Vehicle registration plates of the Netherlands are vehicle registration plates issued by the Dutch national road traffic agency, the Rijksdienst voor het Wegverkeer (RDW). RDW vehicle registration plates are assigned bearing the same "number" (a sequence of characters composed of of letters and digits) as that 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.
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The Netherlands introduced a system of vehicle registration plates on the 26th April 1898 – the third country in the world to do so, after France in 1893 and Germany in 1896.[1]. A plate bearing the number 1 was issued to a Mr J. van Dam, who purchased the first 100% Dutch-built motorcar, which was manufactured at the Groninger Motor-Rijtuigen Fabriek.[2]. 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.
The current Dutch licence plate system uses black letters on a light-reflecting yellow background. The previous series used white reflecting letters on a dark-blue background. Their numbering schemes however are the same.
Dutch car number plates can be formatted as follows
| Year | Format | Side Code | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951–1965 | XX-99-99 | Side Code 1 | ||
| 1965–1973 | 99-99-XX | Side Code 2 | ||
| 1973–1978 | 99-XX-99 | Side Code 3 | In 1976 and 1977 the color blue was slightly lighter and the font was different | |
| 1978–1991 | XX-99-XX | Side Code 4 | Several letters have been reserved for specific types of vehicles | |
| 1991–1999 | XX-XX-99 | Side Code 5 | ||
| 1999–2008 | 99-XX-XX | Side Code 6 | ||
| 2006–present | NL | 99-XXX-9 | Side Code 7 | First in GAIK series, new font, black border and blue patch with NL was added. |
| NL | 9-XXX-99 | Side Code 8 | ||
| NL | XX-999-X | Side Code 9 | ||
| NL | X-999-XX | Side Code 10 | ||
Letters nowadays do not include A, E, I, O, U to avoid profane or obscene language. The letters C and Q are not used, to avoid confusion with the zero. Letters and numbers are given out in strict alphabetical/numeric order. Hence, a Dutch licence plate says all about the date of registration of a car, but nothing about where the car comes from or to whom it belongs.
With the introduction of the GAIK series, several other formats have been introduced as well
| Format | Comment |
|---|---|
| XX-XX-99 | Used for trailers with a maximum weight of less than 750 KG, registration matches the vehicle pulling the trailer |
| XX-99-99 | Dealer plates, used by dealerships to register current stock under their insurance, these plates have to be used when the car is used for a test-drive. |
| XX-XX-99 | Taxi plates are mandatory since December 2000, also seen a lot on cars used by doctors as these are usually managed by specialised taxi services. |
| Letters | Description |
|---|---|
| AA | Used for vehicles registered to the Dutch royal family. (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 colour of the car's registration papers. |
| BE | Classic commercial vehicles (BE-??-??) |
| DE, DH, DL, DM, DR, AE, AH, AL, AM, AR | Imported classic cars. |
| KL to KZ & LM, LO, LU | 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). |
| CD | "Corps Diplomatique" and is used for diplomats (CD-??-??) or (??-CD-??) |
| CDJ | Lawyers or Diplomats working for the International Court of Justice |
| M | Motorcycles (ML-??-??) |
| 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 ('B'uitenlander in 'N'ederland or 'G'een 'N'ederlander meaning Foreigner in Netherlands or Not Dutch respectively) |
| GV | For agricultural vehicles that may cross national borders (grensverkeer) (GV-??-??) or (??-??-GV) |
| HA, HF, FH | For car merchants, e.g. for test-drives with unregistered cars (Green plate). |
| HH | Dutch Scooters overseas |
| ZZ | For vehicles with a special exemption to enter public roads, such as cranes. (ZZ-??-??) |
| O | Heavy trailers ('O'pleggers). (OX-??-?? or ??-OX-?? or ??-??-OX) |
| W | Medium-light trailers and caravans having own registration. (WX-??-?? or ??-WX-?? or ??-??-WX) |
This list is not exhaustive. The Dutch Wikipedia article nl:Nederlands kenteken contains more exceptions.
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.
The RDW (the government service handles the registrations) will soon exhaust all the combinations of licence numbers. The RDW has started requiring regular licence plates for mopeds, replacing the old insurance licence plates. As the old series of the licence plates for the cars and the smaller lorries have ended, they started using the same licence plates, that is formatted as DD-LLL-D.