A license plate, number plate or registration plate (often referred to simply as a plate) is a small metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle for official identification purposes. 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, 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 vehicle's life. In other countries, such as in the United States, plates (known as license plates) have often been required to be changed periodically (though, for cost-saving purposes, the recent tendency has been to simply replace a small decal on the plate's surface). 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.

In large countries with federal governments

A California license plate, as observed in 2004, with a humorous frame.

Most plates not issued by the "feds"

In Canada, Mexico, Australia, Germany, and the United States, license plates are usually issued by provincial, territorial, or state governments. The federal government issues plates only for its own vehicle fleet and for vehicles owned by foreign diplomats.

In contrast, in the vast majority of countries that are organized as unitary states, license plates are issued by an agency of the national government.

Plate numbering and lettering

Generally, the appearance of plates 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 certain other populous states use a seven-character format such as LLLNNNN or NLLLNNN, where N is a number and L is a letter. Plates on vehicles other than passenger cars, such as trucks and trailers, may have different formats such as NLNNNNN. In some U.S. states, information such as the county of residence or the month of expiration is encoded into the number. The closest thing to a generic numbering format in the U.S. is LLL-NNN or NNN-LLL for passenger cars, LL-NNNN for trucks, L-NNNNN for trailers, and either LLNNN or NNNNNN for motorcycles.

While it is popularly believed that license-plate numbers are assigned randomly, the usual practice is to assign them in ascending order, begining with a starting point such as AAA-001. Thus, someone familiar with the sequence can determine roughly when the license plate was issued. In a few cases, numbers are assigned in descending order. For example, when Virginia switched to a seven-character for its standard issue in 1993, numbers beginning with AAA-1000 were already in use for extra-cost ornamental plates; therefore, the new standard license plates were issued in descending order from ZZZ-9999. Special "400th Anniversary" license plates, issued since 2003, are numbered in ascending order from JAA-1000.

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

In New Zealand, license plate numbering went from LLNNNN to LLLNNN in February 2001 with the arrival of ZZ9999, which was followed by AAA104 instead of AAA001 for some reason. Between 1905 and 1964, the number plates went from 000001 to 999999.

Showing current registration on plates

Historically, many U.S. plates were replaced every year, although the general practice in modern times is to send new "tags," "tabs," or "decals" (small colored stickers with a year printed on them) to vehicle owners every year or two, to indicate that the vehicle registration 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. Even with the tags, many states used to require that all license plates be replaced every few years, although that practice is being abandoned due to the expense of continually producing large numbers of plates. Maryland, for example, formerly mandated that all license plates be replaced every five years (except for apportioned trailers, which were registered on an eight-year schedule), but has not done so since 1986.

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 others, the month and year of expiration are printed on the same tag. Tag color often changes annually, to allow for easier detection by police.

Plate lifecycle

In the United States, plates typically stay with vehicles throughout their useful life, unless owners move to another state and bring their vehicles with them. In American law, when a person moves to a new state, he or she is required to establish "residency" in the new state, which includes registering the vehicle with that new state's government – it will then issue new plates that must be attached to the vehicle.

When a vehicle is sold, the disposition of the license plates depends on state law. In some states, the license plates are assigned with the vehicle to its new owner. In other states, the license plates remain with the seller, who may, for a fee, transfer the license plates and any unused portion of the current registration to a new vehicle.

Plate mounting

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.

Special plate content and shapes

In the United States and Canada, many states and provinces distinguish their license plates through distinctive color schemes and logos. For example, the cowboy logo often associated with the state of Wyoming has appeared on that state's license plates for several decades. The license plates of the Yukon have featured a prospector panning for gold. Vermont license plates have frequently featured a green and white color scheme. Other states, such as California and Louisiana offer a simpler scheme, often with a white background and little decoration. In recent years, states such as Indiana, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia have begun to put the address of the state's official website on their general issue plates. In Canada's Northwest Territories and Nunavut, the license plates are cut out from the sheet material in a bear shape.

Europe

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.

Car registration plates from France, as observed 2004.	A car registration plate from Germany, as observed 2005.	Car registration plate from Sweden	Manx (not in the EU) car registration plate
Polish plate issued shortly before EU membership	Lithuanian plate issued shortly before EU membership

People's Republic of China

Main article: licence 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: licence 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

In Russia, plate format has changed since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The current format uses 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 licence 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 licence 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 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 licence plates is normally 380 x 130 mm, but can be made plates on Japanese size or European size

The Brazilian Licence 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 state of origin. Vehicles can be relocated from one state to another, but their plate's 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 profane or obscene messages on them, and of course they must also be unique.

In some jurisdictions, 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 licence 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, the obvious exceptions being plates which indicate membership or abilites of use in an emergency (firemen, police, EMT, etc, etc). Also, some states require that the university plates be ordered through alumni associations. All U.S. states and Canadian provinces offer specialized license plates for licensed amateur radio operators. The owner's radio callsign is used instead of a standard license assignment.

In New Jersey, people convicted of drunk driving are banned from using vanity plates.

Even the railroad railfan has a custom tag to denote either a locomotive model or road number. In the U.S. state of Georgia (where the number of letters/numbers was recently extended from six to seven), the & can not be used, so if a railfan wanted a plate number with the & (IE: B&O GM50); the railfan would have to order it as shown: BO GM50. Some states also have separate locomotive licence tags.

Novelty licence plates

There also exist novelty licence 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 certain jurisdictions, and then only when it is required no more than a valid rear plate.

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 Canada and the United States, where the international oval is not officially used, putting one on a car is purely a matter of personal discretion. This has given rise to a tourist-driven industry of imitation international code stickers. For example, the island of Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts has MV, while the Outer Banks region of North Carolina uses OBX. Stickers of this sort are usually visibly different from any real international code sticker, but some places sell what could appear to be real stickers, touting that the abbreviation refers to their venue.

See also

• Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR)
• List of international licence plate codes
• Austrian car number plates
• 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
• licence Plate (Japan)
• licence plates in Germany
• Vehicle Identification Number
• Greek car number plates
• List of fictional licence plate numbers

External links

• Automobile License Plate Collectors Association
• License Plates of the World
• Plates taken by Jeroen Coninx
• Pennsylvania License Plates
• U.S. License Plates 1969-Present
• LicensePlates.cc
• Royce's Alaskan License Plates
• License Plate Maker
• Information on Animal/Pet Friendly Plate Programs in the USA