007Bond, Batman, F-1, Orval or Aperooo… So many unusual number plates that it is not uncommon to come across on Belgian roads. In Belgium, it is possible to acquire a personalized plate for 1,000 euros, subject however to a certain number of rules. A system which brings in big profits for the Belgian State since last year, around 13,000 orders were made, bringing in some 13 million euros for Belgium.
Such personalization was not previously authorized in Luxembourg. Currently, for 50 euros, a motorist can choose five numbers, or two letters and four numbers, to compose their license plate, provided that it is free.
But the CSV-DP government in place since November 2023 had already indicated in its coalition agreement that it wanted to go further in personalization, and make it total, like what is done in the flat country.
On the agenda of a next Governing Council
In recent months, “intensive work” has been carried out to draft a bill and a draft grand-ducal regulation, so that “the plate numbers can be freely personalized, according to a model like in Belgium”, explained the Minister of Mobility Yuriko Backes (DP) in a parliamentary response to LSAP deputies Ben Polidori and Yves Cruchten. “The current version of the project is in the finalization phase and should be put on the agenda of a future Government Council,” she added.
Remember that in Luxembourg, personalization of registrations with four digits is also possible, but these – 9,000 in number, from numbers 1000 to 9999 – are all taken and the waiting lists to obtain one sometimes reach several years .
Waiting lists removed
In her response, the Minister of Mobility indicates that these waiting lists were eliminated via the entry into force of a Grand-Ducal regulation published on September 21, 2023, this measure being part of “a larger project. » This regulation provides for a global reform of the system for assigning plate numbers.
Previously, there were two systems in parallel, recalls the minister: the “current series” (two letters, four numbers) which was linked to a vehicle and the “personalized series” assigned to a person. “This duality led to numerous ambiguities, and a significant number of numbers were blocked because they were reserved without a vehicle ever being registered,” underlines the minister in her response.
To resolve this problem, it was necessary to evolve the system. The 2023 regulations provide that registration numbers are now exclusively linked to a person and no longer to a vehicle. The system of obtaining a personalized plate via a “waiver declaration” has also been removed, and four-digit plate numbers, which could not be transferred at that time, are now treated as “all other numbers plates and can be reserved accordingly,” explains Yuriko Backes.
