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.

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

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

Postal Authority plate pair. BP 63 = public service car for the telecommunications branch. This series is now obsolete, Deutsche Post and Deutsche Telekom vehicles now receive normal series plates.

Federal Railways plate. DB 10 = car up to 1.4 liters. This series is now obsolete, railway vehicles now receive normal series plates.

Local Official Plates

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

Local official plates. W = Wuppertal. Local official plates have no serial letters. Numbers below 200 are used for administrative district officials.

Local official small size plate. W = Wuppertal. Local official plates have no serial letters. 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. Local official plates have no serial letters. 8000 series numbers were used for the Technisches Hilfswerk (Technical Aid Organization). In the late 1990s these vehicles received new nationwide plates with the letters THW followed by numerals.

Police motorcycle plate. BRB = Brandenburg. Police plates have no serial letters and are usually in the 3000 and 30000 series. 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 autority 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.
	Frontier Police (Bundesgrenzschutz) plate. BG 50 = armored vehicle.
	Port Authority (Bundes-Wasser- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung) plate. BW 2 = Northwestern Region (Aurich).
	Postal Authority plate pair. BP 63 = public service car for the telecommunications branch. This series is now obsolete, Deutsche Post and Deutsche Telekom vehicles now receive normal series plates.
	Federal Railways plate. DB 10 = car up to 1.4 liters. This series is now obsolete, railway vehicles now receive normal series plates.

	Provincial official plate. THL = Thüringen Land (Thuringia Province). 1 = legislative body.
	Local official plates. W = Wuppertal. Local official plates have no serial letters. Numbers below 200 are used for administrative district officials.
	Local official small size plate. W = Wuppertal. Local official plates have no serial letters. 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. Local official plates have no serial letters. 8000 series numbers were used for the Technisches Hilfswerk (Technical Aid Organization). In the late 1990s these vehicles received new nationwide plates with the letters THW followed by numerals.
	Police motorcycle plate. BRB = Brandenburg. Police plates have no serial letters and are usually in the 3000 and 30000 series. 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 autority plates, but use numbers starting with 9. There is no country coding.