Vehicle Registration Plates of Romania - Current License Plates

Current License Plates

There are six other types of license plates in use in Romania:

• The red plate, consisting of the European strip, followed by the county code and three to six digits, of which the first is always zero, and the 2nd is always non-zero. All the writing outside of the European-strip on this plate is in red font - these plates are valid for 90 days, and are usually issued by car dealers as temporary registration for their new cars (unlike some countries, license plates don't usually stick with either the car or the driver, and each new owner must do the car registration again).

There is a variation of this format, used for test vehicles, and having 3 digits following the county code, and the "PROBE" text after the digits. The smallest number used is 100 or 101.

• The black plate, same as the red plate, except for the black number, and a right-sided red strip, containing the end date of the plate's validity (YY/MM format). This kind of plate is used for cars that fall under a leasing agreement, with the plate's validity ending when the contract expires. However, there are cars under leasing contracts, that have regular registration plates, that depending on the way the registration taxes are being paid. Foreign citizens, having temporary residence, have their cars registered with such plates.
• The diplomatic plate contains the European strip, followed in blue by the text CO, CD (Corp Diplomatic), or TC (Transport Consular, usually issues to lower-ranking service staff) and 6 numbers. The first three numbers stand for the country or international organization, the last three usually for the rank of the owner. The lowest number for both sets of 3 is 101. Thus, a car with license plate number 123 101 would refer to Switzerland's (Switzerland is 123) ambassador (ambassadors' or heads of missions' official car usually is 101). The license plate is issued exclusively to diplomats, and cars having such plates enjoy diplomatic immunity. Initially, the countries or organizations received codes in their alphabetical order. Later, some countries like United States or Russia, received more than one code, although it could be up to 899 registered cars per country/organization code.
• The special plates can be issued by agencies, ministries and local administration for use on their vehicles. Currently, the Army, the Ministry of Administration and Interior and Mayor's Offices are allowed to issue such numbers. Their format, size and style is decided by each ministry via internal regulations - for example - the Army uses plates containing no European strip (as their regulations predate the 1992 regulation imposing the European strip), with the letter "A" (Army) followed by 3 to 7 digits (3 to 4 for small vehicles, and more than 4 for heavy vehicles). Army plates issued more recently (from 2002 onwards) have the European strip. The Ministry of Administration and Interior standard is identical to the one used by the Army, with the exception that it reads "MAI" instead of "A" and can be often seen on Gendarmerie or Police vehicles.
• The yellow background plates are issued by the local authorities such as municipalities, village or commune mayoralties for the registration of certain light vehicles, or other types of vehicles that do not need state level authorization, such as public utility vehicles, some light garbage trucks, lawn mowers, small sanitation vehicles, trolleybuses, trams, quad bikes, scooters, golf carts and non-road going vehicles, such as combine harvesters, non-road-going tractors, horse drawn carts, etc. The format of the plate is not fully standardized. Most of the local authorities used the yellow plate, but there are exceptions like Cluj-Napoca, which used white plate similar to old German plates, but always bearing the letters CJ-N (from the city name's abbreviation), followed by 3 digits. Other cities or villages use their coat of arms or initials, or even their entire name, some times followed by the county name or abbreviation. All that is followed by a fixed-length number (4 to 6 digits, but same size for the same issuing authority). The first number to be issued is usually 1, zero-padded to the left if needed. These vehicles cannot leave the jurisdiction of the authority that issued the plate, but it is common to such vehicles (mostly scooters) to travel within the county limits, or even travel to other counties. Some of these vehicles bear temporary plates while being towed to their destination, if that means crossing the limits of the county where they have been initially registered. This usually happens to trolleybuses on their way from the factory to the transport company. Dual-powered buses are registered with standard number plates. Trams may not bear the plate itself, but are required to somehow bear the registration number, either painted or printed on a sticker, usually next to their fleet number. Rented vehicles keep the registration plates issued by the local authority of the region where the owner resides, aven though they are used in another jurisdiction.
• White on black background plates are extremely rare, and not clearly specified by the law. They belong to the administration of religious organizations, such as the Romanian Orthodox Church. There are not more than a dozen or two vehicles using such registration plates. They can be mostly seen around important monasteries. The format is identical to the standard one, excepting the reversal of the colours.