Vehicle registration plates of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Current Bosnia and Herzegovina vehicle registration plate (issued from September 28, 2009)

Current Bosnia and Herzegovina Taxi vehicle registration plate

Old Bosnia and Herzegovina vehicle registration plate (Issued until September 28, 2009, but still in use)

Bosnia and Herzegovina vehicle registration plates have held their current form since 1998. Currently the Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) vehicle registration plate format consists of seven characters: five numbers and two letters arranged in the following order: X00-X-000 (taxis: TX-000000). The plates are uniform across the country and do not denote the place (town, municipality, canton, or entity) where the vehicle is registered, as was the case prior to 1998. Likewise the plates do not contain any heraldic symbols. The plates use only letters which are represented equally in Latin and Cyrillic script (A, E, O, J, K, M, T).

Special plates

Current Bosnia and Herzegovina temporary registration plate

Current Bosnia and Herzegovina diplomatic plate

• Working road machine plates had the regional letters at the top, and then numbers. These plates are white in blue plates.
• Temporary plates had letters "TT" followed by 6 numbers. The letters are colored red. (e.g. TT-000000)
• Military plates had Eurostrip-like from previous series (XX-nnnnLL) but without the blue background. This plate consists of 5 numbers then one letter (e.g. 00000-X)
• Diplomatic plates had blue background and yellow font. Unlike previous series, the first group of numbers is two and the letter it can be used is A, C, M and E. (e.g. 00-A-000)
• EUPM plates use yellow background and the prefix "EUPM" followed by a numbers.
• Export plates had blue in white background plates with civilian format.
• UNHCR plates had the prefix "UNHCR" (and numbers) in blue color.
• Aglicultural vehicles had regional letters at the top, then numbers. Had a white in green plates.
• UNSF plates had the prefix "SFOR" and the color of the plate black in blue.
• NATO plates had the prefix "NATO" (emblem as divider) and the color of the plate is black in light green.
• UN Trailers had the style of "UN 1234T"

History

The revised registration plates were introduced as an initiative of the International High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Carlos Westendorp.^[1] In a report from the Office of the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina prior to the decision, it had been noted that police conduct around the Inter-Entity Boundary Line separating the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, had been the "greatest obstacle to freedom of movement", including intimidation and arbitrary fines.^[2]

Elsewhere it has been noted that vehicles which bore licence plates from one entity would be subject to vandalism in the other entity.^[3] The development of licence plates which would not serve as proxy identifiers of driver ethnicity was a partial solution to these problems.^[4] However, Bosnian towns typically contain all three constitutional ethnicities (Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs) making ethnic identity unclear regardless of the vehicle's origin. The post-1998 system of obscuring the region is also complicated by the fact that drivers of cars, lorries and buses proud of their ethnicity will advertise this phenomenon with all the matching insignia. For example: Croats and Serbs may drive with crosses hanging from their mirrors; besides the fact that Catholic and Orthodox crosses vary in design, they may also have by the cross - or elsewhere visible - their national flags. In addition, Croats and Serbs in areas where they form a majority do not display the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina or any national Bosnian symbols, making it clear that where Bosnian national markers are shown - whether attached to the registration plate, the back of the car or the interior - the driver/family is Bosniak.

City codes

Yugoslav plate from Sarajevo

Prior to 1992

Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Plate from Tuzla (1994-1998)

On the territory controlled by Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 were used new license plates. They wore a blue strip on the left side with the "BIH" script and the coat of arms above the script (1992 is no blue stripe). On the white background the form was XX-nnnnLL or XX-nnnnnL, where "XX" was the code of the city, "nnnn"/"nnnnn" were digits, and "LL" two letters (previously one letter), where the first letter denoted the municipality where it was issued (before this is not at all). Towns are given in following table:

Serb Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

On territory of so-called "Serb Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina", license plates were used similar to those before the war, with difference that instead of red star, the Serb four-S coat of arms was used. Letters on plates were in Cyrillic script.

Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

On territory of so-called "Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia", license plates were used similar to those of Republic of Croatia, with difference in the shape of shield in Croat coat of arms ("checkerboard"-"šahovnica").

Partial Diplomatic, Consular and Foreign Mission plate prefixes

These prefixes were also valid for Croatia from 1991 to 1994.

Code	Country or Organization
10	France
11	United States
12	Iran
13	Croatia
14	Turkey
15	Germany
16	Austria
17	Saudi Arabia
18	Italy
20	United Kingdom
23	Netherlands
24	Libya
25	Switzerland
26	Egypt
27	Ireland
28	Slovenia
29	Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
30	Canada
32	Sweden
33	Russia
34	Czech Republic
35	United Nations
36	Pakistan
37	Office of the High Representative
38	Commission for Human Rights
39	Norway
40	Bulgaria
41	World Bank
42	Portugal
43	Malaysia
44	United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
46	International Monetary Fund
47	Customs and Fiscal Assistant Office
48	Denmark
49	European Central Bank
50	European Commission in Bosnia and Herzegovina
51	United Nations Development Program
52	International Organization for Migration
53	Belgium
54	Central Bank
55	Commission for Property of Displaced Persons and Refugees
56	Japan
57	United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
58	Macedonia
59	Hungary
60	United Nations Children's Fund
61	Spain
62	Palestine
63	Greece
64	European Union Monitoring Mission
65	International Monetary Group
68	World Health Organization
69	Romania
70	International Centre for Migration Policy Development
71	International Commission for Missing Person
72	Maltese Sovereign Line
73	International Commission of Red Cross and Red Crescent
74	Poland
75	Council of Europe
76	International Trust Fund
77	International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Society
78	International Finance Corporation
79	Vatican City
80	Serbia
81	Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
82	Guinea-Bissau
83	Refugees Return Foundation
84	European Union Police Mission (A prefix), European Union Monitoring Mission (M prefix)
85	Regional Environmental Centre
86	Stability Pact Anti-corruption Initiative
87	Slovakia
88	The Registry
89	High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council
90	Office of the EU Special Representative
91	Japan International Cooperation Agency
92	Montenegro
93	Australia
94	Qatar
95	Ukraine
96	Regional Coordination Council
97	Peace Support Operation Training Centre

References

External links

• First license plate in Bosnia

Media related to License plates of Bosnia and Herzegovina at Wikimedia Commons