Vehicle registration plates of Croatia

Standard Croatian license plate used on both private and commercial vehicles. ZD stands for Zadar. The left-most emblem is a custom sticker.

The standard license plates in Croatia consist of a two-letter city code which is separated by the Coat of Arms of Croatia from three or four numbers and one or two letters: CC-NNN(N)-L(L) (e.g.: ZG 123-E or ZG 123-EC or ZG 1233-E or ZG 1233-EC).

Customized plates

There is also a possibility of having a customized plate for a fee. One type of customized plate looks exactly like the standard ones, with the exception that the combination of numbers and letters is personally chosen by the vehicle's owner. The other kind of customized plates can consist of a word with from four to seven letters or a combination of the word with four or five letters and one or two numbers. However, these plates are still quite rare in Croatia, mostly because they can only be used for five years after the first registration and they also require a fee of 8,000 kuna (over 1000 euros).

Special plates

A Croatian police vehicle sporting a typical blue-on-white police registration plate

An example of the military plate.

An export plate.

Diplomatic Corps plate.

Abnormal vehicle plate.

There are also some special plates. While the numbers and letters on standard license plates are colored black, plates for foreign citizens permanently living in Croatia, international organizations and temporary registered vehicles have green numbers and letters. On the plates used on bigger trucks and other vehicles that can be oversized for some of the smaller roads, the numbers and letters are red.

The police vehicles are equipped with the plates consisting of six numbers divided in two groups and separated by the Coat of Arms of Croatia, blue numbers. The first group of numbers denote the police department to which the vehicle belongs. While the background on all of these plates is colored white, on those used on military vehicles it is yellow. However, the system of dividing numbers and letters is the same as on the standard plates, but instead of a city code there are letters HV for Hrvatska vojska (Croatian military). At the same time, specialized military vehicles have the letters VP for vojna policija or MP for military police (military police) as the final two letters. Plates for diplomatic representatives (embassies, consulates) are blue with yellow numbers and letters. The first three number denote the country, followed by letter A, C, or M, then serial number of the vehicle.

As opposed to all above mentioned plates that are made of metal, the dealer's test plates are stickers that are attached to the plate holder. These plates consist of a city code separated by the coat of arms from five numbers divided in two groups and they can be used for a limited number of days.

Starting from 2008 onwards, special plates with an additional two letters (PP or PV) were introduced, PP stands for prijenosne pločice (transferable plates) and PV stands for povijesno vozilo (historical vehicle) in a form CC-PV-NNN(N).

Also from 2008 onwards, export plates are introduced, with RH standing for Republika Hrvatska, and a green background with yellow numbers and letters. Croatia's Ministry of Internal Affairs proposed new licence plates with the EU stars.

National Defense plates had letters NZ and numbers. These plates had been discontinued.

City codes

License plate on a Croatian Police motorcycle

Code	Region	Code	Region
BJ	Bjelovar	OG	Ogulin
BM	Beli Manastir	OS	Osijek
ČK	Čakovec	PU	Pula
DA	Daruvar	PŽ	Požega
DE	Delnice	RI	Rijeka
DJ	Đakovo	SB	Slavonski Brod
DU	Dubrovnik	SK	Sisak
GS	Gospić	SL	Slatina
IM	Imotski	ST	Split
KA	Karlovac	ŠI	Šibenik
KC	Koprivnica	VK	Vinkovci
KR	Krapina	VT	Virovitica
KT	Kutina	VU	Vukovar
KŽ	Križevci	VŽ	Varaždin
MA	Makarska	ZD	Zadar
NA	Našice	ZG	Zagreb
NG	Nova Gradiška	ŽU	Županja

Obsolete codes

Code	Region	Reason
KN	Krapina	Previously used on Yugoslav plates, but never on plates in independent Croatia, lest the code would be mistaken for Knin, capital of, at the time extant, separatist Republic of Serbian Krajina. Krapina was assigned the new code KR, previously (and currently) used for Kranj, Slovenia.
PS	Slatina	Podravska Slatina changed its name to Slatina in 1992. These plates are not issued anymore since late 2004, but still in use. Accordingly, Slatina has new city code SL.
SI	Sisak	Previously used on Yugoslav plates, but never on plates in independent Croatia. Sisak now uses the new code SK, which is same as for the Macedonian capital, Skopje.
SP	Požega	Previously used on Yugoslav plates, but never on plates in independent Croatia since the city changed its name from Slavonska Požega to Požega in 1991. Accordingly, Požega has the new city code PŽ.
TK	Titova Korenica	Previously used on Yugoslav plates, but never on plates in independent Croatia (Korenica is now under GS code).

Partial index of diplomatic, consular and foreign mission prefixes

Code	Country or Organization
001	Unknown
011	Germany
012	Austria
013	Italy
014	Hungary
015	Sweden
016	Slovenia
017	Poland
018	France
020	United Kingdom
023	Unknown
024	United States
026	Syria
028	Unknown
036	UNHCR
043	Australia
055	Chile
058	Unknown
059	European Union
069	Unknown
070	Japan
083	Unknown
086	Unknown
087	Montenegro
090	Morocco
300	Unknown
310	Unknown
318	Unknown
549	Unknown
600	Unknown

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons