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Vehicle registration plates of France

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.

French front plate with local reference to a Department number (from 2009). In this example, 00 is used as a placeholder. There is a regional logo at the top right and the number of the department below it.
CountryFrance
Country codeF
Current series
Size520 mm × 110 mm
20.5 in × 4.3 in
Serial formatAA-123-AA
Colour (front)Black on white
Colour (rear)Black on white
Introduced2009
History
First issued1901

In French, vehicle registration plates are called plaques d'immatriculation or plaques minéralogiques. The latter makes a reference to the national mining administration, which was responsible for issuing the plates in the early 20th century.

A pre-2009 car plate with the two-digit code for Paris (75).

Since 1901, various systems have been successively introduced, the most recent dating from 2009. The registration plates issued since 2009 use a XX-NNN-ZZ format, composed of a series of 7 alphanumeric characters: 2 letters, 3 numbers, and then 2 letters (e.g. AB-126-FD). This format is monitored nationwide and car plates are permanent and attached to a single vehicle from its first registration to its disposal. As such, car plates do not need to be changed if the car is sold or if the owner moves to another region within France.

Cars bought before 2009 can still bear the old format, dating from 1950, if the owner has not moved to a different département since then. Unlike the new one, the 1950 format is geographical. Until 2009, car plates had to be changed whenever the owner moved to another département or bought a car from a person living in a different département. The 1950 format uses a N X NN format, composed of a series of one to four numbers, one to three letters and a two-digit code corresponding to the département where the car is registered. The international code for French plates is "F" (France).

Current scheme edit

SIV edit

 
A two-line registration plate with the code for Oise (60) and the logo of Picardy region.

Called système d'immatriculation des véhicules ("vehicle registration system"), shortened to SIV, the current scheme was adopted in France in 2009 (15 April for new vehicles; 15 October for second-hand ones). It was inspired by the "AA-111-AA" format that was successfully adopted in Italy in 1994. Under the SIV scheme, car plates are permanent and do not need to be changed if the car owner sells it or moves to a different region.

The SIV system was adopted to ease vehicle registration and law enforcement on roads because it is fully monitored by computer and administered nationwide. The SIV database can easily be combined with other computer files. The SIV was also implemented to replace the 1950 format, which was running out of character combinations. Had it been maintained, it would have been completely exhausted by 2025 for Paris, the most populous French département. The SIV scheme started in 2004 for motorcycles with an engine capacity under 50 cc. However, these vehicles carry plates with fewer characters, such as AA-11-A.

Due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008, the introduction of the new plates was postponed from 1 January 2009 until 15 April 2009 for all new cars.[1] It was again postponed until 15 October 2009 for all other vehicles due to computer bugs in the SIV system.[2]

Colour and dimensions edit

 
Black plates are permitted on registered classic cars.
 
A temporary transit plate, with the expiry date on the right (October 2009).

Registration plates issued after 2009 must be displayed in accordance with the 9 February 2009 Order (French: Arrêté du 9 février 2009). They must be made of reflex-reflecting material, white at the front and rear, with black non-reflecting characters. Characters may be displayed on one or two lines. The industry standard size number plate is 520 mm × 110 mm (20.5 in × 4.3 in) or 520 mm × 120 mm (20.5 in × 4.7 in) if it includes a horizontal cartouche to display information about the car dealer. The left side of the plate must contain a blue band with the letter F for France under the stars of the European flag. A similar band must be present on the right side to display a department code and the symbol of the region where the département is located.[3]

The positioning of the characters on the plate is fully regulated but there is no official typeface. The law provides guidelines: characters must be sans serif, monospaced and without any opening on closed characters.[3]

In some cases, colours may vary. Vehicles registered as classic cars can carry black plates with silver or white characters and without the blue bands on the sides. Vehicles in transit on French territory must carry a red plate with white characters. Instead of the regional code, the right hand band displays the expiry date of the plate. Vehicles purchased in the free trade zones of Gex and Savoie also carry red plates, but with the regional code. Diplomatic vehicles carry green plates with orange or white characters. Vehicles owned by the French Forces and Civilian Elements stationed in Germany (FFECSA) carry a pale blue plate with white characters.[3]

Motorcycles and mopeds have to display a rear plate. Motorcycle plates have the same colour and general design as the usual vehicle plates.[3]

Numbering edit

 
A registration plate on a police car with the code for
Val-d'Oise (95) and the logo of Île-de-France region.

Under the SIV system, registration plates contain seven alphanumeric characters: two letters, a dash, three numbers, a dash and two letters, such as AA-229-AA and no such series as AI-111-AA, AO-111-AA and AU-111-AA, The system is nationwide and chronological. The first car registered in France under the SIV received a AA-001-AA registration plate, the second one AA-002-AA, the third AA-003-AA. The system will be exhausted when ZZ-999-ZZ is reached, which is scheduled to occur after 80 years of use.

The numbering system goes as follows:

  • AA-001-AA to AA-999-AA (numbers evolve first);
  • AA-001-AB to AA-999-AZ (then the last letter on the right);
  • AA-001-BA to AA-999-ZZ (then the first letter on the right);
  • AB-001-AA to AZ-999-ZZ (then the last letter on the left);
  • BA-001-AA to ZZ-999-ZZ (then the first letter on the left).
 
