A vehicle registration plate is a metal or plastic plate or plates attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies the vehicle within the issuing authority's database. This article concerns these plates in territories across Europe.

Most countries in the region have adopted a format for registration plates that satisfies the requirements in the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, which states that cross-border vehicles must display a distinguishing code for the country of registration on the rear of the vehicle. This sign may be an oval sticker placed separately from the registration plate, or may be incorporated into the plate. When the distinguishing sign is incorporated into the registration plate, it must also appear on the front plate of the vehicle, and may be supplemented with the flag or emblem of the national state, or the emblem of the regional economic integration organisation to which the country belongs. An example of such format is the common EU format, with the European flag above the country code issued in EU member states.

Format

The vast majority of European countries issue registration plates that are:

This is one of the basic standard sizes worldwide.

The others are: , commonly issued to import vehicles from North and Central America

Some European countries use registration plates in other formats: in Andorra in Finland in Monaco in San Marino in Switzerland and Liechtenstein (only front plates) in Italy (only front plates) and in Åland

European Union The common EU format of having a blue section on the extreme left with EU circle of stars and the country code was introduced by Council Regulation (EC) No 2411/98 of 3 November 1998 and entered into force on 11 November 1998. It was based on a model registration plate which three member states had already introduced: Ireland (1991), Portugal (1992) and Germany (1994). Luxembourg plates had displayed the EU flag on the left since 1988. Vehicles with registration plates in the EU format do not need to display the white oval international vehicle registration code while within the European Economic Area, or in countries party to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic (except if the plate is issued in Cyprus, Ireland, Malta and Spain, which are not party to the convention).

The common design consists of a blue strip on the left side of the plate. This blue strip has the EU flag symbol (twelve yellow stars), along with the country code of the member state in which the vehicle is registered. All EU countries now issue plates in the common format, but the use of the EU flag on registration plates is optional for member states. EU member states that require foreign vehicles to display a distinguishing sign of the country of origin are obliged by Article 3 of EC 2411/98 to accept the standard design as a distinguishing sign when displayed on a vehicle registered in another member state. The requirement to display a distinguishing sign stems from the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, and the regulation is referencing the recognition of distinguishing signs according to that convention. EU format plates are either white or yellow, on a plate wider than it is tall. Yellow registration plates are used both front and rear in Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Denmark and Hungary use yellow plates for vehicles registered as commercial vehicles. Denmark implemented the EU format in 2009, as the last EU country.Indførelse af danske EU nummerplader i oktober 2009 (in Danish) Danish plates have a small holographic strip to the right of the blue EU strip. In Greece, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden yellow plates are used for taxi vehicles. In Poland yellow plates are used for historic vehicles. Belgium uses red characters and is the only country not to use the standard black-on-white or black-on-yellow combination; with the introduction of European-style plates in November 2010, a slightly darker shade of red was chosen (RAL 3003) to improve legibility. Of those states that joined in the 2004 enlargement of the European Union Malta already used EU format plates, while Latvia, Poland and Lithuania had used plates displaying the national flag before their accession, as did Bulgaria and Romania before their accession in 2007. Most European countries use metal plates but France and Ireland use a mixture of flat plastic and metal plates. Flat plastic plates also used to be used in Sweden. The plate must be at +/-5° to the longitudinal plane of the vehicle. Lower edge must be higher than 0.3m and upper edge lower than 1.2m.

Other countries Several non-EU European states have implemented formats similar to the EU format, with national flags or symbols, plus the country code. Vehicles with such registration plates, issued in countries party to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, do not need to display the white oval international vehicle registration code while within countries signatory to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic.

