SPANISH LICENSE PLATES
A new system of matriculation took effect september 18th 2000 in Spain. It is called European model, there are not provincial codes and there is a blue band with the initial of Spain “E” (Spanish España) and the European Union flag in the plate.
This kind of plates were created with the idea of what all union countries had similar plates. In spite of this idea European Union countries plates had different patters, colours and matriculation systems.
Firstly we're going to review the different Spanish matriculation systems till this moment:
NUMERIC PROVINCIAL SYSTEM (FROM 31/10/1900 TO 6/10/1971)
ALPHANUMERIC PROVINCIAL SYSTEM (FROM 7/10/1971 TO 17/09/2000)
CENTRALIZED SYSTEM (SINCE
18/09/2000)
Plate size is two centimeters longer than former one, there is not provincial code but an European Union flag with Spain initial "E" (Spanish España). There is a four number combination (from 0000 to 9999) and three letters: from BBB to ZZZ, vocals are excluded (to avoid offensive words and significant acrostics) and LL, CH (because there are only three characters, plates doesn't admit four characters) and Ñ and Q, because could be confused with N and O and number 0.
Therefore, the letters B,C,D,F,G,H,J,K,L,M,N,P,R,S,T,V,W,X,Y y Z, (in alphabetic order) are used. All the numbers are used, then there are 10.000 combinations. For numbers minor or equal than 1000 one or more zeros are added to the left, for example 0 is 0000, 9 is 0009, 99 is 0099 and 999 is 0999.
This system allows 10000 x 20 x 20 x 20 = 80.000.000 registrations and 2.000.000 vehicles are registered in Spain yearly, so this system would useful during more than 40 years.
If you are going to travel in European Union countries former plates can be adapted to the European format.
If you are going to travel out of European Union you must to have a sticker with Spanish "E", even if your plate is European.
NATIONALISTS PROPOSALS
Some nationalist parties from several Autonomous Communities proposed other license plates models including Autonomous Community flag or initial like some European Union countries plates (for example Italy):