A temporary car plate, starting with WW, with the code for Corrèze (19) and the logo of Limousin region.

The SIV format provides  , or 277,977,744, different combinations. This figure excludes three letters that are not used: I, O and U, as they can be confused with 1, 0 and V, respectively. It also excludes the SS combination because it is reminiscent of the Nazi organisation and WW in the first group of letters as it indicates a temporary plate. Other combinations of letters that were avoided in the previous system because they sounded vulgar to French speakers, such as KK, PD, PQ, QQ, and WC, were included in the SIV.

The SIV system does not provide special plates for the government, army, police or any other organisation that had such plates under the previous system. Their vehicles display regular registration plates.[4] The only exception concern temporary plates, which start with WW, and demonstration cars at car dealers, whose plates start with W.

Regional codes edit

 
 
 
 
Blue bands of plates from (left to right) Morbihan (56, Brittany), Corse-du-Sud (2A, Corsica), French Guiana (973), and Réunion Island (974).

As it is nationwide, the SIV system does not use geographical codes as did the previous system. At first, it was not planned to display the departments' codes on the new plates. Because of that, the new format encountered strong opposition. Parliamentarians from both the majority and opposition lobbied at the National Assembly to keep what they saw as a part of national identity. In 2008, several months before the SIV system was implemented, the Minister of the Interior acknowledged the attachment French people had to their départements and decided to add a blue band on the right to display geographical codes.[5]

As it is not used for administrative purposes, car owners can choose the code of the département they want, no matter where they reside. The code must be displayed together with the symbol of the corresponding region. It is forbidden to display the symbol of a region the chosen département does not belong to. The département code may be changed at any time without any change in the registration documents.[6]

The département codes are also used for other purposes, such as statistics and postcodes. They contain two numbers, such as 05 for Hautes-Alpes or 67 for Bas-Rhin. Some exceptions exist however. The two départements of Corsica, Corse-du-Sud and Haute-Corse, use 2A and 2B because they were only created in 1976 when the Corse département (20) was split in two. The overseas départements have three-digit codes, starting with 97, which was originally the single code for them all. For instance, the code for Guadeloupe is 971 and the one for Martinique is 972.

Shortly before the introduction of the system, French regions were asked which symbol they wanted to represent them on car plates. The vast majority chose their logos, except Alsace which opted for its coat of arms and Brittany and Corsica which chose their flags.

Previous scheme edit

FNI edit

 
French registration plates (until 2009).

Before the introduction of the current format in 2009, French cars were registered under the FNI system (French: Fichier National des Immatriculations, "National Car Registration Record"). The FNI format was adopted in 1950 and amended several times due to its long operating life.

Vehicle owners had to re-register their vehicle if they relocated permanently to another département. There used to be an annual tax on cars, called the vignette, whose rate depended on the département. This tax now exists only for corporate-owned vehicles (and there exist exemptions for small numbers of vehicles); it is thus no longer important to know the department of a car on sight. Furthermore, computerised files allow large national databases to be maintained without the need for them to be split at local level.

A side effect of the vehicle tax system was that many corporations registered their vehicles in departments, such as Oise (60), with lower rates. Regulations aimed at preventing such schemes were passed in 1999.

Colour and dimensions edit

 
A pre-1993 black registration plate from Haute-Garonne (31).

As with the SIV format, plates issued under the FNI system were closely regulated by law. They had to meet a number of requirements about size, shape, colour, typeface and material. From the adoption of the format in 1950 until its withdrawal in 2009, several laws and orders came to modify regulations on plates. For instance, the blue band with the European stars and the letter F was introduced in 1998 and became compulsory on new plates in 2004.

At the beginning, plates were black with white or silver characters. Reflective plates were introduced in 1963 but only became compulsory on new cars in 1993. The new plates had to be white on the front and yellow on the rear until 2007, when white rear plates were allowed.[7]

Numbering edit

 
 
Less populated départements such as Eure (27) still had only two letters on their car plates in the 2000s, while others like Paris (75) were approaching the ZZZ combination.

The FNI format was chronological, as is the SIV system. It was also regional, which means that it evolved independently in each département. Registration plates contained from 4 to 8 alphanumeric characters split into three parts by spaces. The first space could be omitted on registration plates issued after 1996.

  • First part: one to four numbers;
  • Second part: one to three letters;
  • Third part: the code for departments.

Numbering went as follows: numbers evolved first, starting from 1, until they reached 999. Then letters evolved. The first car registered in Paris had a 1 A 75 car plate, and the second one 2 A 75. Once 999 A 75 had been reached, the following car was registered under 1 B 75. The format would have been exhausted in Paris once 999 ZZZ 75 had been reached.

The following chronology summarises the numbering system. Most of the départements chose to have four numbers on their plates once the letters reached QA, in order to have more combinations available. The "00" at the end stands for the geographical code.

  • 1 A 00 to 999 Z 00;
  • 1 AA 00 to 999 PZ 00;
  • 1 QA 00 to 9999 ZZ 00;
  • 1 AAA 00 to 999 ZZZ 00.