Norway is an example of such a state, issuing registration plates with the country code (N) Norwegian flag replacing the circle of stars. In Norway, regular plates are white with black characters; however, cars with front seats only (used for carrying goods) have green plates with black characters. Norwegian registration plates are made of metal, but flat plastic has also been used for earlier plates. Ukraine issues plates similar to the Norwegian ones, with the Ukrainian flag above the country code (UA). Moldovan registration plates have a wider than usual blue band with the Moldovan flag and the international country code (MD). Albanian registration plates are also similar to those of Norway and Ukraine, but they have the coat of arms of Albania above the country code (AL). Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) issues plates with a blue strip on the left side of the plate with the country code, but without the any flag or symbol. The same design is used on registration plates in Turkey (TR) (which is in a customs union with the EU), Montenegro (MNE), North Macedonia (NMK) and Serbia (SRB). Belarus issues registration plates with the national flag above the country code on the left side, but without the blue strip. Iceland issues plates similar to the Belarusian plates, with the Icelandic flag above the country code IS on the left side. Iceland, however, is not party to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. Andorra and Monaco use registration plates with their coat of arms above the respective country codes (AND and MC). San Marino issues similar plates but with the text "Repubblica di San Marino" underneath the coat of arms, instead of the country code RSM. United Kingdom vehicles must have a white front registration plate and a yellow rear registration plate. These must be made from a reflective material, commonly plastic but metal is permitted. Post-2021 Regulations (Following Brexit): On 28 September 2021, the UK government changed the international vehicle code from "GB" to "UK" and notified the United Nations of this update, effectively making all "GB" plates with the European circle of stars invalid for use abroad. Since 2021, plates with the European circle of stars must not be issued. Plates valid for international travel under the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic must feature either the distinguishing code "UK" (in black or blue) or the Union Flag (landscape) alongside "UK." A green stripe on left-hand side of the plate is permissible for a zero-emission vehicle. In England, Scotland, and Wales, registration plates may include one of the following flags with identifying letters on the left-hand side: The English flag may be accompanied by "ENG," "Eng," "ENGLAND," or "England." The Scottish flag may be accompanied by "SCO," "Sco," "SCOTLAND," or "Scotland." The Welsh flag may be accompanied by "CYM," "Cym," "CYMRU," "Cymru," "WALES," or "Wales." The Union Flag may be displayed with "GB," "GREAT BRITAIN," "Great Britain," "UK," "UNITED KINGDOM," or "United Kingdom."If a national flag is displayed, a "UK" sticker must be affixed to the rear when driving abroad. Motorists in Northern Ireland are not permitted to display the letters "NI" alongside any flag. Only the Union Flag with the "UK" code is optionally allowed. Gibraltar uses plates similar to the EU format, but without a flag or symbol, only the code GBZ. They used the EU flag before Brexit. As in the UK, yellow plates at the rear and white at the front. The Crown dependencies of Guernsey, including Alderney and Jersey and the Isle of Man have registration plates that are different from those used in the UK. Guernsey plates sometimes contain the letters GBG below the Guernsey flag on the left side, Alderney plates may have GBA below an Alderney flag. Jersey registration plates may incorporate the coat of arms of Jersey in a white strip on the left, along with the country identifier GBJ, and since 2004 Manx plates may incorporate the Manx flag and the international country identification code GBM.

Common letter and digit systems between countries Several countries have made efforts to avoid duplicating registration numbers used by other countries. This is not completely successful and there are occasional difficulties in connection with parking fines and automatic speed cameras.

Cyprus (from 90s), Finland, Lithuania, Malta, and Moldova (since 2014) each use combinations of first three letters and then three digits, AAA 000. The same format was used in Belgium (until 2010), Hungary (until 2022), Georgia (until 2015), and Sweden (until 2019, now AAA 00A).Information about the positions of characters in plates (in Spanish) Bulgaria uses plate numbers in the form A[A] 0000 AA, i.e. one or two letters representing the region, then four digits, then two more letters. All letters used are intersection of Latin and Cyrillic alphabet, i.e. A, B, C, E, H, K, M, O, P, T, X and Y. The same format is in use in Ukraine since 2004; it was also used in France until 2009 and in Spain until 2000 (but still valid, called "sistema provincial"). Estonia uses a combination of three digits followed by three letters, in the format 000 AAA. Spain uses a similar four number-three letter combination, in the form of 0000 BBB (vowels and some possibly confusing consonants, like Ñ and Q, are not used) Italy (since 1994), France (since 2009), Albania and Slovakia (since 2023) use a combination of three digits and four letters, in the format AA 000 AA (French plates also include hyphens), while Hungary uses a similar format (AA AA-000) since 2022. Greece uses a combination of three letters (before only two) that are homoglyphs of Latin letters, i.e. A, B, E, Z, H, I, K, M, N, O, P, T, Y, X in Greek alphabetic order) and four digits, in the form of AAA-0000, while Latvia uses a similar format with two letters and four digits (AA-0000). Denmark and Norway use two letters and five digits (AB 12345), while trailers use two letters and four digits. The plates look very similar, but Denmark has a red border around the plate. Use of the country code on the plate may mitigate this problem (Norway began using the system on 1 November 2006). Denmark has begun running out of combinations in this style and has now introduced combinations previously reserved for the Faroe Islands for EU style registration plates (which will use different letters from non-EU style plates). Liechtenstein and Vatican City use the same format, but with fixed letter combinations — FL () and CV (). Liechtenstein is also the only country in Europe to issue standard registration plates with a black background and white characters.