Vehicle registration plates of Switzerland

Vehicle license plates of Switzerland, are composed of a two-letter code for the canton and a number with up to 6 digits. The rear plates also display two shields with the flags of Switzerland and the respective canton. Since 1972, the sizes of the plates have been 300 x 80 mm (front) and 300 x 160 mm (rear). In 1987, the optional long format rear plates of 500 x 110 mm, which had been abolished in 1972, were reintroduced.^[1]

Rear plate from Canton of St. Gallen, long format

Rear plate, Canton of Ticino, high format

Front plate, Thurgau

The vehicle license number plates are assigned to the car owner and not to the vehicle. If the owner changes the vehicle, the same vehicle license number plates are attached to the new vehicle. The previous vehicle receives the vehicle license number plates of the new owner. It is also possible to own two (or more) vehicles that share the vehicle license number plates: the plates are physically unmounted from one vehicle and mounted on another, provided the vehicles in question are owned by the same owner of the vehicle license number plate. These plates are known locally as "Wechselschilder". In some cantons, when vehicle license number plates are returned and retired, they are made available again after a certain time.

Canton codes

Valais

Ticino

Grisons

Geneva

Vaud

Neuchâtel

Jura

Bern

Thurgau

Zurich

Aargau

Lucerne

Solothurn

Basel-Landschaft

Schaffhausen

Uri

Schwyz

Glarus

St. Gallen

Appenzell Innerrhoden

Appenzell Ausserrhoden

Obwalden

Nidwalden

Zug

Fribourg

Basel-Stadt

France

Italy

Liechten-
stein

Austria

Germany

Code	Flag	Canton
AG		Aargau
AI		Appenzell Innerrhoden
AR		Appenzell Ausserrhoden
BE		Bern
BL		Basel-Landschaft
BS		Basel-Stadt
FR		Fribourg
GE		Geneva
GL		Glarus
GR		Grisons
JU		Jura
LU		Lucerne
NE		Neuchâtel
NW		Nidwalden
OW		Obwalden
SG		St. Gallen
SH		Schaffhausen
SO		Solothurn
SZ		Schwyz
TG		Thurgau
TI		Ticino
UR		Uri
VD		Vaud
VS		Valais
ZG		Zug
ZH		Zürich

Until 2020, vehicles in the Italian enclave of Campione d'Italia were registered in Ticino, but are now to be registered in the Italian town of Como.^[2][3]

Types

Personalized plate "999999" from Canton of Graubünden

Old style rear plate, from Canton of Zürich

Old style tractor plate from Canton of St. Gallen

Control mark for temporary registrations

	Standard type for motor vehicles, motorcycles and trailers
	Utility vehicles e.g. for construction, snow removal, fire brigade etc.
	Exceptional vehicles that do not comply with mass and weight regulations
	Agricultural vehicles
	Military vehicles
	For vehicle dealers and workshops, additional letter "U"
	Temporary registration, with control mark showing the expiry date
	Temporary, duty unpaid, with control mark and letter "Z"
	Motorcycles and electric vehicles
	Light motor vehicles and small motorcycles limited to 45 km/h
	Mopeds and E-Bikes
	Segway vehicles
	Bicycle carriers, rear plate only

Diplomatic plates

1 = Ambassador, 15 = Liechtenstein

Consular plate, 38 = Iraq

UN Mission, 03 = WHO

Int. Organization, 201 = EU

Swiss diplomatic plates display one of the prefixes "CD", "CC" or "AT", followed by a canton code, a serial number and a code for the country or organization. Low serial numbers are reserved for ambassadors or the head of an organization and their deputies.

CD

• Official cars of the diplomatic missions.
• Motor vehicles of the members of the diplomatic staff of these missions .

CC

• Vehicles of consular posts headed by a professional official.
• Motor vehicles of consular officials.

CD

• Vehicles of permanent missions or other representations to intergovernmental organizations and motor vehicles for the members of the diplomatic staff of these missions.
• Vehicles of institutional beneficiaries such as intergovernmental organizations, international institutions, secretariats or other bodies set up under an international treaty, independent commissions, international courts, arbitral tribunals and other international bodies, who enjoy privileges, immunities and facilities, as well as the motor vehicles of the highest-ranking officials of these institutional beneficiaries, who enjoy diplomatic status in Switzerland.

AT

• Vehicles belonging to members of the administrative and technical staff of diplomatic missions .

Codes

Diplomatic Codes (UN Missions)^[4]

01 – UN 02 – ILO 03 – WHO 04 – WMO 05 – ITU

06 – WIPO 07 – CERN 08 – WTO 09 – EFTA 010 – IOM

011 – IBE 012 – IPU 013 – ICDO 014 – APEF 015 – UPU

016 – OTIF 017 – ADB 018 – IHC 019 – WCED 020 – BIS

021 – ITCB 022 – SC 023 – ILC 024 – ACTED 025 – EC

026 – ICRC 027 – . . . 028 – . . . 029 – . . . 030 – IFRC

031 – ACWL 032 – OSCE 033 – WMO 034 – . . . 035 – GFATM 036 – . . .

