The diplomatic missions and career consular posts and their home-based members of staff may, under certain conditions, purchase, or import from abroad, duty and tax-free, the motor vehicles required for the fulfilment of their functions.

The basis for this is the quotas agreed bilaterally between the Federal Republic of Germany and the sending State (Kontingentierung).

These vehicles can be registered in Germany with special plates documenting visibly the privileged status of the registered user of the vehicle.

Vehicles registered with special plates may only be used by persons entitled to do so. These are home-based members of the mission or post and their registered family members, provided they do not hold German nationality and are not “permanently resident” (protocol card pursuant to Article 38 of the VCDR or Article 71 of the VCCR). Professional drivers employed by the mission or post are also entitled to drive a vehicle with special plates in the exercise of their official duties.

Other government institutions of the sending State (e.g. cultural institutes, schools, tourist offices, trade missions or foreign trade offices, health agencies, etc.) may not register their official vehicles or the private vehicles of their staff with special plates.

Application procedure

Application forms for the registration of vehicles belonging to members of diplomatic missions (Annex KFZ1, former Annex 9) must be completed in full and stamped with the seal of the mission and signd by an authoriseed person, then submitted to the Federal Foreign Office (Division 703) in triplicate for endorsement.

After endorsement, the application, together with the vehicle documents and confirmation of insurance cover (eVB – elektronische Versicherungsbestätigung) from an insurance company licensed to operate in Germany (as proof of third-party insurance cover for the vehicle) must be submitted to the vehicle registration centre. If the vehicle has previously been registered in Germany or abroad, the old number plates must also be submitted.

Motor vehicles belonging to the diplomatic missions and career consular posts and their home-based foreign members are registered free of charge (section 5 (1) numbers 4 to 8 of the Scale of Fees for Road Traffic Measures – Gebührenordnung für Maßnahmen im Straßenverkehr, GebOSt).

Registration centre

Responsibility for registering the vehicles of the diplomatic missions and the private vehicles of their members lies with the motor vehicle registration centre in Berlin (Kreuzberg). As part of construction work in January 2024, the special department responsible for authority and diplomatic license plates will be located at the following registration authority for an expected period of 2 years:

13055 Berlin (Lichtenberg), Ferdinand-Schultze-Straße 55, Room 342, 3rd floor

Opening hours: Montag, Mittwoch, Donnerstag, Freitag: 07.30-12.00 Uhr

Opening hours: Dienstag: 10.00-15.00 Uhr

The Länder vehicle registration centres are responsible for the registration of vehicles of missions outside Berlin and the private vehicles of their members.

Third-party insurance

In the Federal Republic of Germany it is absolutely obligatory to take out third-party insurance with an insurance company registered in Germany before using a motor vehicle. This rule also applies to diplomatic missions and career consular posts and their members.

Anyone who does not keep up this insurance protection will be personally liable for any damage resulting from an accident. Failure to observe this rule is a violation of valid German legal regulations and will be regarded by the Federal Foreign Office as a serious and grave infringement of obligations under international law.

Temporary non-use of a vehicle does not absolve the registered user from the obligation to maintain insurance cover for the vehicle. This obligation does not end until the vehicle has been deregistered and actually removed from the road.

Technical inspection

Diplomatic missions and career consular posts and their members are obliged under German road traffic regulations to take their vehicles in for technical roadworthiness inspections (“main inspection” – Hauptuntersuchung, HU) by the Vehicle Inspection Agency (TÜV) or another officially recognised inspection agency (e.g. DEKRA) at regular intervals of two years. In the case of a new vehicle, the first inspection is due after three years; thereafter the standard interval of two years applies.

Further information can be obtained from the vehicle registration centres.