BMW With “Paper” Licence Plate in Riga Likely Had Dutch Export Plate

A driver has filmed a BMW on A. Deglava Street in Riga that appeared to carry a smudged sheet of white paper instead of a licence plate. The video was sent to the portal LA.LV. Such cases raise the question of whether the driver was trying to conceal the registration number, but the available information points to a different explanation.

The State Police told the TV24 channel that the vehicle may be registered abroad. Police urge road users who suspect cars of having non-compliant plates to call 112.

The Dutch export plate

Comments and information found online indicate that the plate in the footage looks like a Dutch temporary, or export, plate. The Netherlands' vehicle registration authority, RDW, provides that once a car is removed from the register for export, its existing Dutch registration number is used on a white base with black characters. Such a plate may even be made by hand, provided the characters are indelible and the number is clearly legible. An export plate is usually valid for up to 14 days.

The number in the photo resembles the combination XS-44-FN or a very similar one. The format of two letters, two digits and two letters is typical of older Dutch registration numbers, which fits the theory of a car of Dutch origin.

The Netherlands also has one-day temporary plates, which may be made from cardboard, for example. These are meant for driving to an RDW technical inspection and are valid only in the Netherlands on the day of the inspection. So if the BMW was photographed in Latvia, an export plate is much more likely than a one-day plate. The image alone does not show that the driver covered the real number with a homemade paper plate to avoid cameras.

What Latvian rules say

Point 227 of Latvia's Road Traffic Regulations requires licence plates to match the registration documents and be clean. On a parked car, the characters must be legible in daylight from at least 40 metres, and in the dark with external lighting on, from at least 20 metres. Point 228 prohibits altering, covering, coating with protective materials, mechanically damaging, folding or otherwise concealing a plate.

A passenger car is normally issued two plates with the same combination of characters. If a bicycle carrier or luggage blocks the rear plate, the law allows an additional plate to be obtained from the CSDD, the Road Traffic Safety Directorate.