	The letters K and Y were used as serial letters in this series. This series is currently issued to semi-trailers (O).
1991–1999		5
1999–2008		6	In 2000, the Controlled Issuance and Intake of Licence Plates (GAIK; Gecontroleerde Afgave en Inname van Kentekenplaten) licence style started with the F series in this series. All licence plates except some oldtimer registrations were mandated to change to GAIK plates. This series is currently in use for motorcycles (M) and trailers above 750 kg (W).
2006–present		7	This series is currently issued for heavy goods vehicles (B).
		8	In this series, the first letters G, H, J, P, and R are not used, as to not clash with former export licence plates. The letter L is reserved for agricultural vehicles.
		9
2011–present		10	This series is currently issued for private vehicles, starting at G-001-BB.
2015–present		11	This series is currently issued to mopeds (D/F) and to light commercial vehicles (V).[4]
Yet unused		12
2016–2019		13	This series is currently in use for fast motorboats (Y) and for tractors (0-GV-001 till 9-GV-999)
2019-present		14	This series is currently in use for tractors (001-GV-0 till 999-GV-9)

Nowadays the letters used do not include vowels, so as to avoid profane or obscene language. To avoid confusion with a zero, the letters C and Q are also omitted. Letters and numbers are issued in strict alphabetical/numeric order. Thus a Dutch licence plate gives an indication of the date of registration of a car, but no information about where in the country the car comes from, or to whom it belongs.

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

The licence plates have subtly changed shape in 2002, when not only the letter type (or font) changed, but also a few other changes were made.

• Combatting fraudulent reports of stolen licence plates (giving one three weeks to break speed limits with an alibi), licence plates are replaced immediately but using the same number. The new licence plate is tagged with a small number 1 over the first dash, that 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 Side Code 1, 2 or 3.
• Black letters on a white background are used for small trailers that hide the car's actual licence plate.
• Large trailers, caravans etc. have now got their own black/yellow licence plate.
• The letter Y is no longer used for cars, but instead for fast motor boats.
• The letter combinations SDB to SDZ and also SSB to SSZ are not issued because 'SD' and 'SS' (and also SA) continue to have fascist connotations in the Netherlands. However, registrations with the letter combination NSB were issued in 2010, although these were recalled because these were the initials of the Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging.[5]

