Vehicle registration plates of the Netherlands

Dutch vehicle registration plate

Vehicle registration plates of the Netherlands are vehicle registration plates issued by the national road traffic agency (Dutch: Rijksdienst voor het Wegverkeer (RDW)).

RDW vehicle registration plates are assigned bearing the same "number" (a sequence of characters composed 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.

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.[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 his own 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.

Province codes

Numbering schemes

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 Side Code 1
1965–1973 Side Code 2
1973–1978 Side Code 3 In 1976 and 1977 the color blue was slightly lighter and the font was different
1978–1991 Side Code 4 Several letters have been reserved for specific types of vehicles
1991–1999 Side Code 5
1999–2008 Side Code 6 First in GAIK(Gecontroleerde Afgifte en Inname Kentekenplaten, eng.: controlled issue and taking of licenceplates) series (except for 99-DX-XX-series), new font, black border and blue patch with NL were added.

This series is currently issued for motorcycles (99-MX-XX).

2006–present Side Code 7 This series is currently issued for heavy goods vehicles (99-BXX-9).
Side Code 8 The first letter can be K, S, T, X, or Z only; the V series for light commercial vehicles is already exhausted, and all other letters are reserved for export number plates.
Side Code 9 This series is currently issued for light commercial vehicles (VX-999-X) and from 30 March 2015 also for passenger cars. [3]
2011–2015 Side Code 10 This series is issued for mopeds only (D-001-BB till F-999-ZZ)
2015–present Side Code 11 This series is currently issued for mopeds (DBB-01-B till FZZ-99-Z)
Unused Side Code 12 This series is not yet in use
Side Code 13 This series is not yet in use
Side Code 14 This series is not yet in use

Letters nowadays do not include vowels 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 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.

Other Formats

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. Also used for export, temporary and provisional (single coded, H for 1 month and Z for 1 week) vehicles.
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.

Special-use licence plates

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. (BX-??-??) till (B-???-XX) or (VX-??-??) till (V-???-XX)
BE Classic commercial vehicles (BE-??-??)
DE, DH, DL, DM, DR, AE, AH, AL, AM, AR Imported classic cars. (DE-??-??) till (AR-??-??)
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). Example: (KL-??-??) and (??-KL-??) which is used from Royal Army.
CD "Corps Diplomatique" and is used for diplomats (CD-??-??) or (??-CD-??)
CDJ Lawyers or Diplomats working for the International Court of Justice (??-CDJ-?) or (?-CDJ-??)
M Motorcycles (MX-??-??) till (M-???-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 (BN or GN-??-??), (??-??-BN or GN)
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). (HA-??-??)
HH Dutch mopeds abroad (has been abolished with the introduction of registration plates for mopeds in 2005) (HH-??-??)
ZZ For vehicles with a special exemption to enter public roads, such as cranes. (ZZ-??-??)
O Heavy trailers ('O'pleggers). (OX-??-?? or OX-??-XX or O-???-XX) O is only used as the first letter!
W Medium-light trailers and caravans having own registration. (WX-??-??) till (W-???-XX)
AF Used by Allied Forces Northern Europe vehicles. (AF-XX-??)

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

Recent changes

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.

Mopeds have after F-999-ZZ now the new side code 11, beginning with DBB-00-B.[5] As the old series of licence plates for cars, big and small lorries has come to an end, new vehicles are registered with marks in the format DD-LLL-D (where 'D' is a digit, and 'L' is a letter). Small lorries have also D-LLL-DD and from January 2013 LL-DDD-L is used for small lorries. The registration plate format for personal cars is D-LLL-DD and issuing of this is started on 5 March 2013 because the DD-LLL-D combinations are exhausted on that day. From 30 March 2015 DD-LLL-D combinations are also exhausted and LL-DDD-L is now in use.

Current series

Motorcars

Motorcycles

Mopeds

Lorries (weighing more than 3.5 tons)

Lorries (weighing 3.5 tons or less than 3.5 tons)

Trailers

Bobtail Trailers

References

  1. ↑ "Geschiedenis van de kentekenplaat". deAutogids.nl. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
  2. ↑ "Groninger Motorrijtuigen Fabriek". deAutogids.nl. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
  3. ↑ http://nos.nl/artikel/2027625-nieuwe-kentekens-vandaag-de-weg-op.html
  4. ↑ "Dutch call back car licence plates with 'Nazi' initials". Daily Telegraph. 2 November 2010.
  5. ↑ (Dutch) Changes 2014 Q2

External links

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