Germany
Official and diplomatic plates

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Federal Official Plates

Official plate of the president of parliament (Bundestag). It was used while Rita Süssmuth was president (1988-1998). This is the front plate, with the hexagonal ASU emission test sticker.

Federal official plate. BD = Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany), 18 = Department of Defense.

Army plate. Y = Federal Army (Bundswehr)

Army motorcycle plate. Y = Federal Army (Bundswehr).

This reduced plate size would only be allowed for small motorcycles, but I was told the army frequently uses such plates on large motorcycles, because the bigger full size plates would be too often damaged in rough terrain.

Port Authority (Bundes-Wasser- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung) plate. BW 2 = Northwestern Region (Aurich).

Technical Aid Office (Technisches Hilfswerk) plate. THW-84xxx = Bremen & Niedersachsen.

Frontier Police (Bundesgrenzschutz) plate. BG 50 = armored vehicle.

This series became obsolete in 2006, when the force's name was changed to Federal Police (Bundespolizei) and it was assigned the former Postal Authority letters BP.

Postal Authority plate pair. BP 63 = public service car for the telecommunications branch.

This series became obsolete in 1997, Deutsche Post and Deutsche Telekom vehicles now receive normal series plates. In 2006 the letters BP were re-assigned to the Federal Police, but by then only Euro style plates were issued, so a DIN style BP plate must be an old Postal Authority plate.

Federal Railways plate. DB 10 = car up to 1.4 liters.

This series became obsolete in 1994, railway vehicles now receive normal series plates.

Provincial Official Plates

Provincial official plate. THL = Thüringen Land (Thuringia Province). 1 = legislative body.

Local Official Plates

Until 2007 local official vehicles had distinctive plates with no serial letters after the district code. Now such vehicles receive normal series plates.

Local official plates. W = Wuppertal. Numbers below 200 are used for administrative district officials.

Local official small size plate. W = Wuppertal.

This is a front plate used before the introduction of the hexagonal exhaust emission test sticker. Such a plate format is used on tractor type vehicles, so presumably it was on some road works or street cleaning machine.

Local official plate. MST = Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

8000 series numbers were used for the Technisches Hilfswerk (Technical Aid Office). In the late 1996 these vehicles received new nationwide plates with the letters THW followed by numerals (see above for such a plate).

Police motorcycle plate. BRB = Brandenburg.

Police plates were usually in the 3000 and 30000 series. After abolishment of the local official plates, some provinces switched police vehicles to normal series plates, others to provincial official plates.

This particular plate was on a former East German police motorcyle, which received a new plate after reunification. You can see the pattern of mounting holes typical for East German motorcycles.

Local official error plate. DT = Detmold.

This plate has green characters, denoting a tax free vehicle. While all local official vehicles are tax free, green characters are only used for tax free vehicles with normal series numbers. Local and federal official, diplomatic, consular, etc. plates can be recognized by their serial combination anyway, and therefore are always black.

Diplomatic Plates

Diplomatic plates. The first character is not a letter, as on most German plates, but the digit zero. The number after the first hyphen is the embassy code, 130 = Syria, 140 = Russia. Diplomatic plates are among the few types that had two hyphens in the old style, and thus still have one hypen in the Euro style. Both plates were still issued in Bonn. More recent diplomatic plates have identical numbering format, but carry the seal of Berlin. Embassy codes were introduced in 1973. Before, there was only a simple serial number after the initial 0.

Non-diplomatic embassy staff plates. BN = Bonn. The upper plate is from before 1973, when there was only a simple serial number starting with 5. The lower plate is already embassy coded, 65 = Italy. Now that the capital has moved to Berlin, these plates are issued with B instead of BN.

Consular plate. H = Hannover. Consular plates are similar to local authority plates, but use numbers starting with 9. There is no country coding.

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	Official plate of the president of parliament (Bundestag). It was used while Rita Süssmuth was president (1988-1998). This is the front plate, with the hexagonal ASU emission test sticker.
	Federal official plate. BD = Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany), 18 = Department of Defense.
	Army plate. Y = Federal Army (Bundswehr)
	Army motorcycle plate. Y = Federal Army (Bundswehr). This reduced plate size would only be allowed for small motorcycles, but I was told the army frequently uses such plates on large motorcycles, because the bigger full size plates would be too often damaged in rough terrain.
	Port Authority (Bundes-Wasser- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung) plate. BW 2 = Northwestern Region (Aurich).
	Technical Aid Office (Technisches Hilfswerk) plate. THW-84xxx = Bremen & Niedersachsen.
	Frontier Police (Bundesgrenzschutz) plate. BG 50 = armored vehicle. This series became obsolete in 2006, when the force's name was changed to Federal Police (Bundespolizei) and it was assigned the former Postal Authority letters BP.
	Postal Authority plate pair. BP 63 = public service car for the telecommunications branch. This series became obsolete in 1997, Deutsche Post and Deutsche Telekom vehicles now receive normal series plates. In 2006 the letters BP were re-assigned to the Federal Police, but by then only Euro style plates were issued, so a DIN style BP plate must be an old Postal Authority plate.
	Federal Railways plate. DB 10 = car up to 1.4 liters. This series became obsolete in 1994, railway vehicles now receive normal series plates.

Until 2007 local official vehicles had distinctive plates with no serial letters after the district code. Now such vehicles receive normal series plates.
	Local official plates. W = Wuppertal. Numbers below 200 are used for administrative district officials.
	Local official small size plate. W = Wuppertal. This is a front plate used before the introduction of the hexagonal exhaust emission test sticker. Such a plate format is used on tractor type vehicles, so presumably it was on some road works or street cleaning machine.
	Local official plate. MST = Mecklenburg-Strelitz. 8000 series numbers were used for the Technisches Hilfswerk (Technical Aid Office). In the late 1996 these vehicles received new nationwide plates with the letters THW followed by numerals (see above for such a plate).
	Police motorcycle plate. BRB = Brandenburg. Police plates were usually in the 3000 and 30000 series. After abolishment of the local official plates, some provinces switched police vehicles to normal series plates, others to provincial official plates. This particular plate was on a former East German police motorcyle, which received a new plate after reunification. You can see the pattern of mounting holes typical for East German motorcycles.
	Local official error plate. DT = Detmold. This plate has green characters, denoting a tax free vehicle. While all local official vehicles are tax free, green characters are only used for tax free vehicles with normal series numbers. Local and federal official, diplomatic, consular, etc. plates can be recognized by their serial combination anyway, and therefore are always black.

	Diplomatic plates. The first character is not a letter, as on most German plates, but the digit zero. The number after the first hyphen is the embassy code, 130 = Syria, 140 = Russia. Diplomatic plates are among the few types that had two hyphens in the old style, and thus still have one hypen in the Euro style. Both plates were still issued in Bonn. More recent diplomatic plates have identical numbering format, but carry the seal of Berlin. Embassy codes were introduced in 1973. Before, there was only a simple serial number after the initial 0.
	Non-diplomatic embassy staff plates. BN = Bonn. The upper plate is from before 1973, when there was only a simple serial number starting with 5. The lower plate is already embassy coded, 65 = Italy. Now that the capital has moved to Berlin, these plates are issued with B instead of BN.
	Consular plate. H = Hannover. Consular plates are similar to local authority plates, but use numbers starting with 9. There is no country coding.