Since July 2009, car buyers could pick a license plate with or without an EU strip.

Vehicle registration plates in Denmark normally have two letters and five digits and are issued by authorities. Plates can be obtained at authorized car dealers, vehicle inspection stations or official registration centers (Skat Motor center). The combination is simply a serial and has no connection with a geographic location, but the digits have number series based on vehicle type. ^{[1] [2]}

Danish registration plates do not follow the owner or the vehicle. When a vehicle is traded in with a dealership, the plates are usually turned in. The reason is that if the dealership just changes the ownership to themselves, they will be charged for insurance and taxes until the vehicle is sold to a new owner. If the dealer already has a buyer on hand or if the vehicle is sold directly by the owner to a buyer, the ownership can be changed and the plates transfer with the vehicle. This way a vehicle can, in principle, keep the same plate for its entire lifespan. However, this is rare and most Danish vehicles have numerous plates during their lifespans. When the car is recycled, the plates are surrendered so that no plates are recycled with the vehicle, unlike in Sweden or the UK where the plates follow the vehicle, which can often be seen at a scrap yard with the plates still on.

Numbering before 2012 and format after 2012

^{[3] [4]}

On the number combination one can see the type of a vehicle before 2012. Numbering after 2012 is completely random in order to allow for more combinations. Exceptions from this are diplomatic vehicles still using "76" and "77" and taxis/limousines using "98" and "99" The letters have no significance and are random. You can no longer determine the type of vehicle from the first two digits after 2012.

Types

Type	Appearance
Private use		The grey stripe in the lower image represents the security hologram fitted to all new plates. Registration tax: Up to 150% of car value.
Commercial use		Registration tax: normal VAT rate only. Rear seats not allowed.
"Parrot-plate" "Papegøje-plade"		Commercial vehicles that can also be used privately (this to make sure that nobody uses tax relieved vans (yellow plates) for personal use). Registration tax: around 50% of car value. Rear seats not allowed.
Diplomatic use		Blue plates with white text. The same format as the (old) format for private vehicles. Diplomatic plates always use the numbers "76" and "77" and are divided into diplomatic plates and international organizations, like UN. EU strip and hologram now on all new plates.
Historical		Black background, white text. [6]
Armed forces		(top-down): Army, Navy, Air Force, and the newer symbol common to all three branches.
Royal		The King's personal car used for official occasions only features a royal crown on a white background.
DEMA		-
"Fixed" temporary plate		For the special use of vehicle manufacturers, importers, distributors or car repairers [7]
Temporary export plate		Composed of a red field showing the year of validity and five digits
Vanity plates		These plates cost 9.180 DKK per set as of 2021 and must be renewed each eight years at a cost of DKK 8.000. The plates can be transferred from one vehicle to another. This is not possible for standard plates. 26 Roman letters, numbers and the Danish letters Æ, Ø and Å can be used in combination. The combination cannot be in the same format as standard plates. The EU strip can be chosen optionally.
Ambulances and fire trucks		These plates employ the insignia of the local fire brigade between the serials; this insignia often features a version the local coat of arms

Hearses are registered as yellow-plate cars (commercial use). The actual plates are, however, white (personal use), reflecting the view that the deceased is a passenger rather than commercial freight.

EU plates

A new design with an EU stripe was expected in 2008, but was thereafter delayed to 12 October 2009. ^[8] This makes Denmark potentially the last EU country to adopt euro plates ( Vehicle registration plates of Europe). The EU stripe is, however, currently optional. ^[8] In preparation for the new design, the plate font was slightly condensed on some new plates issued after mid-2008. Since July 2009, buyers of a car could pick a license plate with or without an EU strip. ^[9]

If a Danish registered vehicle does not have the plate with the EU stripe then it must be equipped with an approved oval DK-sign when driving abroad. If one drives both with a car and a caravan/trailer, both must bear the label. The sign shall be elliptical (oval) 175×115 mm, white background with black lettering. The letters must be 80 mm in height, the distance between them shall be 10 mm, and there shall be no advertising. ^[10]

Autonomous countries

Faroe Islands

Cars registered in the Faroe Islands before 1996 have plates with white background, black text in Danish style, but with black edge and only one letter, F.
Cars registered after 1996 have white background, blue text in their own style, two letters and three digits. There is a blue stripe to the left with the Faroese flag and the code "FO". The Faroe Islands are outside the EU.

Greenland

Plates have a white background, and black text in Danish style with the serial letters "GR" and "GL" reserved for Greenland. The EU stripe is not applicable since Greenland is a non-EU member. Greenland unofficially uses the international registration code KN, but the official code to use is DK. The only way to transport a vehicle to or from Greenland is by container ship, which is time consuming and expensive due to the long distance, so it is rare for Greenlandic vehicles to drive outside Greenland. ^[11]

Confusion with Norwegian plates

In 1971 Norway began with two letters and five digits, just after Denmark. In the beginning there was an informal system of avoiding the same code for a Norwegian and a Danish car, in which some letter combinations were used by Norway and some by Denmark. Norway having geographical codes used a higher number of letter combinations than Denmark. This was later abandoned, because of larger number of vehicles, so now a Norwegian and a Danish car can have same registration code, although they have national stripes now, and have always needed a national mark outside their country.

References

External links

• Media related to License plates of Denmark at Wikimedia Commons
• nrpl.dk - Comprehensive information about Danish license plates since their introduction