Talk:International vehicle registration code/Archive 1

Article halfway useless
This article does not explain the purpose of such codes, when they would be used, why they are not on most cars, etc. GodOfNonTyranny 13:19, 18 March 2016 (UTC)

Untitled
This list is copied from the German list I am in the process of translation.... -- Emperorbma 07:36, 3 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Trieste Free Territory TLT - FTT

The Free Territory of Trieste is a State (TS), no UNO acts about cancellation of the State from UNO list. Actually the A zone of the Territory is under Temporary italian Administration, and B zone is dived in Slovenjia and Croatia.

The same is for Groenland,(GRO) actually is an indipendent State no part of Denmark since january 2009.

Merlinn UK — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.224.200.170 (talk) 08:54, 12 January 2013 (UTC)

some questions....
I think ww have to talk about this...

Belize BH or BZ ??? In my opinion BH is better because of the former name "British Honduras"

North Korea DVPR ??? 4 Letters ???

TheFlyingDutchman

Bermuda
Cant find Bermuda in list. http://www.kingkong.demon.co.uk/where/where.htm shows it as BDA. Not sure if this correct though. Tiddy (talk) 05:15, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

Dear Frenchmen... sigh...
I know that the French language has such goofy names for numbers ("four twenties, a ten, and a seven" is the way they make "ninety-seven") that it's such a ->pain<- to bother to write the whole year, but in the English language we use all four digits.

These are license plates, which use similar but not identical codes to aircraft and ground-based radio stations. Numbers have significance in these systems. By just leaving two digits, it may indicate that the license plate begins with letters and then switches to digits. After all, we're talking about French Colonial license plates, and who knows what their system is.

Check with your original French sources, and put the year in English with all four digits. --Sobolewski 21:24, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Idea: Face-to-face of license plate codes and domain names?
Just a quick thought, to show differences (Canada=> .ca / CDN, Hungary=>.hu / H, but Croatia=>.hr/HR). Maybe useless, hence a suggestion ;) —Preceding unsigned comment added by ? (talk • contribs) 15 March 2006
 * You have already the article Country code, list all such codes. -- BIL 14:01, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Gibraltar
The code GBZ does not originate from a contraction of 'Gibraltar British Zone'. When the codes were originally notified, GBY was allocated to Malta and GBZ to Gibraltar.

Serbia
hi, i was last week in serbia and they there have SER, no SRB codes... i know it is unofficial but had

Solomon Islands
Well, there are SLB - Salomon Island and SLO - Solomon Island in the list. At Page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_codes:_S#Solomon_Islands there is SLB the ISO 3166-1 Alpha-3-Code of Solomon Island.

Well, I mean, we have to delete SLB - Salomon Island. --Juri1at 15:14, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

China (People's Republic of) ??
Did we miss the world's biggest country PRC = China (People's Republic of) ?? (I don't see it in the UN reference document, though it is listed in the link that goes to country abbreviations)........ ???? mr_uu 12:33, 23 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Was thinking the same, though they might not have this. A license plate code. 159.134.94.21 12:27, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

China IS listed - as CN. Tiddy (talk) 05:15, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

But is that really correct? The Article on the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic says the People's Republic of China did not sign it while the Republic of China did. By this time the Republic of China still was considered the sole legitmate government of all China by the UN, so as from the perspective of the UN the PRC is the legal successor of the (old) ROC, the code should legally still be "RC" as it seems it was never changed. But because this is rather a theoretical consideration, the PRC should be listed as having no official code (unless there is a citation for the CN code). Aleph Kaph (talk) 22:20, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

GB vs. UK
The UK entry says the code is GB and notes that this is "as opposed to 'UK', which encompasses Northern Ireland." This implies that the GB code is not used in cars registered in Northern Ireland, but there doesn't seem to be any separate entry for Northern Ireland. So do NI-registered cars get the GB code or not? If they do, this note should go. --Jfruh (talk) 02:30, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
 * They do.

