# Switzerland license plate: Provisional

> The Switzerland provisional license plate: format LL 999999, documented since 1977, car, van, truck, bus, motorcycle, and trailer.

Page: https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/switzerland/provisional · 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 (documented since 1977)](https://vehiclesdb.com/plates/ch/ch-provisional/switzerland-license-plate-provisional.svg)

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Format | `LL 999999` (L is any letter, 9 any digit) |
| Years | ~1977 → today (documented from 1977; the format is likely older) |
| Class | temporary |
| Issued for | car, van, truck, bus, motorcycle, trailer |
| 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` (https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/switzerland/provisional) |

An ordinary canton plate wearing a date: the red bar after the number has the year pressed into the metal and a month sticker on top — an expiry no string parser can see. For vehicles whose Swiss stay is temporary, inbound or outbound.

Sources:

- [VVV Art. 16 (a vehicle is provisionally registered when its Standort is in Switzerland only, or only still, for a limited time; uncleared vehicles only provisionally and only with customs consent); Art. 17 Abs. 1-5 (validity, extension, Standort, fees); Art. 18 Abs. 1-2 (special plates per Anhang 2 A; the control sticker per Anhang 2 B); Art. 19 (insurance); Anhang 2 A Ziff. 1-4 and B Ziff. 1-3 (independent numbering, thin sheet metal, the red bar and its dimensions, the impressed year, the sticker)](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1959/1271_1321_1317/de)
- [VZV Art. 82 Abs. 2 lit. a (plates for provisional registration are specially marked); Art. 87 Abs. 5 (provisional plates are the exception to authority ownership); Art. 79 Abs. 2-3 (validity governed by the VVV)](https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1976/2423_2423_2423/de)

## About this plate

PROVISORISCHE IMMATRIKULATION. Switzerland's answer to the export and transit plate, and it is deliberately NOT either: the criterion is that the vehicle's Standort is in Switzerland only temporarily (VVV Art. 16 Abs. 1), whether it is arriving or leaving. The plate is an ordinary cantonal plate with a raised vertical RED BAR after the number, a year impressed into the bar and a month/year sticker on top of it, so a Swiss provisional plate carries a date that no string parser can see.

## How long it is valid

max months: 12. note: VVV Art. 17 Abs. 1-2: the Fahrzeugausweis for a provisionally registered vehicle is time-limited so that it expires at latest on the day given in the insurance proof and ALWAYS at the end of a month; validity must end at latest in the twelfth month following issue, except that certificates issued in October or November may run to the end of the FOLLOWING year. The plates lose validity with the certificate (Art. 18 Abs. 1) and, uniquely, need not be handed back, VZV Art. 87 Abs. 5 excludes exactly these plates from the rule that plates stay the authority's property.

## Other temporary plates here

- [Provisional Z](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/switzerland/provisional-z) (documented since 1987)

## Use it

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