# Malta license plate: Standard 2004

> The Malta standard 2004 license plate: format LLL 999, for example WIQ 397, 2004 to today, car, van, truck, and motorcycle.

Page: https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/malta/standard-2004 · 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 [Malta license plates](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/malta) (13 registration series).

![Malta license plate, Standard 2004 (2004 to today)](https://vehiclesdb.com/plates/mt/mt-standard-2004/malta-license-plate-standard-2004.svg)

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Format | `LLL 999` (L is any letter, 9 any digit) |
| Years | 2004 → today |
| Class | standard |
| Issued for | car, van, truck, motorcycle |
| 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 | `mt-standard-2004` (https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/malta/standard-2004) |

Sources:

- [S.L. 368.02, consolidated to 23-01-2026 (PDF: https://legislation.mt/getpdf/6980741263aaee247463a137): reg. 30 + First Schedule (the Standard Alphanumeric Format and the renewal-month rule); reg. 31 (letter blocks); reg. 32(2) (the EU distinguishing sign); reg. 34 + Second Schedule (plate specification, colours, border, watermark, band geometry).](https://legislation.mt/eli/sl/368.2/eng)
- [L.N. 114 of 2004, Vehicles Identification Plates Regulations — THE PERIOD START: 'These regulations shall come into force on the 9th March 2004', and the First Schedule's first published statement of the three-letter/three-digit format](https://legislation.mt/eli/ln/2004/114/eng)
- [L.N. 476 of 2004, in force 1-5-2004: introduced the EU band in its Second Schedule and revoked L.N. 114 of 2004; reg. 52 also deleted the plate rules from the 1994 Motor Vehicles Regulations](https://legislation.mt/eli/ln/2004/476/eng)
- [L.N. 198 of 2009: 'deemed to have come into force on the 1st January, 2009 save for sub-regulation (3) of regulation 6 which shall come into force on the 1st August, 2009'; reg. 45 revoked L.N. 476 of 2004. Carried the format and band forward unchanged](https://legislation.mt/eli/ln/2009/198/eng)
- [Cap. 368, Motor Vehicles Registration and Licensing Act (Act X of 1994, in force 1-1-1994): art. 20 the regulation-making power](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/368/eng)
- [en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Malta)

## About this plate

THE CURRENT MALTESE SERIES. PERIOD START 9 MARCH 2004, the commencement of L.N. 114 of 2004, which is the first instrument ever to prescribe a plate FORMAT in Malta. NOTHING IN THE STRING DATES A MALTESE PLATE: allocation is expressly random.

## Region code notes

NONE IN AN ORDINARY MARK, a sourced negative.

## How numbers are issued

RANDOM, and the instrument says so in the format's own name, "Standard Alphanumeric Format (RANDOM)". There is no sequential progression to infer an era from, which makes a Maltese standard mark undatable from the string alone.

## Separators

No separator glyph is prescribed. The First Schedule's own example is written "XXX 111" with a gap and the Second Schedule requires "a watermark in the space between the letters and the numbers", so the gap is a real, specified feature of the plate that is occupied by a security watermark, not merely typographic whitespace. The emitted SPACE is the correct encoding, and it is the same situation as the Italian marchio and the German Plaketten: something sits IN the gap, and it is not part of the serial.

## Before and after

| Relation | Series | Years |
|---|---|---|
| It replaced | [Standard 1995](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/malta/standard-1995) | 1995 to 2004 |

## Other standard plates here

- [Standard 1995](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/malta/standard-1995) (1995 to 2004)
- [Standard 1979](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/malta/standard-1979) (1979 to 1995)
- [Standard 1952](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/malta/standard-1952) (1952 to 1979)

## Use it

- Plate image (SVG): https://vehiclesdb.com/plates/mt/mt-standard-2004.svg
- Make it with your own text: https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plate-generator/malta?series=mt-standard-2004
- API: `GET https://vehiclesdb.com/api/v1/plates/mt` returns this series as the entry with `"id": "mt-standard-2004"` (https://vehiclesdb.com/api)

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