# Switzerland license plate: Provisional Z

> The Switzerland provisional Z license plate: format LL 999999Z, for example BS 829065Z, documented since 1987, car, van, truck, bus, and motorcycle.

Page: https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/switzerland/provisional-z · 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 [Switzerland license plates](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/switzerland) (17 registration series).

![Switzerland license plate, Provisional Z (documented since 1987)](https://vehiclesdb.com/plates/ch/ch-provisional-z/switzerland-license-plate-provisional-z.svg)

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Format | `LL 999999Z` (L is any letter, 9 any digit) |
| Years | ~1987 → today (documented from 1987; the format is likely older) |
| Class | temporary |
| Issued for | car, van, truck, bus, motorcycle |
| Plate size | 300 × 80 mm |
| Other sizes | 500 × 110 mm; 300 × 160 mm; 180 × 140 mm: motorcycle |
| Colours | background #FFFFFF; characters #000000 |
| Rear plate differs from the front | yes |
| Checking a registration | The format above follows the issuing rules: a registration that fits it is one this series could have issued. |
| Series id | `ch-provisional-z` (https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/switzerland/provisional-z) |

The trailing Z makes it a Zollschild: the vehicle has not cleared Swiss customs yet. The ordinance prescribes the letter but never says where it goes — the trailing position every spotter knows is practice, not law.

| Code | Stands for | English |
|---|---|---|
| `Z` | Zoll | customs — vehicle not yet cleared |

Sources:

- [VVV Anhang 2 A Ziff. 3 (the red bar, its dimensions, and 'Schilder unverzollter Fahrzeuge tragen zusätzlich den Buchstaben «Z»' — footnoted AS 1987 1350); Art. 16 Abs. 2 (uncleared vehicles may be registered only provisionally and only with the customs authorities' consent); Art. 17 Abs. 3 (the 48-hour customs tolerance)](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1959/1271_1321_1317/de)
- [VZV Art. 79 Abs. 3 (a provisional certificate for an uncleared vehicle may exceed the customs authorisation only where the authorisation expressly says so)](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1976/2423_2423_2423/de)

## About this plate

THE "Z" PLATE, provisional registration of an UNCLEARED (unverzollt) vehicle, the Swiss plate every plate-spotter asks about.

## Other temporary plates here

- [Provisional](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/switzerland/provisional) (documented since 1977)

## Use it

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