countries where the codes are not required
wondering where the authority is that states us/can/mex vehicles exclusively do not require codes hence the citation needed bit. also added to that list australia and iceland which i know with 100% certainty do not reqire the codes as i own vehicles in both countries. Lotsofmagnets (talk) 18:32, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * If you require the citations, understand that you must cite as well. Tagging yours. Chris (クリス • フィッチ) (talk) 18:39, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * haha eye for an eye i guess. i´ll have a look through the relevant laws (may need some help looking up the icelandic ones...)Lotsofmagnets (talk) 16:10, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Actually what's good for the goose is good for the gander, no one's out to get you. Chris (クリス • フィッチ) (talk) 16:21, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

I've removed both contentions since they are unreferenced and the explanations offered are very implausible.


 * This code is not needed for vehicles registered in Canada, the United States or Mexico, because the plates themselves are issued by states and provinces, not the federal government. All three countries are federations, and the plates indicate the state or province the vehicle is registered in. The code is also not required in countries like Australia and Iceland which are both islands thus border crossing with vehicles is very infrequent.

Germany and Switzerland are federal too, and states there issue plates, but the cars still have ovals abroad. And the fact that there are relatively few foreign vehicles in a country does not mean the government is not going to bother requiring those that are there to follow the principle.

It may be the case that an Ontario car in Michigan needs no CAN plate, but a Canadian or US car in Europe will need a CAN/USA plate, and a Spanish car in Michigan will need an E plate. But that would still need a citation. jnestorius(talk) 17:19, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

References incomplete!!
There are a lot of distinguishing signs on this page that aren't mentioned in any of the references! So either it's crappy referencing or editors came up with their own distinguishing signs! To name a few;

- Anguilla - Angola - Antigua and Barbuda - Bhutan - Cape Verde - Comoros - Djibouti - Equatorial Guinea - Federated States of Micronesia - Guinea-Bissau - Hong Kong - Honduras - Kiribati - Korea, Democratic People’s Republic - Marshall Islands - New Caledonia - Oman - Palau - Puerto Rico - Sao Tome and Principe - Solomon Islands - Taiwan - Tonga - Tuvalu - Western Sahara

So I guess these all must be unofficial... would be good to mention this wouldn't it? The only official ones are of contracting parties of the 1968 convention of road traffic of the UN. Yet the UN also mentions some distinghuising signs of UN parties which are not contracting parties (in which the above are not mentioned or mentioned WITHOUT a distinghuising sign)

I would LOVE to know where people came up with the distinghuising signs for the above countries!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bartezz (talk • contribs) 20:43, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

United Kingdom
Interesting that the United Kingdom is a signatory to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic 1968, but has not ratified. I wonder whether the provisions in Article 38 (referring to Annex 4: Identification marks of international traffic) requiring the oval stickers somehow is transposed to UK domestic law in some other way. – Kaihsu (talk) 09:41, 31 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Ah, it is in the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic 1949 at Article 20 (Annex 4). – Kaihsu (talk) 10:02, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

According to the Ponsonby Rule this is perhaps agreed by the Parliament, but I wonder whether/how it is enforced in the UK. – Kaihsu (talk) 10:36, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

Probably Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 as amended implementing Council Regulation (EC) 2411/98. – Kaihsu (talk) 10:40, 31 July 2008 (UTC)
 * car oval sticker: Article 20, Convention on Road Traffic 1949: waiting for an answer. – Kaihsu (talk) 19:52, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

Also somebody needs to put in a request for a copy of the the Motor Vehicles (International Circulation) Order 1975 as amended. It is not yet on http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/ – Kaihsu (talk) 11:23, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

Requested. – Kaihsu (talk) 09:27, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

USA, Canada, Mexico
Are these codes used by cars from USA, Canada, Mexico, when driving in these three countries? I assume not. The state is shown on the plate, and it is enough? --198.208.243.251 (talk) 11:31, 5 August 2008 (UTC)
 * See above at . – Kaihsu (talk) 15:11, 6 August 2008 (UTC)


 * As explained above. If you take a vehicle into another country, it is the requirement of the country in which you are driving that matters. The US may not require Country Ovals from Canadian cars or vice-versa, but that's their prerogative. Country Plates are required of US and Canadian vehicles elsewhere. Equally EU countries do not require Country Ovals on vehicles from other EU countries, but they do require them from non-EU countries.


