Croatia licence plates: formats and history

Current plate formats

StandardCurrent
ZG 1234-AB
Two letters for the town, three or four digits and one or two letters, with the coat of arms between the town code and the digits and a dash before the last letters (ZG 123-A, ZG 123-AA, ZG 1234-A, ZG 1234-AA). Numbers and letters are random. Q, W, X and Y are not used. Foreign residents, international organisations and temporarily registered vehicles have green characters, and oversized heavy vehicles red ones. Since 2016 the plate has the blue EU strip with HR on the left.
black on white
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PersonalisedCurrent· broad pattern
ZG-ZAGREB
Personalised plates for a fee. The town code, then three to seven characters of the owner's choice (letters or digits, a dash counts as one character; at least one letter if digits are used; X, Y and W are allowed, Č, Ć, Đ, Š and Ž are not); the standard layout is also allowed with a chosen combination. The right to the plate runs for five years from registration and is extended for a fee.
black on white
HistoricSince 2008
ZG-PV-123
Since 2008 the town code, PV (povijesno vozilo, historic vehicle) or PP (prijenosne pločice, transferable plates) and three or four digits.
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Dealer and testCurrent
ZG 12-345
Dealer and test plates are stickers fixed to a plate holder, not metal, and can be used for a limited number of days. The town code and five digits in two groups.
black on white
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MilitaryCurrent
HV 1234-A
Croatian Armed Forces. HV (Hrvatska vojska) replaces the town code, on a yellow plate. Specialised military vehicles end in VP (vojna policija, military police) or MP.
black on #f2c200
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PoliceCurrent
123 456
Police vehicles. Six blue digits in two groups of three, divided by the coat of arms; the first group is the police department.
#1b4fa0 on white
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DiplomaticCurrent
023-A-002
Yellow characters on blue. Embassies and consulates. A three-digit country number, then A, C or M, then the vehicle's serial number.
#f2c200 on #1b4fa0
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Counties (21)

Area codes (35)

Each code opens a page with the region it stands for.

History

1992
Plates of independent Croatia are issued from 1 January, with the town code of Yugoslav times kept and the coat of arms of Croatia in place of the red star. Podravska Slatina goes back to the name Slatina and its code PS is later replaced by SL. The Yugoslav-era codes KN, SI, SP and TK are never used on plates of independent Croatia (Krapina gets KR, Sisak SK, Požega PŽ).
2005
The old Slatina plates with the code PS are phased out.
2008
Plates with PV (historic vehicle) or PP (transferable plates) and export plates with RH are introduced.
2013
Croatia joins the European Union on 1 July; the standard plate is kept.
2016
A proposal to redesign the plates is dropped. The standard design stays and a blue EU strip with HR is added on the left.

EU-style plates