A license plate (or licence plate), number plate or registration plate is a small plate attached to a vehicle. On many vehicles, they appear in pairs, with one attached to the front and another attached to the rear, although certain jurisdictions and vehicle types only require one plate—usually the rear. The plate has a serial number on it which is the same on all plates attached to the vehicle, the purpose of which is to identify the vehicle uniquely from others on roads, usually within the same country. In some countries it is common to refer to plates in everyday English.

In some countries, such as in the United Kingdom, a vehicle usually only has one set of plates (known as number plates) following its initial sale as the information displayed on the plates is static from then on throughout the vehicles life. In other countries, such as in the United States, plates ( known as license plates ) are often changed periodically (for example, some states require new plates every few years). In many cases, the license plate change relates to the plates being used as evidence of a vehicle being licensed for use on a public highway , or as evidence of a tax having been paid in connection with the vehicle.

Plates usually are either directly fixed to a vehicle, or may be located in a plate frame which is itself fixed to the vehicle and enables the plates to be easily changed if required. Often the plate frames contain advertisements inserted by the vehicle service center or the dealership from which the vehicle was purchased. Vehicle owners can purchase customized and specialty frames to replace the original frames. Usually plates are designed to conform to certain standards of clarity with regards to being read by the human eye in day or at night, or by electonic equipment.

The James Bond film Goldfinger features an Aston Martin DB5 which has revolving number plates.

Contents

1 In large countries with federal governments 2 European Union 3 People's Republic of China 4 Japan 5 Russian Federation 6 Federative Republic of Brazil 7 Vanity and speciality plates 8 Novelty license plates 9 International codes 10 Imitation International codes 11 See also 12 External links

In large countries with federal governments

In Canada, Mexico, Australia, and the United States, license plates are issued by provincial, territorial, or state governments. Their appearance is frequently chosen to contain symbols, colours, or slogans associated with the issuing jurisdiction. The format for license plate numbers (which often contain characters) will provide enough numbers for all the motor vehicles in the jurisdiction. So, for example, Wyoming, the smallest U.S. state by population, issues plates with the numbers in the format NN NNNN or NN NNNL, with the first two numbers restricted to 1-23 and 99 (one code for each of the state's counties); Rhode Island, the smallest state by area, uses the formats LL-NNN and NNNNN; while California and other populous states use NLLLNNN, where N is a number and L is a letter. Plates on trucks may have different formats such as NLNNNNN.

Sometimes, there is a problem with unintentional profane or inappropriate messages. Thus most randomization does not include lettering such as FUK, DIE, or USA; and numbering usually does not include 911 or 666.

Historically, many U.S. plates were replaced every year, although the general practice in modern times is to send new "tags" or "tabs" (actually just small colored stickers with a year printed on them) to vehicle owners every year to indicate that the license is still valid. Tags that are not up to date quickly attract the attention of law enforcement, because registration "renewal" is a transaction that can usually be undertaken only by the car's registered owner. A delinquent registration tag is often an indicator that the vehicle may be stolen.

The tags are usually placed on one corner of the plate, while the month of the year in which the tags would expire is printed in an opposing corner. In some jurisdictions, the plate's validation is a sticker displayed from the inside of the windshield or on the rear bumper.

In the U.S. at present, plates typically stay with vehicles throughout their useful life, unless owners move to another state and bring their vehicles with them. In American law, a person changes their state "citizenship" by moving to another state and taking up residence there with intent to remain beyond a short period (say, a few months). In that case, they are usually required to register their vehicle in their new "home" state, which will then issue new plates that must be attached to the vehicle.

Many American states are now strictly enforcing laws that require all vehicles to have two license plates (one mounted on or near each bumper). This is to increase the effectiveness of red-light cameras, which work only if a vehicle can be linked back to its registered owner.

European Union

In the European Union, number plates of a common format are issued throughout (albeit still optional in some member states). Nevertheless, individual member states use differing numbering schemes, and even colours (e.g. the United Kingdom and France have yellow plates at the rear; see British car number plates). The common design consists of a blue strip on the left of the plate. This blue strip has the E.U. motif (12 yellow stars), along with the country code of the member state in which the vehicle was registered. With this vehicles do not require international code stickers for travelling between member states.

People's Republic of China

Main article: License plate of China

The People's Republic of China issues vehicles licence plates at its Vehicle Management Offices, under the administration of the Ministry of Public Security.

The current plates are of the 1992 standard, which consist of the one-character provincial abbreviation, a letter of the Latin alphabet, and five number or letters of the alphabet (e.g. Jing A-12345, for a vehicle in Beijing). The number order is produced at random, i.e. Jing A-12345 will not be issued before Jing A-12344. A computer handles the randomisation. (A previous licence plate system, with a green background and the full name of the province in Chinese characters, actually had a sequential numbering order, and the numbering system was eventually beset with corruption.)

Yellow plates are issue for large vehicles of Chinese nationality. Blue plates, the most common sort, are issued for vehicles of Chinese nationality which are small or compact in size. Black plates are issued for vehicles belonging to foreigners, and persons from Hong Kong and Macao. (Black licence plates are handed to vehicles of any size, as long as they are of foreign nationality.)

Japan

Main article: License Plate (Japan)

License plates in Japan are either white with green text, or the reverse. The top line names the office at which the vehicle is registered, and includes a numeric code that indicates the class of vehicle. The bottom contains one symbol (typically a kana), and up to four digits.