 * Something that bothers me. The purpose of a Country plate is to identify the vehicle, so the police in (for example) GB can tell it is not British ABC123, but French ABC123 or German ABC123. I.e. it acts like a telephone country code which is only used outside the country in order to make the number unique. As far as I understand the discussion above, in the USA and Canada there is not one ABC123, but many. Therefore USA + ABC123 does not uniquely identify the vehicle. How is a policeman in another country to know what is needed to uniquely identify a car? Are not the USA then in breach of the Geneva Convention (or something) by not having unique numbers on their cars? TiffaF (talk) 14:49, 29 August 2008 (UTC)


 * AIUI, US license plate numbers are unique within the state (or other issuing agency) they are issued by. Also, all plates carry the name of the state or agency in addition to the number. So the combination of state (or agency) plus number should be unique within the whole of the USA. However, I agree that this convention might raise problems in other countries. See Vehicle registration plates of the United States for more information. Letdorf (talk) 14:56, 2 September 2008 (UTC).

Isle of Man
For Isle of Man there are two codes GBM and MAN or one is unofficial or wrong? --Kikos (talk) 18:27, 24 August 2008 (UTC)


 * GBM is the official code. I can't find any references on the web to the use of MAN as an international code, so I've deleted it from the table. Letdorf (talk) 15:03, 2 September 2008 (UTC).

A whole load of questions
I've tidied up the article a bit and added country flags (I think a splash of colour makes it look a lot nicer), but whilst doing so I came across a number of anomalies. Can anyone help? I haven't started to think about the Codes No Longer In Use section yet. I may be back with more questions... Thanks. Bazonka (talk) 17:04, 10 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Vanuatu and the Peoples' Republic of China are missing.
 * RB (Botswana) was listed twice, one under B (used from 1991) and one under R (used from 1967). I've deleted the entry from the B section.  But which is the correct date?
 * Guinea-Bissau seems to have two codes still in use - GW and RGB. Is one an old code, or is one unofficial?  Either way it needs sorting out.  And what's the W for in GW?
 * Saudi Arabia is listed twice - as KSA and SA. Which is right?  Or are they both used (in which case a note should be added to both)?
 * Togo is listed twice - as RT and TG. TG has a more recent used from date, but under RT it states that TG was used previously.  What's going on?
 * The dates for Belize are weird. What's the 1938 for?
 * Burkina Faso (BF - in use since 1984) lists RHV and HV as former codes, but the dates are confusing. August 2003 is mentioned - long after BF was introduced.  I don't understand!
 * The code for Venezuela is YV. What's the Y for?
 * The code for Mali is RMM. What's the second M for?
 * A former code for Gabon is ALEF = Afrique Équatoriale Française. What's the L for?  And the Afrique Équatoriale Française territory also included what are now Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Chad.  Did these countries also use ALEF (or should it be AEF?)?
 * AOF is a former code for Benin, Mali and Niger. But the Afrique occidentale française territory also included what are now Senegal, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire and Mauritania.  Did these countries also use AOF?
 * I've answered my first question myself. China = CN and Vanuatu = VU. I have no details on when these codes were introduced though.  Bazonka (talk) 17:12, 11 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Many things and questions are explained in German version of this article. --Kikos (talk) 06:36, 12 September 2008 (UTC)
 * The German wikipedia article says "RMM" stands for "République moslémique du Mali" although Mali is called République du Mali officially and "République moslémique du Mali" doesn't lead to any results at Google. Aleph Kaph (talk) 22:28, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Republic of Germanic Nation (RGN)
I want to write an article about the Republic of Germanic Nation. But where can I find information about it? The only I know is that it exist in Elztal. --91.89.156.99 (talk) 11:33, 1 February 2010 (UTC)