Letters	Description
B, E, S	Caribbean Netherlands. Licence plates are North American standard size and do not carry an EU flag. Licence plates start with one letter: B for Bonaire, E for St. Eustatius and S for Saba, followed by three or four digits. The colour of the plate differs per island. Some plates start with different letters, sometimes similar to that of the European Netherlands: V for commercial vehicles, TX for taxi, D for governmental vehicles, AB for buses.
AA	Used for vehicles registered to the Dutch royal family. (AA-??) or (AA-???).
B, V	The B in the first letter position used to refer to a "Bedrijfswagen" (commercial vehicle): a special status for cars that are exclusively used for commercial purposes. Commercial licence registrations have a separate taxation class, though some 10% of the cars are registered as commercial. A commercial licence is often called "grijs kenteken" (gray registration), referring to the previous colour of the car's registration papers, which is now, like commercial vehicles, green. (XB-??-??), (??-??-XB), (??-XB-??). Above capacity of 3,500 ton (BX-??-XX) till (??-BXX-?). And till capacity of 3,500 ton (VX-??-XX) till (VX-???-X).
BE	Classic commercial vehicles (BE-??-??).
DE, DH, DL, DM, DR, AE, AH, AL, AM, AR, DZ, PM	Imported classic cars 40 years or older. (DE-??-??) till (PM-??-??).
YA, YB and YD	Imported classic cars younger than 40 years. (??-YA-??) till (??-YD-??).
KL to KZ & LM, LO, LU, DM	Military Vehicles: (KL, KN to KZ: Royal Army, KM: Koninklijke Marine's(Royal Navy), LM: Luchtmacht (Air Force), KP: Regular car from the Koninklijke landmacht (Royal Army), KV: Koninklijke Marechaussee (Royal Constabulary). Example: (KL-??-??) and (??-KL-??) which is used from Royal Army. Also DM but only in the sidecodes 7, 9 and 10. The third letter is B till Z but not an A, C, E, I, M, O, Q, U, W, or Y. But in side code 9 KB till KZ is now in use for common personal cars instead of for military vehicles.
CD	"Corps Diplomatique" and is used for diplomats (CD-??-??) or (??-CD-??).
CDJ	Lawyers or Diplomats working for the International Court of Justice (CDJ-???).
BFG	Used for private vehicles of Dutch and German military servants working for British Forces Germany/NATO. They are issued by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Military Police in Driebergen. They carry a different font, similar to that of the German licence plates, to allow them being produced in Germany if necessary.[6]
RC	NATO vehicles. RC stands for "Région Centrale", dating from when NATO headquarters were located in France. Currently in use by Joint Force Command Brunssum. Newer licence plates are yellow, look like the regular ones and have dashes between the letters and numbers and in the middle of the numbers (similar to Side Code 1, but yellow plates).
M	Motorcycles. Several letters in sidecode 1. After that (MX-??-XX) till (??-MX-XX).
BN or GN	For vehicles whose owner is not liable to taxation such as staff from embassies without diplomatic status, consulates or international organisations such as ESA, ICC, UN-ICJ or OPCW (BN or GN-??-??), (??-??-BN or GN), (??-BN or GN-??).
GV	For agricultural vehicles that within the Netherlands, do not need a licence plate but may cross national borders with countries where they do (i.e. Belgium) (grensverkeer/border traffic) (GV-??-??).
HA, HF, HH, FH	For car merchants, e.g. for test-drives with unregistered cars (green plate) (HA or HF or HH or FH-??-??). For mopeds HC in side code 1 is used.
HH	Dutch mopeds abroad (has been abolished with the introduction of registration plates for mopeds in 2005) (HH-??-??).
ZM, ZF, NM	Secondhands motorbikes.
ZZ	For vehicles with a special exemption to enter public roads, such as cranes. Vehicles with these | licence plates do not need a periodic check-up. The extra long, double articulated buses in Utrecht also carry ZZ licence plates (ZZ-??-??) and (??-??-ZZ).	Sidecode 2 is divided in 00-03-ZZ till 03-73-ZZ, 10-00-ZZ and 10-01-ZZ, 20-00-ZZ till 22-30-ZZ Updated 14 June 2019
O	Heavy trailers ('O'pleggers). (OX-??-?? or OX-??-XX) O is only used as the first letter!
W	Medium-light trailers and caravans having own registration. (WX-??-??) till (??-WX-XX).
AF	Used by Allied Forces Northern Europe vehicles. (AF-XX-??)
MM-BS and LBT in side code 8	Used for cars which have a limited speed 25 or 40 km/h, read https://www.rdw.nl/Particulier/Paginas/Ombouw-voertuig-tot-MMBS.aspx and see also https://www.google.nl/search?q=mm-bs-t5&biw=1600&bih=771&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjj4cHXydLNAhVFFMAKHVXQCJMQsAQINw and regarding LBT see https://www.cumela.nl/verkeer-en-vervoer-veilig-landbouwverkeer-voertuigeisen/eerst-kenteken-dan-snelheidsverhoging-naar

This list is not exhaustive. The Dutch Wikipedia article nl:Nederlands kenteken contains more exceptions.

Vehicle registration card

Since January 1, 2014, the Netherlands has an all-plastic vehicle registration in credit card format. This and the driving licence (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 new car registration.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to License plates of the Netherlands.

• Nummerplaat.com, latest news and all information about Dutch Licence Plates
• Information in English RDW, the Netherlands Vehicle Authority
• RDW kentekencheck public vehicle registration data
• Matriculasdelmundo, information, images and pictures of Netherlands licence plates (Spanish)