Diplomatic Codes (Int. Organizations)

201 – EU 202 – OAS 203 – SICA 204 – SCI 205 – AGC 206 – OAU 207 – Commonwealth 208 – Arab League 209 – ATO 210 – IIDC

211 – OIC 212 – G-15 213 – OIF 214 – World Bank 215 – ACP 216 – (WTO) 217 – PIF 3xx – International Disarmament Talks ( xx = Country Code e.g. 309 = USA ) 5xx – World Trade Organization (WTO) ( xx = Country Code e.g. 509 = USA )

Diplomatic Codes (Countries)

1  Vatican City 2  Canada 3  Sri Lanka 4  Australia 5  Iran 6  Spain 7  Israel 8  Kuwait 9  United States 10  Brazil 11  Mexico 12  Ireland 13  Japan 14  New Zealand 15  Liechtenstein 16  Monaco 17  South Africa 18  Egypt 19  Syria 20  Algeria 21  Argentina 22  Austria 23  Bolivia 24  Chile 25  Colombia 26  South Korea 27  Costa Rica 28  Ivory Coast 29  Cuba 30  Ecuador 31  Finland 32  France 33  Ghana 34  Guatemala 35  Haiti 36  India 37  Indonesia 38  Iraq 39  Italy 40  Lebanon 41  Panama 42  Peru 43  Philippines 44  Portugal 45  Tunisia

46  Turkey 47  Uruguay 48  Venezuela 49  Vietnam 50  Democratic Republic of the Congo 51  Germany 52  Nigeria 53  Pakistan 54  Bulgaria 55  China 56  Hungary 57  Poland 58  Romania 59  Serbia 60  Czech Republic 61  Saudi Arabia 62  Belgium 63  Denmark 64  Greece 65  Libya 66  Morocco 67  Norway 68  Netherlands 69  Sweden 70  Thailand 71  Jordan 72  United Kingdom 73  Russia 74  Luxembourg 75  Ethiopia 76  Dominican Republic 77  Paraguay 78  El Salvador 79  Chinese Taipei 80  Jamaica 81  San Marino 82  Trinidad and Tobago 83  Yemen 84  Gabon 85  Malaysia 86  Liberia 87  Sudan 88  Mongolia 89  Malta 90  Belarus

91  Ukraine 92  Iceland 93  Republic of the Congo 94  Chad 95  Myanmar 96  Senegal 97  Nicaragua 98  Fiji 99  Honduras 100  Bangladesh 101  Cambodia 102  North Korea 103  Benin 104  Cyprus 105  Singapore 106  Central African Republic 107  Qatar 108  Oman 109  Cameroon 110  Madagascar 111  Kenya 112  Somalia 113  United Arab Emirates 114  Tanzania 115  Burundi 116 . . . . (Yemen until 1990) 117  Nepal 118  Bahrain 119  Afghanistan 120  Rwanda 121  Bhutan 122  Guinea 123  Zimbabwe 124  Hong Kong 125  Albania 126  Brunei 127  Dominica 128  São Tomé and Príncipe 129  Equatorial Guinea 130  Belize 131  Mauritius 132  Kyrgyzstan 133  Slovenia 134  Croatia 135  Zambia

136  Bosnia and Herzegovina 137  Slovakia 138  Lithuania 139  Latvia 140  Jordan 141  Angola 142  North Macedonia 143  Gambia 144  Armenia 145  Estonia 146  Uganda 147  Kazakhstan 148  Eritrea 149  Georgia 150  Mauritania 151  Moldova 152  Azerbaijan 153  Lesotho 154  Barbados 155  Cape Verde 156  Mozambique 157  Andorra 158  Botswana 159  Mali 160  Uzbekistan 161  Burkina Faso 162  Namibia 163  Timor-Leste 164  Saint Kitts and Nevis 165  Eswatini 166  Djibouti 167  Maldives 168  Montenegro 169  Grenada 170  Niger 171  Tajikistan 172 . . . . 173  Kosovo 174  Palestine 175  Togo 176  Comoros 177  Turkmenistan 178 . . . . 179  Sierra Leone 180 . . . . 181  South Sudan

Obsolete types

Administration, rear plate

Civilian Federal vehicles had registration plates composed of the Swiss shield followed by the letter "A" (short for "Administration") and a number with up to five digits. The first digit indicated the department. In 2004 these plates were replaced with normal cantonal plates.

• A 1xxxx – Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
• A 2xxxx – Federal Department of Home Affairs
• A 3xxxx – Federal Department of Justice and Police
• A 4xxxx – Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport
• A 5xxxx – Federal Department of Finance
• A 6xxxx – Federal Department of Economy
• A 7xxxx – Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication

PTT / SBB, rear plate

The Post, Telegraph and Telephone company (PTT) and the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) were part of the federal government until 1997/98. Their vehicles had registration plates composed of the Swiss coat followed by the letter "P" (short for "Post") and a number with up to five digits. When they became independent companies, the P-plates were replaced with cantonal plates in 2004.

• P 1xxxx to P 7xxxx were attributed to PTT
• P 8xxxx to P 9xxxx were attributed to SBB

References

1. "Swiss License-Plates". www.license-plates.ch.
2. Campione, niente targhe svizzere dal 1° gennaio, La Regione, 29 September 2019
3. Altra beffa per Campione d’Italia, chiude l’ufficio postale svizzero: una conseguenza dell’ingresso nell’area Ue Archived 2019-11-19 at the Wayback Machine, Corriere di Como, 18 November 2019
4. "Diplomaten-Codes". www.license-plates.ch.

External links

• Media related to License plates of Switzerland at Wikimedia Commons