A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate or license plate, is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. All countries require registration plates for road vehicles such as cars, trucks, and motorcycles. 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.
The most common format for vehicle registration plates in Romania consists of black letters on white background in the format CC 12 ABC, where CC is a two letter county code, 12 is a two digit group, and ABC is a three letter group. For Bucharest, the format is B 12 ABC or B 123 ABC, where B is code for Bucharest city, 12 and 123 is a two or three digit group, and ABC is a three letter group. The left side of the plate bears a blue vertical strip displaying the 12 stars of the European Union and the country code of Romania (RO). Between 1992-2007 the band featured the Romanian flag instead of the 12 stars. All lettering comes from the Latin alphabet.
Present Italian car number plates have black characters on a rectangular white background, with small blue side-fields as with European vehicle registration plates. The numbering scheme in use from 1994 is unrelated to the geographical provenance of the car. By law, Italian plates can only be made by the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, and are issued by local departments of the Italian Social Department.
Austrian car number plates are mandatory vehicle registration plates displaying the registration mark of motor vehicles in Austria. They are used to verify street legality, proof of a valid liability insurance and to identify and recognise the vehicle.
Vehicle license plates in the Philippines are issued and regulated by the Land Transportation Office (LTO), a government agency under the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
Vehicle registration plates of Poland indicate the region of registration of the vehicle given the number plate.
Vehicle registration plates in Hungary usually consist of seven characters on white background with black letters. The current system was introduced in 1 July 2022. The standard license plates for private vehicles carry four letters and three numbers, separated with coat of arms between the letters and hyphen before the numbers. The combination has no connection with geographic location.
Montenegrin car plates have black characters on a rectangular white background, with a blue strip on the left. Car, but not motorcycle, plates follow the 520 mm x 110 mm format. The old Yugoslav plate format was phased out from 6 June 2008 in favour of this format, which is on par with the common European Union format.
Standard Bulgarian vehicle registration plates display black glyphs on a white background, together with – on the left-hand side of the plate – a blue vertical "EU strip" showing the flag of Europe and, below it, the country code for Bulgaria: BG.
Vehicle registration plates of Serbia display black alphanumeric characters on a white background with blue field placed along the left side edge.
As of the year 2019 there are two different valid systems of vehicle registration plates in the Czech Republic.
Vehicle registration plates of Kosovo are issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo. As of June 1, 2012, all residents of Kosovo are obliged to fit their cars with KS or RKS plates. Non-compliance results in confiscation of the non-Kosovar plates and legal charges.
North Korea has issued registration plates for all government and privately owned vehicles since 1947. The system is loosely based on that found in Japan insofar as numerical prefixes are applied to denote a particular type or class of vehicle.
Since Ukraine's independence in 1991, the country has used four main systems of vehicle registration plates.
Vehicle registration plates of Latvia consist of two letters, a hyphen and one to four numbers (depending on the age of registration), e.g., AB-1234,
Vehicle registration plates of Georgia are composed of an embossed serial of two letters, a hyphen, three numbers, a hyphen, and two letters, in black on a white background with a blue vertical strip on the left. The plates are issued in the Latin alphabet. Georgian registration plates are the same size as the most common European registration plate. All plates have the abbreviation "GE" in the lower left corner of the plate and the national flag in the upper left corner. This set of new style registration plates have been in use since 1 September 2014.
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.
Vehicle registration plates of Vietnam generally take the form DDL-DDDDD 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 D.
Vehicle registration plates were used in the Soviet Union for registrations of automobiles, motorcycles, heavy machinery, special-use vehicles as well as construction equipment, military vehicles and trailers. Every vehicle registration plate contains a unique registration mark embossed on a metal plate or a plate made of other materials. All vehicles were required to display the plates on the front side and backside, with the exception of trailers and motorcycles, which were only required to display one on the backside.