Numbers from 1 to 10 and numbers identical to the département code (such as 24 VQ 24) were not used after 1976. As with the SIV system, The letters I and O were never used because they could be confused with other characters, like 1 and 0. U was excluded as well in 1984, similar to the letter V, but some départements issued registration plates containing that letter until 1991. The letter O was exceptionally used on official cars at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville. Such cars had registration plates with figures between 1 JO 73 and 9999 JO 73. "JO" stands for Jeux olympiques while "73" is the code for Savoie where the games took place. Offensive letter combinations, for instance SS, PD, PQ, QQ, KK or WC, were avoided by some départements either because of historical reasons or because they sound vulgar to French speakers. In the same way, Haute-Garonne did not deliver car plates with "AZF" after the tragic explosion of the AZF factory in Toulouse in 2001. MMM, MMW, MWM and MWW were withdrawn in 1994 because they needed too much space on plates.[8]

Bearing in mind that only 23 letters were used by the format and that most of the départements used four numbers after reaching QA, the number of car plates that the FNI format provides can be estimated at: (999 × 22) + (999 × 14 × 23) + (9988 × 9 × 23) + (988 × 21 × 23 × 23) = 13,386,864. This figure does not take into account avoided letter and number combinations.

Regional codes edit

Under the FNI system, the code of the département was placed at the right of the registration plate. The codes are part of the Community Identification Number known in France as Code officiel géographique and are not only used for car registration but also in postcodes, statistics and for many other purposes.

Each code consists of two digits except for Corse-du-Sud and Haute-Corse (2A and 2B) and the overseas departments where the identifier consists of 3 digits (in the series 971 to 978), the first two digits were often stacked on plates to save space.

Between 1950 and 2009, France experienced some territorial changes which reflected on regional codes. Algeria was part of France until 1962 and French Algeria was also divided into départements. They had their own codes which were used on plates the same way as in the rest of France: Alger 91, Oran 92, Constantine 93 and the Southern Territories 94. Bône was created in 1955 and received 99. Several new départements were created in 1956–1958 as France was struggling with independence movements in the Algerian War. The new départements used codes such as 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D, etc. After the independence of the country, French car plates were no longer used there and Algerian codes became obsolete.

In 1968, two départements in the Paris region were split into smaller ones because of the growing population. 75, which had been the code for Seine, was attributed to Paris and 78 (Seine-et-Oise) to Yvelines. Newly created départements were Essonne (91), Hauts-de-Seine (92), Seine-Saint-Denis (93), Val-de-Marne (94) and Val-d'Oise (95). Most of them received numbers that had previously been allocated to the départements in French Algeria.

Saint Pierre and Miquelon, now a self-governing overseas collectivity with its own registration plates, was a proper département between 1976 and 1985. As such, it could have had FNI format car plates but it always kept its own local format.

Special plates edit

Permanent special plates edit

 
Registration plate of the Police nationale.
 
Registration plate of the Armée de terre.
 
Pre-2003 pair of RATP bus plates.
 
Old brigade of Sapeurs-Pompiers de Paris plate, SPVL mean "Sapeurs-Pompiers Véhicule Léger".
 
Diplomatic plate for the Czech Republic (168).
 
A plate for an agricultural vehicle.
 
Plate of German military staff in France
 
A registration plate for French Forces and Civilian Elements stationed in Germany.

Unlike the SIV system, the FNI comprised many special plates.

The state public services, such as the National Police (French: Police nationale), had special plates that comprised the département code; a letter to indicate in which area the vehicle was authorised to travel (D for the département, R for the region, N for the national territory, E for the European Union); a dash; four numbers from 1001 to 9999; and a letter.

The French Armed Forces (French: Forces armées françaises), including the Gendarmerie (French: Gendarmerie nationale) had a different registration plate with: a number to identify the army unit (2 for Gendarmerie, 6 for the Army (French: Armée de terre), 7 for the Air Force (French: Armée de l'air), 7 for the Navy (French: Marine nationale) and 8 for the General Services); two digits to identify the year of car registration (01 for 2001); a number to identify the type of vehicle (1 for cars and coaches, 3 for lorries, etc.) and four numbers from 0001 to 9999. Registration plates bore the symbol of the army unit the vehicle belonged to, for instance a black anchor on a French flag for the Navy.

The Paris Fire Brigade (French: Brigade des sapeurs-pompiers de Paris), although part of the Armed Forces, had different plates with letters to identify the type of vehicle, for instance PS for first aid, followed by numbers. The Marseille Naval Fire Battalion (French: Bataillon de marins-pompiers de Marseille) used regular plates with the Bouches-du-Rhône département code, while the one in Brest used similar plates as the Navy.

In Paris, RATP buses used special registration plates with only four numbers until March 2003, when standard registration plates were adopted.[9]

Diplomatic cars used green plates with orange or white lettering, depending on the series.[10] Plates comprised one to three numbers identifying the embassy or the international organisation; letters identifying the status (C for consulates, CD for embassies, CMD for ambassadors, K for technical staff); and a series of numbers.

Agricultural vehicles had white or yellow plates with black lettering. They contained one to five numbers identifying the farm and the département code. Several vehicles belonging to the same farm could share the same figures.

German military staff in France used black plates with white characters. Registration plates started with DF followed by a number identifying the headquarters area (0 to 3 for Paris, 4 for Var and 6 to 9 for Strasbourg) and three numbers between 000 and 999.

