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Belgian vehicle license plates

Number plates in Belgium are driver specific, meaning that they are transferred to a new vehicle from the owner's previous one. The rear licence plate is state supplied, while the front plate is owner supplied. This has its influence on the look of the front plate, which can be identical to the rear one or similar to a European licence plates with a blue EU flag in it. This explains why you often see scratched, dirty, or old number plates on new cars in Belgium. The rear plate is usually mounted on a base plate which displays the letter "B" and usually an advertisement for the car dealer. The responsible government agency is the Vehicle Registration Service (DIV) of the Federal Public Service Mobility and Transport.

Plates issued to vehicles of the Royal Court bear numbers only, following the standard colour scheme. Cars used by the king and queen have single digit numbers only (1 to 9). Cars used by other members of the royal family have two digits.

Plates issued to state officials consist of a single letter followed by one to three numbers. Roughly speaking, the initial letter is either "A" for Ministers (excluding regional executives) and Ministers of State (an honorific title for distinguished politicians), or "P" for members of Parliament (including regional parliaments), or "E" for members and services of the regional governments. The president of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives has licence plate "A1" (1st citizen of the Kingdom), the president of the Belgian Senate has "A2", the prime minister has "A3", and so on. These plates were blue and displayed the letters "EUR" in a circle of yellow stars on the left hand side. These plates gradually became less popular than the "international" plates as the owner ran the risk of vandalism, since many Belgians erroneously believed that the car owner was not subject to Belgian car tax. From 2011 to mid 2015 these plates were replaced by a different format of a leading digit followed by three letters and three digits, with the leading digit "8" as identifier (8 AAA 111). The so called 8 plates are no longer issued and staff of international organizations such as NATO, European Union, EuroControl, etc. are, since 2014, issued a standard Belgian plate. Those plates with the 8 LLL NNN structure will, however, remain assigned until they expire.

Employees of the Eurocontrol Organisation could previously get a blue number plate consisting of three numbers followed by the word "EURO". Like all blue plates, this has also now been discontinued and replaced by the 8 AAA 111 series of plates.

Dealer plates are special plates available only to motor vehicle manufacturers and dealers. They can only be used on vehicles owned by the manufacturer/dealer and must be renewed every year. The dealer is not required to inform the government when transferring the dealer plate to another car, which is a requirement for regular license plates. A dealer plate has green letters and numbers on a white background ("green plate"). Furthermore, it has the European flag on the left side. Standard dealer plates have Z as initial letter and A to Y as second letter. Plates starting with "ZZ" are reserved for test drives. Until 1996 dealer plates were inexpensive and dealers tended to stock significant numbers of them, which they then rented out to owners of very expensive cars (dealer plates were exempt from an extra tax on luxury cars). To combat this fraud the law was changed, making a "green plate" much more expensive; also, police control was increased. As a result, dealers now keep fewer plates and abuse has diminished.

Temporary registration plates are issued for vehicles intended for export, either by companies or individuals. They are in a pattern generally reminiscent of other Belgian plates, but with white characters on a red background. Effective 1 May 2016, the Belgian temporary plate has changed. The Euro style plate has a blue band on the left, featuring a European circle of stars symbol and the letter B. The characters are stamped and coloured white on a red background, as previously, following a ZA ## AAA pattern. The first character is either a X for vehicles intended for export within 30 days, or W for temporarily registered vehicles. The two middle digits are the last two of a calendar year (for example, "16". for 2016). A three letter indication of the month when the plate becomes effective appears below the second separator. Plates are issued in pairs for all vehicles (one front, one rear), except for motorcylcles, mopeds and trailers. Prior to 2016, these plates only bore numbers (no letters). In 2010, the number of digits increased from six to seven. A year band on the left side (on the right since 2010) indicates the expiration date.

1899–1911: First plates used black letters on white plate. 1911–1919: White numbers on black plate. As currently, only the rear plate was provided by the state. 1919–1925: White numbers on blue plate. 1925–1928: White characters: one letter followed by numbers. 1928–1951: Red numbers on white plate.

Belgium was supposed to start issuing the European registration plates in July 2010. However, with the unexpected collapse of the federal government, the introduction of the new scheme was postponed to 15 November 2010. The last plate from the old series, 999 CFQ, was pressed by State Secretary for Mobility Étienne Schouppe. The plate meets the European standard format: on the left a blue stripe showing the letter B and a circle of stars.

When the new European plate scheme was in works in 2010 (during the 2007–11 Belgian political crisis), State Secretary for Mobility, Etienne Schouppe, who is part of the Flemish CD&V party, proposed a black text on yellow background style plate for better readability. However this was met with criticism from French Community politicians in the federal government because yellow and black are the official Flemish colours eventually the old red on white style was re adopted with the new plates. On 11 January 2011, amid the high separatism in Belgium, leader of the Flemish populist and nationalist Vlaams Belang party Filip Dewinter arrived in front of the Flemish Parliament sticking a 'VL' (for Vlaanderen, name of Flanders) badge over the existing 'B' (for Belgium) on the plates of his vehicle, and posing with VL plates in front of cameras. He encouraged other Flemish people and his party members to get VL plates. The VL plates were denounced by Dirk Van der Maelen of the Flemish Socialistische Partij Anders party, who said it violates Belgian law that state vehicles registered in the country must carry the 'B' country code. Drivers who violate the law may be liable for a €55 fine. Tanguy Veys of the Vlaams Belang protested (wrongly) that similar nationalist plates are legally used in European regions such as Scotland, Brittany, Wales, England and Catalonia, despite them not being sovereign states. Later that year, the Vlaams Belang started selling self made yellow numberplates for 13 euros, featuring the VL code and a REPUBLIEK VLAANDEREN ("Republic of Flanders") subtitle. In 2015 it was reported in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that the royal decree may double the violation fine to 110 euros. In 2017 it was reported that thousands of cars with VL plates were actively driving. Senator Karl Vanlouwe caused controversy for driving a car with VL, for which he was fined but refused to pay it, arguing in court that it is not illegal.