Information on CBE service delivery Austria

Functional Contact: BMI-II-BPD-7-b@bmi.gv.at
Technical Contact: BMI-IKT-EUCARIS@bmi.gv.at

For the different Austrian number plates there is a different syntax to be respected when entering the registration number into EUCARIS:

  1. For Austrian standard number plates (white background, black type; about 99% of Austrian vehicles) and also for number plates of e-vehicles (white background, green type) the registration number has to be entered into EUCARIS with a dash/hyphen (“-“) replacing the heraldic emblem of the respective province, for instance k-510bv.
  2. When not using the dash/hyphen you will systematically receive an error message: in certain cases “105: Search input not correct” and in other cases – for reasons that are inherent to the Austrian registration system – the error message “101: No information found”.
  3. For old Austrian number plates (black background, white type, released before 1990) the registration number has to be entered into EUCARIS without dash/hyphen or dot, for example: w734115. When using the dash/hyphen you will systematically receive the error message: “101: No information found” (also in this case for reasons that are inherent to the Austrian registration system we cannot provide code 105 !).
  4. For your CBE requests to Austria, please only use the field “VehRegistrationNumberPart1Req” when providing an Austrian registration number (= licence number). Note: Incoming CBE requests which are providing licence plate data in the field “VehRegistrationNumberPart2Req” will trigger an error message “105: Search input not correct”, since this type of search is critical to our national VRD register.

Note: Incoming CBE requests which are providing licence plate data in the field “VehRegistrationNumberPart2Req” will trigger an error message “105: Search input not correct”, since this type of search is critical to our national VRD register

Main characteristics of the Austrian vehicle registration:

  • In Austria the license plate is registered personally to the holder of the vehicle. If the holder of the vehicle changes the new holder gets a new license plate for the vehicle (=> standard procedure). If the old holder of the vehicle agrees, the new holder – instead of getting a new license plate – can also take over the (old) license plate, but only in case he lives in the same district.
  • As a basic principle the license plate in Austria begins with a regional code (one or two letters at the left side of the coat of arms), which corresponds to the administrative district or city, where the vehicle is registered. A new license plate has to be issued to the vehicle if the holder moves to a different district.
  • There are some license plates which instead of the regional code have a code representing an authority of the public administration (e.g. army, customs, police, diplomats, etc.).
  • In the Austrian VRD register only the holders are registered. Owner information is not available.
  • In Austria you can also obtain a personalized number plate with an alphanumeric sequence according to the personal wishes of the holder. But also in this case the regional code is always obligatory and predefined.
  • If the holder purchases another vehicle there are different options concerning the registration:
    • Case 1: The holder purchases another vehicle and keeps the first one:
      • Option 1: He gets a new license plate for the second vehicle (personalized or standard plate)
      • Option 2: He registers the new vehicle to the current license plate of the first vehicle (see the following point => “shared registration number”)
    • Case 2: The holder purchases another vehicle and does not keep the first vehicle. In this case the holder can keep the old license plate for the new vehicle (but only in case he stays in the same district !).
  • Shared registration number: In Austria it is possible to register up to three vehicles to one license plate. The holder gets just one set of license plates. Therefore he is only allowed to use one of his vehicles at the same time. (Under CBE all vehicles registered to one and the same license plate will be disclosed!)
  • The Austrian VRD registers comprise civil, temporary, taxi, diplomatic, police and customs license plates (=> civil VRD register) resp. military license plates (=> military VRD register).

Additional Information:

  • Austria uses both types of CBE requests: online real time single exchange (sCBE) as well as multiple requests (mCBE).
  • Austrian multiple requests (mCBE) will be send four times a day: 00:30, 06:30, 12:30, 18:30.
  • Incoming multiple requests (mCBE) will be processed by Austria 24/7, therefore the average response time for incoming multiple requests (mCBE) will be within 24 hours.
  • Austrian multiple requests (mCBE) will contain a maximum of 500 license plates.
  • Austria expects to send 1.700.000 license plates per year max.
  • Austria is using all 8 EUCARIS case codes of traffic offences.

Data Overview (restricted Access)