A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate or license plate or licence plate, is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. All countries require registration plates for commercial road vehicles such as cars, trucks, and motorcycles, for hire. Whether they are required for other vehicles, such as bicycles, boats, or tractors, may vary by jurisdiction. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric ID that uniquely identifies the vehicle or vehicle owner within the issuing region's vehicle register. In some countries, the identifier is unique within the entire country, while in others it is unique within a state or province. Whether the identifier is associated with a vehicle or a person also varies by issuing agency. There are also electronic license plates.
Motorized vehicles in Indonesia are required to have registration plates, which must be displayed both at the front and back of the vehicles. The issuing of number plates is regulated and administered by SAMSAT, which is a collaboration between the Indonesian National Police, provincial offices of regional revenue, and the national mandatory vehicle insurance operator Jasa Raharja.
In Sweden, vehicle registration plates are used for most types of vehicles. They have three letters first, a space and two digits and one digit or letter after. The combination is mostly a random number and has no connection with a geographic location. The last digit is used to show what month the vehicle tax has to be paid, and before 2018 it was also used to show what month the car had to undergo vehicle inspection. Vehicles like police cars, fire trucks, public buses and trolley buses use the same type of plate as normal private cars and cannot be directly distinguished by the plate alone. Military vehicles have special plates. Part of the vehicle data is public and can be retrieved online.
Maltese registration plates are the number plates used within Malta to uniquely identify motor vehicles. Since 1995, the three letter, three number system has been in use in Malta for vehicle registration. The characters are always printed in black on a white background, and to the left one can find a blue box with the Flag of the European Union and the letter M underneath it in white. The typeface used on Maltese registration plates is FE-Schrift which is also the typeface used on German vehicle registration plates.
Brazilian vehicle registration plates are issued by the states. Each state has a Departamento de Trânsito (DETRAN) that is in charge of vehicle registration and car tax collection, but plates are standardized across the country and form a national vehicle registration database.
As of the year 2019 there are two different valid systems of vehicle registration plates in the Czech Republic.
License plates of Honduras are issued by the Honduran Secretaría de Obras Públicas, Transporte y Vivienda and identify motor vehicles in the country.
The vehicle registration plates of Cyprus are composed of three letters and three digits. A simple incremental numbering system is used; numbers run from 001 to 999 per letter sequence (alphabetic), so that, for example, the plate to be issued after MAA 999 would be MAB 001. However, registrants may be allowed to choose a number from available numbers in the extant letter sequence.
Philippine vehicle registration plates have a long history. The earliest license plates were introduced around 1912 with the introduction of Legislative Act No. 2159.
The current vehicle registration plate system of Cuba was introduced in May 2013. Current plates are European standard 420 mm × 110 mm, completely replacing the previous system introduced in 2002. The international vehicle registration code for Cuba is C.
The current vehicle registration plates in Chile are officially known as the Unique License Plate. This designation was introduced in 1985 when vehicle registration was unified at the national level, ensuring that each vehicle would have a unique plate across the country.
Current motor vehicle registrations in Bolivia, commonly known as plate, are license plates with a unique combination of letters and numbers to individually identify each vehicle registered in the country.
Uruguay requires its residents to register their motor vehicles and display vehicle registration plates.
Since the end of the year 2000 Paraguay has required its residents to register their motor vehicles with the National Register of Vehicles and to display vehicle registration plates; this system has replaced the former one whereby plates were issued by municipal authorities, who also kept local registers.
Egyptian vehicle registration number plates are used for official identification purposes for motor vehicles in Egypt. The international vehicle registration code for Egypt is EG.
Vehicle registration plates of Vietnam generally take the form DDLL-DDD.DD for vehicles. Standard license plates have black characters on white background. Front plates measure 47 × 11 cm, rear ones are 27 × 20. In 2020 and 2021, both plates measure 6 x 12. The current scheme for civilian vehicles omits the letters I, J, O, Q and W, with the letter R reserved for trailers, and includes the Vietnamese character Đ.
Tajik vehicle registration plates are registration plates for vehicles registered in the country.
Vehicle registration plates of Yemen started in 1993. The current version started in 2018 used FE-Schrift typeface for alphanumeric and Square Kufic typeface for Arabic text.
The vehicle registration plates of Madagascar are created in 1950 from time to time with the revised version in 2014. It contains a black plate consisting with white characters with the current format with 4 random numbers, with the first letter as a province code, and the last 2 random letters.
Vehicle registration plates, commonly known as number plates, are the mandatory alphanumeric or numeric plates used to display the registration mark of a vehicle.
