FE-Schrift

The abbreviation "FE" is derived from the compound German adjective fälschungserschwerend combining the noun Fälschung ('falsification') and the verb erschweren ('to hinder'). Schrift means 'typeface' in German (cognate with the English word script). Other countries have later introduced the same or a derived typeface for license plates, taking advantage of the proven design for the FE-Schrift.

• Name — Fälschungserschwerende Schrift • Style — Sans-serif • Creationdate — 1978–1980 • Creator — Karlgeorg Hoefer • Foundry — Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen • Aka — * FE-Schrift • Schrift für Kfz-Kennzeichen • Glyphs — 102 • Illustration — A demonstration of attempted alteration of characters set in the FE-Schrift typeface. The series "PBF" (top row) is modified to read "R3E" (middle row, in red). The correct appearance of the series "R3E" is shown in the bottom row.

The motivation for the creation of the typeface arose in the late 1970s in the light of terrorism by the Red Army Faction when it was discovered that with the then-standard font for vehicle registration plates—the DIN 1451 font—it was particularly easy to modify letters by applying a small amount of black paint or tape. For example, it was easy to change a "P" to an "R" or "B", a "3" to an "8", or an "L" or "F" to an "E". Modifications to FE-font plates are somewhat more difficult, as they also require the use of white paint, which is easily distinguished at a distance from the retroreflective white background of the plate, in particular at night. The original design for the FE-Schrift typeface was created by Karlgeorg Hoefer who was working for the Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen (Federal Highway Institute of Germany) at the time. The typeface was slightly modified according to the results of tests that lasted from 1978 to 1980 at the University of Giessen (Department of Physiology and Cybernetic Psychology). For example, the initial slashed zero (\emptyset) could be mistaken for an 8, so Hoefer replaced it by a design with a reduced white slash in the upper right corner. Whilst the DIN typeface used a proportional font, the FE-Schrift is a monospaced font (with different spacing for letters and numbers) for improved machine readability. Faked FE-Schrift letters (e.g., "P" to "R") appear conspicuously disproportionate. Another motivation for the new typeface came from a spike in the theft rate of license plates in the early 1970s. And despite the requirement to hinder falsification, the scope document did list that point only in the second place. The first priority was a requirement for readability by humans and machines as the decade was the same that saw the development of other typefaces for optical character recognition, namely OCR-A and OCR-B. The RAF terrorism however allowed to fund a project over a couple of years — running from the functional scope document being created in 1977 to the final decision of 1982 not to introduce the design on license plates. It ended up in the drawer. The final publication in German law for the usage on license plates includes three variants – normal script (Mittelschrift) with 75 mm high and 47.5 mm wide letters and 44.5 mm wide digits (75 x), narrow script (Engschrift) with 75 mm high and 40.5 mm wide letters and 38.5 wide digits (75 x) and a small script (verkleinerte Mittelschrift) with 49 mm high and 31 mm wide letters and 29 mm wide digits (59 x). The legal typeface includes umlaut vowels as these occur in German county codes at the start of the license plate number. The narrow font allows nine characters to be put on a standard Euro license plate — shorter numbers are supposed to be printed with larger spaces between characters as to fill the available space on the plate. The German law defines the font in Anlage 4 ('appendix 4') of the Fahrzeugzulassungsverordnung ('vehicle admission ordinance'). In section 2.1 it shows three names for it as fälschungserschwerende Schrift, FE-Schrift and Schrift für Kfz-Kennzeichen ('font for license plates') with the latter to be used for requesting templates from the Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen (BASt, 'Federal Highway Research Institute'). Digital variants have never been published by them but there exist third party digitizations for free download, for example the font "Euro Plate".

