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 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.
In Ireland, commonly referred to as the Republic of Ireland, vehicle registration plates are the visual indications of motor vehicle registration – officially termed "index marks" – which it has been mandatory since 1903 to display on most motor vehicles used on public roads in Ireland. The alphanumeric marks themselves are issued by the local authority in which a vehicle is first registered.
Vehicles registered in Slovakia were generally assigned to one of the districts (okres) and from 1997 until 2022, the license plate coding generally consisted of seven characters and takes the form XX-NNNLL, where XX was a two letter code corresponding to the district, NNN was a three digit number and LL were two additional letters.
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.
The Italian vehicle registration plates are the compulsory alphanumeric plates used to display the registration mark of motor vehicles registered in Italy. They have existed in the country since 1897.
All motorised road vehicles in India are tagged with a registration or licence number. The Vehicle registration plate is issued by a Regional Transport Office (RTO) — the district-level authority on road matters in the respective state or Union Territory. The number plates are mandatory on both front and rear of the vehicle and are required to be in modern arabic numerals with latin letters. Complete specification of registration plates are specified under the HSRP: High Security Registration Plate rules.
Vehicle registration plates of Poland indicate the region of registration of the vehicle given the number plate.
A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate, license plate or licence plate, is a metal or plastic plate or plates attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies the vehicle within the issuing authority's database. In Europe most countries have adopted a format for registration plates that satisfies the requirements in the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, which states that cross-border vehicles must display a distinguishing code for the country of registration on the rear of the vehicle. This sign may be an oval sticker placed separately from the registration plate, or may be incorporated into the plate. When the distinguishing sign is incorporated into the registration plate, it must also appear on the front plate of the vehicle, and may be supplemented with the flag or emblem of the national state, or the emblem of the regional economic integration organisation to which the country belongs. An example of such format is the common EU format, with the EU flag above the country code issued in EU member states.
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.
Vehicle registration plates are mandatory number plates used to display the registration mark of a vehicle registered in France. They have existed in the country since 1901. It is compulsory for most motor vehicles used on public roads to display them.
Vehicle registration plates are the mandatory number plates used to display the registration mark of a vehicle, and have existed in Spain since 1900. Most motor vehicles which are used on public roads are required by law to display them. The government agency responsible for the registration and numbering of vehicles is the Directorate General of Traffic.
Malaysian registration plates are displayed at the front and rear of all private and commercial motorised vehicles in Malaysia, as required by law. The issuing of the number plates is regulated and administered by the Malaysian Road Transport Department or JPJ.
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 Europe 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.
As of the year 2019 there are two different valid systems of vehicle registration plates in the Czech Republic.
North Macedonia's vehicle registration plates consist of a two-letter region code, followed by a 4-digit numeric and a 2-letter alpha code . Issuance of the new plates started on 20 February 2012, and they introduced a fourth digit and the blue field on the left side. The standard registration plates dimensions are 520 by 110 millimetres. The international country code NMK is applied on the blue field on the left side of the plate. NMK is only used in the car plates, while MK is still used for all other purposes. In February 2019, the country code was changed from MK to NMK, in accordance with the Prespa agreement which changed the country's name to Republic of North Macedonia. The new code is a mixture of English (North) and Macedonian (Makedonija).
Vehicle registration began in the Isle of Man on 1 January 1906, following the Highways Act Amendment Act 1905.
The Palestinian National Authority requires their residents register their motor vehicles and display vehicle registration plates. There are two different registration systems in use: one for West Bank and one in the Gaza Strip.
Vehicle registration plates are the alphanumeric plates used to display the registration mark of a vehicle, and have existed in the United Kingdom since 1904. It is compulsory for motor vehicles used on public roads to display vehicle registration plates, with the exception of vehicles of the reigning monarch used on official business.
The current series of vehicle registration plates in Kenya are on a white plate with black lettering and look quite similar to UK suffix style registrations. The format is LLL NNNL, where ‘L’ denotes a letter and ‘N’ denotes a digit. The older series of number plates were black with white or silver lettering. Later in the older series the front plates were reflective white with black lettering and the rear plates were reflective yellow with black lettering. According to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics there are over 1,626,380 vehicles in Kenyan road as at 2011.
Vehicle registration plates, commonly known as number plates, are the mandatory alphanumeric or numeric plates used to display the registration mark of a vehicle.
