Portugal license plate: Export

Format, years and the law

Format

99999 L, for example 83123 P (L is any letter, 9 any digit)

The EXP box says why the plate exists; the suffix letter says where, it names the customs house that registered the export. Position matters: a trailer wears these same letters as a prefix meaning district offices, so A is the whole Açores here but Ponta Delgada there.

EXP

exportação (export)

L

Lisboa (Lisbon customs house)

P

Porto (Porto customs house)

A

Açores (Azores customs house)

M

Madeira (Madeira customs house)

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

Years issued

Documented since 2005; the format is likely older than the first year documented. Still issued.

Vehicle class

Export: plates for vehicles leaving the jurisdiction permanently. Issued for car, van, truck, bus, motorcycle, and trailer.

Colours

Characters #000000 Background #F9B700

Size

520 × 110 mm · every country's size

• 

  Export 340×220 mm

  export · 340 × 220 mm

About this plate

EXPORT PLATES, yellow ground, black characters, EXP box. A trap for a parse API and the reason this entry exists as its own series rather than a colour variant: the export letter is a SUFFIX drawn from {L, P, A, M}, while the trailer letter is a PREFIX drawn from a 21-code table that also contains L, P, A and M with DIFFERENT meanings, L is Lisboa in both, but A is Ponta Delgada on a trailer and the whole of the Açores on an export plate, and M is Funchal on a trailer and the whole of Madeira here. Disambiguation is by POSITION, never by letter.

How numbers are issued

sequential per customs office; the drawing prints five digits ('24783 L') but the instrument fixes no width

Legal basis and sources

1. DL 54/2005 Regulamento art. 4.º n.º 3 (the number) and art. 6.º n.º 1 (the plate): 'Nos veículos destinados à exportação, a chapa de matrícula é de um dos modelos constantes do anexo V, tendo cor amarela e letras,... https://files.diariodarepublica.pt/1s/2005/03/044a00/18921897.pdf
2. DL 2/2020 art. 7.º b): 'O anexo V é renumerado como anexo VI', the export annex moves, its content does not. https://files.diariodarepublica.pt/1s/2020/01/00900/0000400012.pdf