# Germany license plate: Federal government

> The Germany federal government license plate: format BD-999999, for example BD-134514, 1956 to today, car, van, truck, bus, and motorcycle.

Page: https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/germany/federal-government · Markdown version of the HTML page, which is canonical. Site map: https://vehiclesdb.com/llms.txt · Terms of use: https://vehiclesdb.com/legal/terms

Part of [Germany license plates](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/germany) (13 registration series).

![Germany license plate, Federal government (1956 to today)](https://vehiclesdb.com/plates/de/de-federal-government/germany-license-plate-federal-government.svg)

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Format | `BD-999999` (9 any digit) |
| Years | 1956 → today |
| Class | government |
| Issued for | car, van, truck, bus, motorcycle |
| Plate size | 520 × 110 mm |
| Colours | background #FFFFFF; characters #000000; band #003399 on the left |
| Checking a registration | The format above follows the issuing rules: a registration that fits it is one this series could have issued. |
| Series id | `de-federal-government` (https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/germany/federal-government) |

Letters name the fleet, digits-only serials follow: BD is the Bundesdienst — parliament, ministries — THW the federal relief agency, BP the Bundespolizei (in 1956 the same BP meant the Bundespost). And one plate outranks them all: 1-1, the Bundestag President's car.

| Code | Stands for | English |
|---|---|---|
| `BD` | Bundesdienst | federal service |
| `THW` | Technisches Hilfswerk | federal agency for technical relief |
| `BP` | Bundespolizei | federal police |

Sources:

- [Anlage 2 Nr. 1 (Bund: BD, BG, BP, BW, THW, Y, X with their registering authorities) and Nr. 2 (the 16 Land codes and which organs they cover)](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/fzv_2023/anlage_2.html)
- [§ 9 Abs. 1 Satz 6-7: which bodies may receive Anlage 2 plates, and the digits-only, max-six-digit Erkennungsnummer rule](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/fzv_2023/__9.html)
- [V. vom 14.3.1956, BGBl. I S. 199 — Anlage IV (zu § 23 Abs. 2): 'A. Bund: BD Dienstfahrzeuge des Bundestages, des Bundesrates und der Bundesregierung; BG Dienstfahrzeuge des Bundesgrenzschutzes; BP Deutsche Bundespost; BW Bundes-Wasser- und Schiffahrtsverwaltung; DB Deutsche Bundesbahn; Y Dienstfahrzeuge der deutschen Streitkräfte' + 'B. Länder' (B, BWL, BYL, HB, HEL, HH, NL, RPL, RWL, SH), and § 23 Abs. 2: 'Die Erkennungsnummern dieser Fahrzeuge ... bestehen nur aus Zahlen; die Zahlen dürfen nicht mehr als fünf - bei Fahrzeugen der deutschen Streitkräfte sechs - Stellen haben.' In force 1.7.1956. PERIOD START.](https://media.offenegesetze.de/bgbl1/1956/bgbl1_1956_15.pdf)
- [25. ÄndVstVR vom 22.7.1997 — Nr. 8 inserts 'der Bundesanstalt Technisches Hilfswerk,' into the Anlage IV heading: THW joins the table in 1997.](https://media.offenegesetze.de/bgbl1/1997/bgbl1_1997_52.pdf)
- [FZV vom 25.4.2006 — Anlage 3 already carries THW, X and the five new-Land codes (BBL etc.), in force 1.3.2007.](https://media.offenegesetze.de/bgbl1/2006/bgbl1_2006_21.pdf)

## About this plate

FEDERAL AND LAND OFFICIAL SERIES, 1956-original as a SYSTEM: Anlage IV of the 14.3.1956 instrument created the official-code table and the digits-only rule in the same breath (both verbatim in the source line). THE CODE LIST IS THE PART THAT MOVED, and a decode table must carry it by period: 1956 had BD/BG/BP/BW/DB/Y and TEN Land codes (RWL for Nordrhein-Westfalen, today NRW; no BBL/LSA/LSN/MVL/THL before reunification); BP meant DEUTSCHE BUNDESPOST in 1956 and means Bundespolizei today, the same two letters changed meaning, which is a trap for any historical decode; DB (Deutsche Bundesbahn) left with privatisation (the 32. ÄndVStVR still repeals a Bundespost-successor transitional in 2000); THW was added in 1997 (pinned); the digit cap rose from five (six for the Streitkräfte) to six for all (§ 9 Abs. 1 Satz 7 FZV 2023). The exact instruments for the post-1990 Land codes and the NRW/RWL switch were not located, recorded gaps for the decode table, not for this series' start. And the CONSULAR case has no code of its own: career consular posts carry "das Unterscheidungszeichen des Verwaltungsbezirkes am Sitz des Konsulats", i.e. an ordinary district prefix, so German consular vehicles are NOT identifiable from the plate string. Also here: 1-1 for the Bundestag President's official car (Anlage 2 Nr. 4), the only German plate whose prefix is a digit.

## Use it

- Plate image (SVG): https://vehiclesdb.com/plates/de/de-federal-government.svg
- Make it with your own text: https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plate-generator/germany?series=de-federal-government
- API: `GET https://vehiclesdb.com/api/v1/plates/de` returns this series as the entry with `"id": "de-federal-government"` (https://vehiclesdb.com/api)

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Open data, CC BY 4.0: reuse it with a visible credit to VehiclesDB and a link (https://vehiclesdb.com/legal/attribution). Plate images show sample serials and are not open data (https://vehiclesdb.com/legal/image-license). Dataset commit db0ec0a: https://github.com/vehiclesdb/vehiclesdb