UNITED ARAB
EMIRATES

        الإمارات العربية المتحدة

GENERAL NOTES  (Emirates)  

The current series of plates, normal, export, vehicles for hire and reward, ruling family, dealer, etc., are listed under each emirate.   Trailers of all kinds carry plates with the serial number of the towing vehicle;  these are occasionally home-made and are seen in various positions on the trailer.   All seven emirates reissue numbers after they have been surrendered and low or interesting numbers can be bought from each of the seven traffic departments.   Registrations have up to five digits and do not use leading zeros.

Listed here are the current and former abbreviations used for each of the seven emirates.    The codes/names in the second column are those in current normal use whilst the codes shown in brackets have been used in the past.

 
CURRENT SERIES  (National)

(c)     Vehicles for VIPs have plates all in Arabic in two styles, both with the seven stars and falcon emblem of the U.A.E. in the centre of the plate:
        الإمارات العربية المتحدة (“United Arab Emirates”) in white on red above الضيافة (“hospitality”) and a number in white on blue-green;
        وزارة الداخلية (“Ministry of the Interior”) in white on light blue-grey above a number and الضيافة (“hospitality”) in white on dark blue-grey.   These plates replaced the Abu Dhabi Police hospitality plates.

(d)     Vehicles used for official duties have plates with a plain red top above a western number to the left in white on black and the Arabic number in white on green to the right, between which is (“ceremonies”) in silver and/or gold on white.   In the centre of the plate is a falcon and boat emblem.

(e)     Formerly several emirates used special plates on their police vehicles.   In mid-2002 a unified system was introduced throughout the country that by mid-2005 had been adopted in all emirates except Dubai.   The plates are 320×160 mm, white on dark blue with, to the right, a number in Arabic above western numerals; the number indicates both the emirate and the class of vehicle, see Table 2.   To the left, in four lines, is one of the following:

المدني الدفاع الداخلية وزارة	“Ministry of Interior Civil Defence”  †*
والنقليات المشاغل الداخلية وزارة	“Min. of Interior Services and Transport”  *
والقامة الجن سية الداخلية وزارة	“Min. of Interior Naturalization and Residency”  *
ال㺳ن الخاصة قوات الداخلية وزارة	“Min. of Interior Royal Court Security Forces”
شرطة الداخلية وزارة ×××××	“Min. of Interior Police”, above the emirate name ‡

Notes:   *   not dedicated to a specific emirate                        
               †   including the fire service from March 2005
               ‡   including the ambulance service.

        Dubai, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah uses a different layout, see separate articles.   Police motorcycles generally have a single, similar, rear plate but in a smaller size.   Some emirates have special illuminated police motorcycle plates, see separate articles.

(f)      For the President of the U.A.E., see Abu Dhabi, paragraph (g).

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