Vehicles owned by the French Forces and Civilian Elements stationed in Germany (FFECSA) carried a pale blue plate with silver characters. Plates contained a number from 0 to 9; a number identifying the headquarters area (0 for the Comptoir de l'Économat, 1 Baden-Baden, 2 Freiburg im Breisgau, 3 Landau-Pfalz, etc.); a dash; and four numbers between 1001 and 9999.

The President of France could use registration plates ending with PR 75, for instance 9999 PR 75.

Temporary plates edit

 
A red provisional plate.

As with the SIV system, the FNI allowed temporary plates for car dealers and mechanics. They contained one to four numbers, the two letters WW and the département code. Some départements used an extra letter after WW. Monaco could use these plates but with a blue background, white lettering and MC instead of the département code.

Duty-free cars purchased abroad or in the free trade zones of Gex and Savoie used red plates with white or silver characters. They contained one to three numbers; three letters between TAA and TZZ; a département code; and an expiry date. Cars bought outside the European Union and registered in Gex and Savoie had plates with five numbers; TT; and a letter identifying the free zone (Q for Savoie and W for Gex). They did not have an expiry date as they were valid as long as the owner resided in a free zone.

History edit

First attempts edit

The very first attempt to register vehicles in France date from the 18th century. In 1749, a Marechaussee officer from Paris suggested a system of vehicle identification to Louis XV. His idea only concerned Paris, where crimes were numerous in the streets.[11] No decision was taken until 1783, when Louis XVI required coachmen to put a metal plate with their name and address on their carriage.[12]

In the 19th century, several French cities implemented local registration systems for carriages. For instance in Lyon, they had to bear a plate with a number to cross the Parc de la Tête d'Or. In 1893, it became mandatory for all cars and carriages in France to have a plate with the name and address of the owner.[13] Registration documents, called carte grise ("grey card"), were created in 1899.[14]

1901 edit

 
 
Left: map of the districts and geographical codes used between 1901 and 1919. Right: map of the districts and geographical codes used after 1919.

Following the rapid development of the motor vehicle at the end of the 19th century, French authorities adopted a nationwide registration system in 1901. The 11 September 1901 Circular created a regional system and registration plates contained three numbers followed by a letter identifying a region. In 1899, the Mining Administration had been chosen to approve car engines, and it logically had to attribute the new plates. The administration decided to use its regional mapping and attributed a letter to each of its districts. Each district comprised up to ten départements. They were only used by the Mining Administration and they have nothing to do with present-day French regions.[14]

The system did not offer a wide range of combinations, even if regions could begin a second series of three numbers once they had reached 999 with the first one. The identifying letter had to be doubled to show that a car plate belonged to the second series.[13]

To anticipate any shortage, three regions obtained a second letter in 1904: O for Nancy, K for Poitiers and V for Marseille. Regions were allowed to begin new series of three numbers in 1905. The new ones were distinguished from the original ones by a number between 2 and 9 added after the letter. 1 was probably avoided because it could have been confused with another character such as the I.[13] As Paris was still running up of combinations, four-digit series were allowed locally in 1910.[13]

Temporary registration plates for vehicles for sale were created in 1909. They had the letter W instead of the regional code.[13]

Schematic representations:
  456 – M;
Plate from the Marseille region (before 1905)
  345 – MM;
Plate from the Marseille region (before 1905, second series)
  634 – T3;
Plate from the Toulouse region (after 1905)
Geographical codes in use in 1901[13]
Code Region Code Region Code Region
A Alais (nowadays Alès) B Bordeaux C Chalon-sur-Saône
D Douai E/G/I/U/X Paris F Clermont-Ferrand
H Chambéry L Le Mans M Marseille
N Nancy P Poitiers R Arras
S Saint-Étienne T Toulouse Y/Z Rouen

1919 edit

In 1919, regions were reorganised. Some disappeared while other ones were created. After its reversion to France following World War I, Alsace-Lorraine became the Strasbourg region in 1922. Until then, cars in that region had continued to use German plates with the regional code VI.[13]

Geographical codes in use after 1919–1922[13]
Code Region Code Region Code Region
A Alais B/P/K Bordeaux C/H Lyon
D Douai E/G/I/U/X Paris F Clermont-Ferrand
J Strasbourg (1922) L Nantes M/V Marseille (V withdrawn after 1921)
N/O Nancy (O withdrawn after 1920) R Arras S Saint-Étienne
T Toulouse Y/Z Rouen

1928 edit

 
A 1932 Gard department license plate, this model of plate could be lighted from the inside at night..
 
A pair of 1949 Ille-et-Vilaine department license plates.