• Illustration — Variant of the FE-Schrift as used on Hungarian license plates since 2022 • On Euro-style license plates with the country code in a blue section on the left: • Germany — introduced in 1995 and are mandatory since 2000 • Bosnia and Herzegovina — in 2009 the new Euro-style license plate design was introduced along with the FE-Schrift typeface. The new design (dropping the national crest from the old Euro-style license plates as it was used since 1998) is more similar to the Euro license plate • Malta — since 2004, the Euro-style license plate design was introduced in 1995 without the FE-Schrift • Cyprus — since 3 June 2013 • Akrotiri and Dhekelia — since 2014 • Northern Cyprus — since 2018 • Georgia — since 3 June 2013 • Latvia — for tractors and tractor trailers only. On passenger car, car trailer, and motorcycle plates, they continue to use DIN 1451. • Cuba — resolved a law on a new license plate scheme in 2013 which opted for the Euro license plate format and the FE-Schrift. The reasoning is to lower the cost while increasing the quality of the plates, with the change to be completed by May 2016. • Moldova — since 1 April 2015 • Common design in CIS countries with a region code section along with the country name and flag • Uzbekistan — since 2009 • Armenia — since 2014 • Kyrgyzstan — since 2016 • Common design of Mercosur countries with the country name in a blue strip above the number: • Uruguay — the old numbering scheme with three digits was exhausted in 2001 leading to a new scheme in 2002 in Montevideo which included four digits and came to use the FE-Schrift as well. The new license plate design is mandatory for Uruguay since 2011. Uruguay selected the blue strip of the Mercosur design in March 2015 for new license plates. • Argentina — using the Mercosur design since 2016 • Paraguay — was scheduled to use the Mercosur design for new cars by 2016, but delayed the start to 2019 • Brazil — using the Mercosur design since September 2018, first state was Rio de Janeiro • Bolivia — since April 2017 it is allowed to get Mercosur-style license plates as they were defined 2014 in order to ease goods traffic with Peru • Venezuela — with introduction date in the former Mercosur member state being unknown (Mercosur membership suspended since 2016) • Countries in Africa: • South Africa — the numbering scheme and license plate design were changed in 1994 which did also introduce the FE-Schrift • Namibia — since 1994, following South African style but with new registration codes that start with "N" • Tanzania — started to introduce a new design in the 1990s using FE-Schrift, registration codes start with "T" • Uganda — since 1999, registration codes start with "U" • Sierra Leone — probably since 1999 • Mozambique — probably around 2000s, registration codes start with "M" • Zambia — since 2000 • Ethiopia — probably since 2002, numbers only • Cameroon — since 2005 • Zimbabwe — since 2006 • Rwanda — since 2007, registration codes start with "R" • South Sudan — probably since 2007, initially only used on government vehicles • Mali — probably since 2008 • Congo — since 2009 • Burundi — since April 2009 • Malawi — probably since 2011 • Senegal • Gambia • Guinea • Ghana • Niger • Kenya — since 2022 • Madagascar — since 2014 • Benin — since 2019 • Djibouti — since 2023 • Burundi • Eswatini • Somaliland • Other countries: • Sri Lanka — since August 2000, with a variation of the FE-Schrift developed by a German company • Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates — probably since 2006, numbers only • Kuwait — probably since 2007, numbers only • Guatemala — probably since 2008 • Bahrain — since 2010 • Panama — since 2018 • Peru — since 2010 • Chile — since 2014 • Colombia — since 2016 for diplomatic cars only • Nepal — implemented since 2017 and fully since 2020 • Honduras — since 2018 • Philippines — since February 2018 for regular plates and since 2010 for personalized plates • Yemen — since 2018 for alphanumeric officially used on newer plates (except Taiz Governorate and Houthi rebel-controlled areas in northern Yemen) • Aruba — since 2019 • Indonesia — since August 2019 for personalized plates and November 2022 for regular plates and used in four wheel and more in the late of 2022 and motorcycle in 2025 • Gaza Strip — since 2021 • Australia — personalised "Euro-style plates" used FE-Schrift issued by some states (New South Wales since 2002 and Victoria since 2005) • Thailand — since 2020 • Ecuador — since 2022 • Iraq — since 2022 • Malaysia — since September 2024 for electric vehicles only • Syria — since 2024, numbers only Some countries allow the FE-Schrift as an alternative to the standard typeface especially in combination with a Euro-style license plate. Some license plates in Ghana have been issued using an FE-Schrift style. In Australia, personalized plates may be issued with an FE-Schrift using a special design of vanity plates. In other countries, such as Algeria and Ireland, FE-Schrift is permissible where registration plates are owner provided, under their prescribed design regulations. Such plates were allowed in India until 2019. Some countries have developed a typeface for license plates with similar features: Albania since 2002, Georgia since 2014, Guinea, Hungary since 2022, New Zealand, Netherlands, Serbia and Slovenia (from 2004 until 2008).

• Illustration — Germany (since 1994) • Illustration — Akrotiri and Dhekelia (since 2014) • Illustration — Armenia • Illustration — Aruba (since 2019) • Illustration — Argentina (since 2016) • Illustration — Australia — Victoria (vanity plate) • Illustration — Bolivia (since 2016) • Illustration — Bosnia and Herzegovina • Illustration — Bahrain • Illustration — Brazil (since 2018) • Illustration — Cyprus (since 2013) • Illustration — Northern Cyprus (since 2018) • Illustration — Chile (since 2014) • Illustration — Colombia • Illustration — Cameroon • Illustration — Cuba (since 2013) • Illustration — Democratic Republic of Congo • Illustration — Georgia (since 2013) • Illustration — Honduras (since 2018) • Illustration — Hungary (since 2022) • Illustration — Indonesia (since 2022) • Illustration — Iraq (since 2022) • Illustration — Ireland • Illustration — Nepal (since 2020) • Illustration — Namibia • Illustration — Kuwait • Illustration — Ghana • Illustration — Gambia • Illustration — Guinea • Illustration — South Africa • Illustration — Sri Lanka • Illustration — Senegal • Illustration — Swaziland • Illustration — Tanzania • Illustration — Uganda • Illustration — Uzbekistan • Illustration — Uruguay • Illustration — Philippines • Illustration — Paraguay (since 2019) • Illustration — Peru (since 2010) • Illustration — Guatemala (since 2020) • Illustration — Rwanda • Illustration — Niger • Illustration — Malta • Illustration — Moldova • Illustration — Mozambique • Illustration — Mali • Illustration — Zambia • Illustration — Zimbabwe • Illustration — Gaza Strip (since 2021) • Illustration — Thailand (since 2020) • Illustration — United Arab Emirates — Abu Dhabi • Illustration — United Arab Emirates — Ras Al Khaimah • Illustration — Yemen — Aden (EU model) • Illustration — Yemen — Aden (US model) • Illustration — Malaysia (since 2024, for e-vehicles)