# Germany license plate: Standard

> The Germany standard license plate: format LL-LL 9999, for example M KA 2843, 1995 to today, car, van, truck, bus, motorcycle, and trailer.

Page: https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/germany/standard · 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, Standard (1995 to today)](https://vehiclesdb.com/plates/de/de-standard/germany-license-plate-standard.svg)

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Format | `LL-LL 9999` (L is any letter, 9 any digit) |
| Years | 1995 → today |
| Class | standard |
| Issued for | car, van, truck, bus, motorcycle, trailer |
| Plate size | 520 × 110 mm |
| Other sizes | 340 × 200 mm: zweizeilig; 280 mm wide on two- and three-wheeled motor vehicles; 255 × 130 mm: verkleinertes zweizeiliges Kennzeichen — Leichtkrafträder and § 12 Abs. 6 Nr. 1 vehicles only, or by exception where a compliant rear plate cannot be fitted |
| Colours | background #FFFFFF; characters #000000; band #003399 on the left; border #000000 |
| Rear plate differs from the front | no |
| 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-standard` (https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/germany/standard) |

The German standard: district code, registration seals, and FE-Schrift — the plate as a tamper-evident document.

The one-to-three-letter prefix names the registration district, and roughly speaking the bigger the place, the shorter the code: B is Berlin, M München, GAP Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Everything after the seal is a meaningless serial — a German plate tells you where, never when.

Sources:

- [§ 9 Abs. 1: Kennzeichen = Unterscheidungszeichen (1-3 letters for the Verwaltungsbezirk) + vehicle-specific Erkennungsnummer allocated per Anlage 1; Abs. 3: BMDV/Bundesanzeiger](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/fzv_2023/__9.html)
- [Anlage 1: the five Erkennungsnummer shapes and the umlaut exclusion, verbatim](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/fzv_2023/anlage_1.html)
- [§ 12 Abs. 1: black on white, black-bordered; Abs. 2: reflective + DIN 74069; Abs. 5: front/rear rules](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/fzv_2023/__12.html)
- [Anlage 4 Abschnitt 1: dimensions, FE-Schrift, Euro-Feld, the eight-position cap; Abschnitt 2: the general plates](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/fzv_2023/anlage_4.html)
- [21. ÄndVstVR vom 6.1.1995, BGBl. I S. 8 — § 60 Abs. 1b StVZO + Anlage Va 'Muster und Maße der Euro-Kennzeichen'; 'Diese Verordnung tritt am 15. Januar 1995 in Kraft.' PERIOD START.](https://media.offenegesetze.de/bgbl1/1995/bgbl1_1995_1.pdf)
- [32. ÄndVStVR vom 20.7.2000, BGBl. I S. 1090 — Euro plate mandatory for newly fitted plates from 1.11.2000; pre-existing plates 'gelten weiter'.](https://media.offenegesetze.de/bgbl1/2000/bgbl1_2000_34.pdf)

## About this plate

No age is encoded on a German plate at all, unlike the UK, a German plate string carries region but never date.

## How the region is encoded

The Unterscheidungszeichen is 1-3 letters identifying the Verwaltungsbezirk of registration (§ 9 Abs. 1 Nr. 1). The list is set by the BMDV on application by the Länder and published in the BUNDESANZEIGER (§ 9 Abs. 3), NOT in the FZV and NOT by the KBA. A district may hold more than one code, applied for when "ohne dieses ein Verbrauch der verfügbaren Kennzeichenkombinationen unmittelbar bevorsteht". A withdrawn code may be carried until the vehicle is deregistered, so decode rows close by period and are never deleted. The split point between prefix and Erkennungsnummer is UNAMBIGUOUS because Anlage 1 fixes the Erkennungsnummer to 1-2 letters + 1-4 digits.

## How numbers are issued

Anlage 1 Nr. 2 allocates the Erkennungsnummer in five blocks: a) 1 letter + 1-999, b) 2 letters + 1-99, c) 2 letters + 100-999, d) 1 letter + 1000-9999, e) 2 letters + 1000-9999.

## Separators

The gap between Unterscheidungszeichen and Erkennungsnummer is physically occupied by the two Plaketten (Stempelplakette + HU badge), not by a printed separator.

## Other standard plates here

- [Standard 1956](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/germany/standard-1956) (1956 to 2000)

## Use it

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