In 1928, a new system was adopted to replace the first one. It retained its regional characteristic but greatly widened geographic codes. Under the 1928 system, each département obtained its own codes consisting of two letters. The least populated, for instance Cantal and Haute-Loire, received only one code (here CZ and JZ respectively), while most of the départements received several ones. Seine, the most populous one, received several dozen new codes.[15]

The new codes did not use the letters I and O (because they could be confused with the numbers 1 and 0) or W (which was reserved for use on provisional plates). Double letters and letter combinations that designated countries, such as GB for Great Britain, were also avoided.[15] Blocks of codes were allocated to the départements following (for the most part) the alphabetical order of their names. The first département, Ain, thus received AB, AC, AD, and AE, while the last, Yonne, received ZU, ZV and ZY.[16]

As the system lasted only 22 years, a lot of the départements never used all of their codes. Isère, for instance, was allocated HK, HL, HM, HN, HP, and HQ but used only HK.[16]

Registration plates issued after 1928 were similar to the older ones, with one to four numbers followed by the two-letter code. This code could be in turn followed by a number from 1 to 9 for the same purpose as in the 1901 system. The first car registered in Paris obtained 1 RB, and when 999 RB had been reached the following car obtained 1 RB1.[15]

Temporary plates for vehicles in transit on the French territory were created in 1933. They used TT instead of the geographical code. Diplomatic plates were first issued in 1936. They were in dark yellow with white lettering.[15]

Initially planned to last 75 years, the system was withdrawn in 1950.[15] The following format kept the geographical structure but identified départements with numbers rather than letters, allowing a greater range of combinations.

Schematic representations:
  7857 – BX;
Plate from Aveyron
  4955 – HK9;
Plate from Isère
  3178 – ZA1;
Plate from Vaucluse
Geographical codes in use between 1928 and 1950[16]
Code Region Code Region Code Region Code Region Code Region
ABAE Ain AFAM Aisne ANAQ Allier AR Basses-Alpes AS Hautes-Alpes
ATAU Ardèche AVAY Ardennes AZ Ariège BABM Alpes-Maritimes BNBS Aube
BTBV Aude BXBY Aveyron BZ Territoire-de-Belfort CACR Bouches-du-Rhône CTCY Calvados
CZ Cantal DBDF Charente DGDM Charente-Inférieure DNDQ Cher DRDS Corrèze
DT Corse DUDZ Côte-d'Or EAEC Côtes-du-Nord EDEF Creuse EGEI Dordogne
EKER Doubs ESEZ Eure FAFD Drôme FEFH Eure-et-Loir FJFM Finistère
FNFR Gard FSFX Haute-Garonne FYFZ Gers GAGN Gironde GPGU Hérault
GVGZ Ille-et-Vilaine HAHC Indre HDHJ Indre-et-Loire HKHQ Isère HRHT Jura
HUHV Landes HXHZ Loir-et-Cher JAJF Loire JG Haute-Loire JHJN Loire-Inférieure
JPJS Loiret JTJU Lot JVJY Lot-et-Garonne JZ Lozère KAKE Maine-et-Loire
KFKH Manche KJKP Marne KQKR Haute-Marne KSKT Mayenne KUKZ Meurthe-et-Moselle
LALD Meuse LELG Morbihan LHLN Moselle LPLQ Nièvre LSLZ Oise
MBMV Nord MXMZ Orne NANG Pas-de-Calais NHNK Puy-de-Dôme NMNR Basses-Pyrénées
NS Hautes-Pyrénées NTNU Pyrénées-Orientales NVNZ Bas-Rhin PBPD Haut-Rhin PFPZ Rhône
QAQC Haute-Saône QDQH Saône-et-Loire QJQM Sarthe QNQP Savoie QRQT Haute-Savoie
QUQZ Seine-et-Marne RBVZ Seine XAXK Seine-Inférieure XLXN Deux-Sèvres XPXU Somme
XVXZ Tarn YAYR Seine-et-Oise YSYT Tarn-et-Garonne YUYZ Var ZAZD Vaucluse
ZEZG Vendée ZHZK Vienne ZLZP Haute-Vienne ZQZT Vosges ZUZY Yonne

Overseas territories edit

 
From left to right, top to bottom: car plates from New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Kerguelen Islands and Wallis and Futuna.

Overseas territories of France do not have the same system as continental France, unlike the overseas départements. Overseas territories have diverse statuses and enjoy a large autonomy. They are French Polynesia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna, Saint Martin, Saint Barthélemy, New Caledonia, the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF) and Clipperton Island.

 
Two plates from Saint Martin. The top one dates from when the island was part of Guadeloupe (971).
 
Plate sample from French Polynesia (986)
  • Saint Pierre and Miquelon: white front plate and white or yellow rear plate with black lettering. Contains SPM followed by one to three digits and a letter. SPM 999 A
  • Saint Barthélemy: white front plate and white or yellow rear plate with black lettering. Contains one to three digits and a letter. 999 A
  • Saint Martin: white front and rear plates. Contains four digits, a dash and three letters. 9999 - AAA
  • New Caledonia: white front plate and yellow black plate or black plates with silver lettering. Contains one to six digits followed by NC. 999999 NC
  • French Polynesia: white front plate and yellow black plate or black plates with silver lettering. One to six digits followed by P. 999999 P
  • French Southern and Antarctic Lands: two digits indicating the year the car was built followed by the four last digits of the serial number of the car. Registration plates are only in use on Kerguelen Islands and are imported from Réunion. They are regular French plates, white with the European strip and the number and symbol of Réunion 99 9999
  • Wallis and Futuna: white front plate and yellow black plate or black plates with silver lettering. Contains one to four digits followed by WF. 9999 WF