Why different number of letters? Who decides?
I came to this article to see why some countries (e.g. Sweden, Germany, Spain) have one-letter codes, while other have two or even three. Sure, I understand that not all countries can have one-letter codes, but who decides which ones have them? And why are some letters (e.g. O, R, U) not used? Maybe this should be answered in this article? Snookerman (talk) 08:28, 13 June 2010 (UTC)

Edit warring over the image
There was no image until I put one up last week, and there is no call for replacing it wit a lower-quality photo which does not look as encyclopedic. And users who use IMHO are not H at all, it's quite pretentious.--Chris (クリス • フィッチ) (talk) 09:48, 3 September 2010 (UTC)


 * I'm sorry if you consider my edits as edit warring, but I have only made one actual revert. I changed your first edit as "CD" isn't an actual country code and hence not entirely appropriate here. I also thought a photo of an actual sticker was marginally preferable to a slightly crude illustration, though it's not a big deal. I use "IMHO" to make it clear that I'm aware others may have a different opinion, and I'm always happy to discuss my edits and opinions with other users. Regards, Letdorf (talk) 11:49, 3 September 2010 (UTC).

A, H, GR
Some of the very early codes, 1910+, happen to make sense to us in English, but not in the language spoken in the country in question, where the country's name begins differently:
 * Austria Österreich
 * Hungary Magyarország
 * Greece (H)ellas

Now, was this because English happened to be the default language of European diplomacy in 1910?

Except that, in those days, French was still the international standard:
 * Austria Autriche
 * Hungary Hongrie
 * Greece Grèce

Are we in fact seeing the French names abbreviated in these cases? And the English names match coincidentally?


 * Spain España

E matches the Spanish name. But it also matches the French name, Espagne.

Just curious, Varlaam (talk) 03:29, 17 September 2010 (UTC)


 * 'A' and 'H' might relate to the latin names. The Austro-Hungarian empire was multi-lingual and, like Switzerland, used latin as a neutral language when there was only space for one language. Switzerland still uses 'CH' as its abbreviation and puts "Helvetica" on coins. TiffaF (talk) 14:15, 9 November 2012 (UTC)


 * Latin was actually the official language of Hungary for several centuries... AnonMoos (talk) 01:54, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

South Sudan
South Sudan is still not on the list. I've found ISO 3166-2:SS: Does somebody know if "SS" is/will be also used as the international vehicle code of the country? --Dэя-Бøяg 07:37, 27 August 2011 (UTC)

Removal of Friesland
A while ago I added Friesland to this page. Now I see it has been removed for the sole reason that the Province of Friesland does not issue license plates. If that is the criterion, then England, Scotland and Wales will surely also have to be removed, because they don't issue license plates either. I think some people are using double standards here. 80.61.230.65 (talk) 16:07, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

Split out list Official/Unofficial

 * Completely agree with the above. Silly political double standards are in play here. What should be done is that the official list should be presented. Then the "unofficial" (endless) list could be added in separately. Your Friesland, the England, Kosovo entries etc. could be included there. Frenchmalawi (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 01:33, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

EU cars outside the EU; non-EU car with ‘faux-EU’ plate in the EU
I suppose EU cars with EU-standard plates still need the oval sticker outside the EU according to the conventions? Also, non-EU states now issue EU-standard plates without the ring of stars but instead with their own symbols. I suppose these also still need the oval sticker when driving in the EU? – Kaihsu (talk) 14:56, 8 August 2014 (UTC)

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Unofficial codes
The unofficial codes are potentially endless, and there is no criteria (by definition) and clearly no proper citation of this. I propose to remove all unofficial codes, in line with WP policy. Mauls (talk) 12:49, 9 February 2018 (UTC)

North Korea
I could not find the code for North Korea. Deleted or just accidentally missing? Regards--MacedonianBoy (talk) 11:59, 19 February 2018 (UTC)

Palestine
Do the Palestine Territories (Gaza strip and Westbank) have an own international registration code? What signs do their cars use, if not? Kopilot (talk) 09:17, 20 March 2019 (UTC)