Vehicle registration plates of Egypt

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 (formerly 'ET' until April 2024).

Appearance
The current vehicle registration plates, which have been used since 2008, are rectangular in shape and made of aluminum. The top part has the word "Egypt" in English and Arabic in black font on backgrounds of different colors depending on the type of license the vehicle is given. Motorbikes have smaller plates which are similar but much with light blue (private motorbikes) and dark blue (police motorbikes) the only colors available.

The vehicle registration number consists of two parts:


 * Numeric part: three digits for Cairo license plates, four digits for all other governorates (including Giza)
 * Alphabetical part: two letters for Giza license plates, three letters for all other governorates (including Cairo)

''Numbers go from 1 to 9 and are chosen randomly. x is a random letter.''

Note : These plate codes do not apply for army, police and diplomatic vehicles.

Use of Latin letters and Western Arabic numerals below Arabic letters and Hindu–Arabic numerals was abandoned early due to the unease of reading the Arabic letters and numbers because they were too small.

To reduce the risk of confusion on account of the visual similarity between Arabic letters, only a limited number of letters are used. They and the Latin letters the Egyptian government uses to correspond to them are:



Size
Standard license plates are of 17x35 cm.

Design and format
The top rectangle in the license plate is color-coded according to the type of vehicle being licensed.


 * Private vehicles: Light Blue
 * Taxis: Orange
 * Trucks: Red
 * Buses and some government vehicles: Gray
 * Limousines and tourist buses: Beige
 * Diplomatic Vehicles: Green, Instead of letters, there are numbers on the plate, ### - ##
 * Vehicles with unpaid customs: Yellow; foreign vehicles that cross into Egypt are required to carry this type of license plate during their stay in Egypt and pay the fees associated with it, as well as purchasing an Egyptian vehicle insurance and receiving a temporary Egyptian ownership title. In most common cases, such as tourists crossing from neighboring countries, the plate is valid for two weeks. It is additionally used for old cars belonging to the Port Said free-trade zone.
 * Police vehicles: Dark blue; additionally, the Arabic and English for "Police" replace "Egypt" in the upper bar. The writing at the top is white, as opposed to black.
 * Motorcycles: Light Blue, same as private vehicles, the registration code is shown in two lines

Older versions
Before the introduction of the new alphanumeric plate system in August 2008, Egyptian vehicle registration numbers were purely numeric, and registered by governorate and registration type. Privately owned vehicles were generally given white plates with black lettering; other vehicles' plates were color-coded, with the entire plate being in the applicable color, as follows:


 * Taxis: Orange
 * Trucks: Red
 * Government-owned vehicles, including police: Blue, sometimes with a white bar
 * Public buses: Gray
 * Vehicles with unpaid customs: Yellow

Some of these older plates are still in use, but it is the government's intention to replace all the plates with the new color-coded plates within 1 to 2 years.