Diplomatic codes (pre-2009)[17] edit

Code Country Code Country Code Country
2   South Africa 4   Algeria 5   Germany
6   United States 7   Egypt 9   Argentina
11   Austria 12   Belgium 16   Brazil
20   Cameroon 26   China 28   Colombia
36   Denmark 40   Spain 43   Gabon
45   United Kingdom 46   Greece 53   India
54   Indonesia 59   Israel 60   Italy
62   Japan 63   Jordan 67   Lebanon
76   Morocco 77   Mauritania 78   Mexico
91   Peru 93   Poland 94   Portugal
96   Romania 100   Senegal 105    Switzerland
113   Tunisia 114   Turkey 115   Russia
120   Yugoslavia 180   Eritrea 415   European Union
416   Euratom 433   Organisation internationale de la Francophonie 434 International Bureau of Weights and Measures
435 European Molecular Biology Laboratory 431 CERN

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Qu'est-ce que le SIV (système d'immatriculation des véhicules) ?". www.service-public.fr.
  2. ^ "interieur".
  3. ^ a b c d Legifrance (9 February 2009). "Arrêté du 9 février 2009 fixant les caractéristiques et le mode de pose des plaques d'immatriculation des véhicules" (PDF).
  4. ^ "National Gendarmerie". National Gendarmerie.
  5. ^ Bouin, Jérôme (28 October 2008). "Immatriculations : le numéro de département sauvé" [Registrations: Department number saved]. Le Figaro (in French). Paris: Dassault Group. ISSN 0182-5852.
  6. ^ "Journal officiel de la République française, arrêté du 9 février 2009, art. 9".
  7. ^ "Arrêté du 27 avril 2007 modifiant l'arrêté du 1er juillet 1996 relatif aux plaques d'immatriculation des véhicules".
  8. ^ Circulaire n° 84-84 du 24 décembre 1984 portant application de l’arrêté en date du 5 novembre 1984 relatif à l’immatriculation des véhicules.
  9. ^ Vernhes, Bruno. [Registration of Parisian RATP buses until 2003]. Francoplaque – La Passion des Plaques d’Immatriculation (in French). Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  10. ^ "Privilèges – Les véhicules" [Benefits – Vehicles] (in French). Ministère des affaires étrangères. July 2012.
  11. ^ Catalogue de l'exposition Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, New York, Paris, 2007–2008, texte de Kim de Beaumont, Gabriel de Saint-Aubin revisté : le contexte biographique de ses œuvres parisiennes, note 51 page 46.
  12. ^ Recueil général des anciennes lois françaises : depuis l'an 420 ..., Volume 27, par Athanase-Jean-Léger Jourdan, Decrusy, François-André Isambert.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h Chevry, Jean-Emmanuel; Zuraw, Jean-François; Vernhes, Bruno. [Three articles on the French registration system 1901–1928]. Francoplaque – La Passion des Plaques d’Immatriculation (in French). Archived from the original on 12 October 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  14. ^ a b [A short history of registration plates in France] (PDF). Francoplaque – La Passion des Plaques d’Immatriculation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  15. ^ a b c d e [The French Registration System from 1928 to 1950]. Francoplaque – La Passion des Plaques d’Immatriculation (in French). Archived from the original on 27 March 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  16. ^ a b c [Departmental indexes before and after 1950]. Histo Bus Grenoblois (in French). Standard 216. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  17. ^ Kraus, Fränk. . Francoplaque – La Passion des Plaques d’Immatriculation. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2016.

External links edit

  • Site on French registration plates
    • Information about French Licence Plates: codes, colors, etc. 2016-07-23 at the Wayback Machine (in English)
    • Informations sur les Plaques d'immatriculations Françaises 2011-01-12 at the Wayback Machine (in French)
  • Feature about the shake-up in the car registration system in 2009 – Radio France International
  • A French game of numbers, From Our Own Correspondent, BBC News, 22 December 2005.
  • Information and data about French plates (in Spanish)
  • Photos of license plates of France