Russian Federation

The format of the numbers in Russia is different from that in Soviet Union. The current format is a letter, followed by 3 digits and two more letters. To improve legibility of the numbers for Russian cars abroad, only a small subset of cyrillic characters that look like Latin characters is used. Finally, the region number (77 and 99 for Moscow, 78 for Saint-Petersburg) and letters "RUS" are included, as well as the national flag. There is a different format for trailers (4 digits and 2 letters).

Some regions (inside the Federation) are not required to have the flag on the license plates.

Police forces have special numbers on blue colored plates. There are special series (usually numbers starting with A) reserved for government officials (for example, A 001 AA usually belongs to the governor of the region). These numbers have a larger flag instead of the region number.

Rich businessmen, prominent politicians and crime lords often use illegally acquired special license plates (government or police) to get preferential treatment from the transport police and as a status symbol.

Federative Republic of Brazil

Brazil adopted its current system in 1990, which uses the form LLL NNNN, with a little dot between letters and numbers. A combination given to one vehicle cannot be transferred to another vehicle. Above combination there is a metallic band with the state abbreviation (SP = São Paulo, RJ = Rio de Janeiro, PR = Paraná, etc.) and the name of the municipality. This band can be changed, changing the seal (plastic or lead-made).

The size of the Brazilian license plates is normally 380 x 130 mm, but can be made plates on Japanese size or European size

The Brazilian License Plates use colors to show its type, and front and rear plates use same color:

black on gray: Particular white on red: any kind of paid transportation (buses, cabs, etc.) red on white: driver's school (auto-escola in Brazil). black on white: official use (government, police department, fire department, federal, state or city-owned for public services). gray on black: collection (30-years vehicles or more with an excellent conservation and plus than 80% of originality. white on green: dealer-testing or in some cases, test-drive (most of test-drive cars use black on gray plates). white on blue: constructor-testing or diplomatic use (in this case, using CD NNNN or CC NNNN).

The letters of the plate can describe its origin State. Vehicles can change from one State to another, but its combination will show the origin.

AAA-0000 to BEZ-0000 = PR = PARANÁ; BFA-0000 to GKI-0000 = SP = SÃO PAULO; GKI-0000 to HOL-0000 = MG = MINAS GERAIS; and so on.

Vanity and speciality plates

In some countries, people can pay extra and get vanity plates: licence plates with a custom number (character set). For example, a vanity license plate might read "MY TOY". Generally vanity plates are not allowed to have Censored page or Censored page messages on them, and of course they must also be unique.

In some jurisdictions, including virtually all U.S. states, vehicle owners may also pay extra for specialty plates: with these, the sequence of letters and numbers is chosen by the licensing agency—as with regular plates—but the owners select a plate design that is different from the normal license plate. For example, a former soldier who became a prisoner of war might choose a special POW plate, an alumnus or student of an area university might get a plate with the school's logo, or an outdoorsman might decide to pay extra for a plate depicting a nature scene. A portion of the extra cost of these license plates often ends up as a donation for a related school or non-profit organization. Normally such speciality plates can be purchased without proof of any particular status or affiliation.

Novelty license plates

There also exist novelty license plates, often sold in gift or novelty shops. Similar to vanity plates, these novelties are printed with an individual's name, but unlike vanity plates they are not intended for legal identification of an automobile. They can be displayed in the rear window, for example, or on the front of vehicles in jurisdictions that only require a valid rear plate (though that practice may not be legal in certain cases).

International codes

On the international level the licence plates of different countries are distinguished by a supplementary licence plate country code. This country designator is displayed in bold block uppercase on a small white oval plate or sticker on the rear of the vehicle near the number plate.

The allocation of codes in maintained by the United Nations as the Distinguishing Signs of Vehicles in International Traffic, being authorized by the UN's 1949 and 1968 Conventions on Road Traffic. Many, but far from all, vehicle codes created since the adoption of ISO 3166 coincide with either the ISO two or three letter codes.

For a full list of licence plate country codes, see List of international license plate codes.

Imitation International codes

In the USA, where the international oval means nothing legally because cars must have federal-style license plates, putting one on a car is a sort of snobbery. Such a car need not have been shipped from abroad; the sticker was probably brought back by a tourist and stuck on at home. Such is the case for humorous, imitation international codes, which are sold at tourist spots in the USA. Example: the island of Martha's Vinyard, off the coast of Massachusetts, has MV. These are usually different from any real international code sticker, but some places sell real stickers, touting that the abbreviation refers to their venue.

See also

• List of international license plate codes
• Belgian car number plates
• British car number plates
• Dutch Vehicle Registration Plates
• Indonesian car number plates
• Romanian car number plates
• Irish Vehicle Registration Plates
• Australian car number plates
• License Plate (Japan)
• License plates in Germany
• Vehicle Identification Number
• Greek car number plates

External links

• Automobile License Plate Collectors Association http://www.alpca.org/
• License Plates of the World http://www.worldlicenseplates.com/
• Plates taken by Jeroen Coninx http://www.licenseplatemania.com/
• Pennsylvania License Plates http://fp.enter.net/~kgoodhead/john.htm
• U.S. License Plates 1969-Present http://www.15q.net/
• LicensePlates.cc http://www.licenseplates.cc/
• Royce's Alaskan License Plates http://www.alaska.net/~royce/akplates/
• License Plate Maker http://www.acme.com/licensemaker/