Austria license plate: Wunschkennzeichen

Format, years and the law

Format

LL-LLL99, for example JR-KYO33 (L is any letter, 9 any digit)

The district code stays; the rest is whatever you paid for, letters first and digits last, inverting the standard order, so a vanity plate is spottable at a glance. The KDV keeps a blacklist: BH is refused, glossed "Blood and Honour" by the regulation itself.

The format above follows the issuing rules: a registration that fits it is one this series could have issued.

Years issued

1989 to today. Still issued.

Vehicle class

Personalized: owner-chosen serials inside an official frame. Issued for car, van, truck, bus, motorcycle, moped, and trailer.

Colours

Characters #000000 Background #FFFFFF

Size

520 × 120 mm · every country's size

• 

  Wunschkennzeichen 460×120 mm

  personalized · 460 × 120 mm

• 

  Wunschkennzeichen 300×200 mm

  personalized · 300 × 200 mm

• 

  Wunschkennzeichen 210×170 mm

  personalized · 210 × 170 mm

How numbers are issued

§ 26 Abs. 6 Z 3 KDV inverts the ordinary shape: lit. d "mindestens einen Buchstaben und mindestens eine Ziffer enthalten", lit. e "mit einem Buchstaben beginnen und mit einer Ziffer enden", lit. f the same closed-block rule. LETTERS THEN DIGITS.

How long it is valid

years: 15. note: § 48a Abs. 8 KFG: "Das Recht zur Führung eines Wunschkennzeichens erlischt spätestens nach Ablauf von 15 Jahren ab dem Tag der ersten Zuweisung, im Fall vorangegangener Reservierung ab Bekanntgabe der Reservierung." Unused reservations lapse after five years. Abs. 8a allows a 15-year renewal applied for at most six months before expiry against the 200 EUR Verkehrssicherheitsbeitrag; Abs. 8b requires plates with a lapsed Wunschkennzeichen to be surrendered and a Standardkennzeichen assigned. DEREGISTERING THE VEHICLE DOES NOT END THE RIGHT: "Eine Abmeldung des Fahrzeuges mit dem Wunschkennzeichen oder eine Aufhebung der Zulassung innerhalb des 15-jährigen Zeitraumes lässt das Recht auf Führung des Wunschkennzeichens unberührt."

Legal basis and sources

1. § 48a: Abs. 1 (the non-authority part may be freely chosen), Abs. 2 lit. a-d (form set by Verordnung, not already assigned or reserved, not reserved for a special-use class, not ridiculous or offensive alone or in... https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/NormDokument.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=10011384&Paragraf=48a
2. § 26 Abs. 6 Z 3 (the inverted grammar and the length table), Z 4-5 (charset), Abs. 8 (the enumerated offensive combinations). https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/NormDokument.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=10011385&Paragraf=26
3. § 25d Abs. 6: the 460 x 120 mm front plate for short Wunschkennzeichen. https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/NormDokument.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=10011385&Paragraf=25d
4. BGBl. Nr. 375/1988 Art. I Z 33 inserts § 48a with the 15-year rule already in it; Art. V Abs. 4 lit. b commences it on 1 January 1989; Art. V Abs. 5 caps the plate-issue commencement for Wunschkennzeichen at 1 January... https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/Dokumente/BgblPdf/1988_375_0/1988_375_0.pdf