vehicle, registration, plates, france, vehicle, registration, plates, mandatory, number, plates, used, display, registration, mark, vehicle, registered, france, they, have, existed, country, since, 1901, compulsory, most, motor, vehicles, used, public, roads, . 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 French front plate with local reference to a Department number from 2009 In this example 00 is used as a placeholder There is a regional logo at the top right and the number of the department below it CountryFranceCountry codeFCurrent seriesSize520 mm 110 mm20 5 in 4 3 inSerial formatAA 123 AAColour front Black on whiteColour rear Black on whiteIntroduced2009HistoryFirst issued1901vteIn French vehicle registration plates are called plaques d immatriculation or plaques mineralogiques The latter makes a reference to the national mining administration which was responsible for issuing the plates in the early 20th century A pre 2009 car plate with the two digit code for Paris 75 Since 1901 various systems have been successively introduced the most recent dating from 2009 The registration plates issued since 2009 use a XX NNN ZZ format composed of a series of 7 alphanumeric characters 2 letters 3 numbers and then 2 letters e g AB 126 FD This format is monitored nationwide and car plates are permanent and attached to a single vehicle from its first registration to its disposal As such car plates do not need to be changed if the car is sold or if the owner moves to another region within France Cars bought before 2009 can still bear the old format dating from 1950 if the owner has not moved to a different departement since then Unlike the new one the 1950 format is geographical Until 2009 car plates had to be changed whenever the owner moved to another departement or bought a car from a person living in a different departement The 1950 format uses a N X NN format composed of a series of one to four numbers one to three letters and a two digit code corresponding to the departement where the car is registered The international code for French plates is F France Contents 1 Current scheme 1 1 SIV 1 2 Colour and dimensions 1 3 Numbering 1 4 Regional codes 2 Previous scheme 2 1 FNI 2 2 Colour and dimensions 2 3 Numbering 2 4 Regional codes 2 5 Special plates 2 5 1 Permanent special plates 2 5 2 Temporary plates 3 History 3 1 First attempts 3 2 1901 3 3 1919 3 4 1928 4 Overseas territories 5 Diplomatic codes pre 2009 17 6 See also 7 References 8 External linksCurrent scheme editSIV edit nbsp A two line registration plate with the code for Oise 60 and the logo of Picardy region Called systeme d immatriculation des vehicules vehicle registration system shortened to SIV the current scheme was adopted in France in 2009 15 April for new vehicles 15 October for second hand ones It was inspired by the AA 111 AA format that was successfully adopted in Italy in 1994 Under the SIV scheme car plates are permanent and do not need to be changed if the car owner sells it or moves to a different region The SIV system was adopted to ease vehicle registration and law enforcement on roads because it is fully monitored by computer and administered nationwide The SIV database can easily be combined with other computer files The SIV was also implemented to replace the 1950 format which was running out of character combinations Had it been maintained it would have been completely exhausted by 2025 for Paris the most populous French departement The SIV scheme started in 2004 for motorcycles with an engine capacity under 50 cc However these vehicles carry plates with fewer characters such as AA 11 A Due to the financial crisis of 2007 2008 the introduction of the new plates was postponed from 1 January 2009 until 15 April 2009 for all new cars 1 It was again postponed until 15 October 2009 for all other vehicles due to computer bugs in the SIV system 2 Colour and dimensions edit nbsp Black plates are permitted on registered classic cars nbsp A temporary transit plate with the expiry date on the right October 2009 Registration plates issued after 2009 must be displayed in accordance with the 9 February 2009 Order French Arrete du 9 fevrier 2009 They must be made of reflex reflecting material white at the front and rear with black non reflecting characters Characters may be displayed on one or two lines The industry standard size number plate is 520 mm 110 mm 20 5 in 4 3 in or 520 mm 120 mm 20 5 in 4 7 in if it includes a horizontal cartouche to display information about the car dealer The left side of the plate must contain a blue band with the letter F for France under the stars of the European flag A similar band must be present on the right side to display a department code and the symbol of the region where the departement is located 3 The positioning of the characters on the plate is fully regulated but there is no official typeface The law provides guidelines characters must be sans serif monospaced and without any opening on closed characters 3 In some cases colours may vary Vehicles registered as classic cars can carry black plates with silver or white characters and without the blue bands on the sides Vehicles in transit on French territory must carry a red plate with white characters Instead of the regional code the right hand band displays the expiry date of the plate Vehicles purchased in the free trade zones of Gex and Savoie also carry red plates but with the regional code Diplomatic vehicles carry green plates with orange or white characters Vehicles owned by the French Forces and Civilian Elements stationed in Germany FFECSA carry a pale blue plate with white characters 3 Motorcycles and mopeds have to display a rear plate Motorcycle plates have the same colour and general design as the usual vehicle plates 3 Numbering edit nbsp A registration plate on a police car with the code forVal d Oise 95 and the logo of Ile de France region Under the SIV system registration plates contain seven alphanumeric characters two letters a dash three numbers a dash and two letters such as AA 229 AA and no such series as AI 111 AA AO 111 AA and AU 111 AA The system is nationwide and chronological The first car registered in France under the SIV received a AA 001 AA registration plate the second one AA 002 AA the third AA 003 AA The system will be exhausted when ZZ 999 ZZ is reached which is scheduled to occur after 80 years of use The numbering system goes as follows AA 001 AA to AA 999 AA numbers evolve first AA 001 AB to AA 999 AZ then the last letter on the right AA 001 BA to AA 999 ZZ then the first letter on the right AB 001 AA to AZ 999 ZZ then the last letter on the left BA 001 AA to ZZ 999 ZZ then the first letter on the left nbsp A temporary car plate starting with WW with the code for Correze 19 and the logo of Limousin region The SIV format provides 23 23 2 999 23 23 1 displaystyle 23 times 23 2 times 999 times 23 times 23 1 nbsp or 277 977 744 different combinations This figure excludes three letters that are not used I O and U as they can be confused with 1 0 and V respectively It also excludes the SS combination because it is reminiscent of the Nazi organisation and WW in the first group of letters as it indicates a temporary plate Other combinations of letters that were avoided in the previous system because they sounded vulgar to French speakers such as KK PD PQ QQ and WC were included in the SIV The SIV system does not provide special plates for the government army police or any other organisation that had such plates under the previous system Their vehicles display regular registration plates 4 The only exception concern temporary plates which start with WW and demonstration cars at car dealers whose plates start with W Regional codes edit nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp Blue bands of plates from left to right Morbihan 56 Brittany Corse du Sud 2A Corsica French Guiana 973 and Reunion Island 974 For a list of the departements and their codes see Departments of France Current departments As it is nationwide the SIV system does not use geographical codes as did the previous system At first it was not planned to display the departments codes on the new plates Because of that the new format encountered strong opposition Parliamentarians from both the majority and opposition lobbied at the National Assembly to keep what they saw as a part of national identity In 2008 several months before the SIV system was implemented the Minister of the Interior acknowledged the attachment French people had to their departements and decided to add a blue band on the right to display geographical codes 5 As it is not used for administrative purposes car owners can choose the code of the departement they want no matter where they reside The code must be displayed together with the symbol of the corresponding region It is forbidden to display the symbol of a region the chosen departement does not belong to The departement code may be changed at any time without any change in the registration documents 6 The departement codes are also used for other purposes such as statistics and postcodes They contain two numbers such as 05 for Hautes Alpes or 67 for Bas Rhin Some exceptions exist however The two departements of Corsica Corse du Sud and Haute Corse use 2A and 2B because they were only created in 1976 when the Corse departement 20 was split in two The overseas departements have three digit codes starting with 97 which was originally the single code for them all For instance the code for Guadeloupe is 971 and the one for Martinique is 972 Shortly before the introduction of the system French regions were asked which symbol they wanted to represent them on car plates The vast majority chose their logos except Alsace which opted for its coat of arms and Brittany and Corsica which chose their flags Previous scheme editFNI edit nbsp French registration plates until 2009 Before the introduction of the current format in 2009 French cars were registered under the FNI system French Fichier National des Immatriculations National Car Registration Record The FNI format was adopted in 1950 and amended several times due to its long operating life Vehicle owners had to re register their vehicle if they relocated permanently to another departement There used to be an annual tax on cars called the vignette whose rate depended on the departement This tax now exists only for corporate owned vehicles and there exist exemptions for small numbers of vehicles it is thus no longer important to know the department of a car on sight Furthermore computerised files allow large national databases to be maintained without the need for them to be split at local level A side effect of the vehicle tax system was that many corporations registered their vehicles in departments such as Oise 60 with lower rates Regulations aimed at preventing such schemes were passed in 1999 Colour and dimensions edit nbsp A pre 1993 black registration plate from Haute Garonne 31 As with the SIV format plates issued under the FNI system were closely regulated by law They had to meet a number of requirements about size shape colour typeface and material From the adoption of the format in 1950 until its withdrawal in 2009 several laws and orders came to modify regulations on plates For instance the blue band with the European stars and the letter F was introduced in 1998 and became compulsory on new plates in 2004 At the beginning plates were black with white or silver characters Reflective plates were introduced in 1963 but only became compulsory on new cars in 1993 The new plates had to be white on the front and yellow on the rear until 2007 when white rear plates were allowed 7 Numbering edit nbsp nbsp Less populated departements such as Eure 27 still had only two letters on their car plates in the 2000s while others like Paris 75 were approaching the ZZZ combination The FNI format was chronological as is the SIV system It was also regional which means that it evolved independently in each departement Registration plates contained from 4 to 8 alphanumeric characters split into three parts by spaces The first space could be omitted on registration plates issued after 1996 First part one to four numbers Second part one to three letters Third part the code for departments Numbering went as follows numbers evolved first starting from 1 until they reached 999 Then letters evolved The first car registered in Paris had a 1 A 75 car plate and the second one 2 A 75 Once 999 A 75 had been reached the following car was registered under 1 B 75 The format would have been exhausted in Paris once 999 ZZZ 75 had been reached The following chronology summarises the numbering system Most of the departements chose to have four numbers on their plates once the letters reached QA in order to have more combinations available The 00 at the end stands for the geographical code 1 A 00 to 999 Z 00 1 AA 00 to 999 PZ 00 1 QA 00 to 9999 ZZ 00 1 AAA 00 to 999 ZZZ 00 Numbers from 1 to 10 and numbers identical to the departement code such as 24 VQ 24 were not used after 1976 As with the SIV system The letters I and O were never used because they could be confused with other characters like 1 and 0 U was excluded as well in 1984 similar to the letter V but some departements issued registration plates containing that letter until 1991 The letter O was exceptionally used on official cars at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville Such cars had registration plates with figures between 1 JO 73 and 9999 JO 73 JO stands for Jeux olympiques while 73 is the code for Savoie where the games took place Offensive letter combinations for instance SS PD PQ QQ KK or WC were avoided by some departements either because of historical reasons or because they sound vulgar to French speakers In the same way Haute Garonne did not deliver car plates with AZF after the tragic explosion of the AZF factory in Toulouse in 2001 MMM MMW MWM and MWW were withdrawn in 1994 because they needed too much space on plates 8 Bearing in mind that only 23 letters were used by the format and that most of the departements used four numbers after reaching QA the number of car plates that the FNI format provides can be estimated at 999 22 999 14 23 9988 9 23 988 21 23 23 13 386 864 This figure does not take into account avoided letter and number combinations Regional codes edit For a list of the departements and their codes see Departments of France Current departments Under the FNI system the code of the departement was placed at the right of the registration plate The codes are part of the Community Identification Number known in France as Code officiel geographique and are not only used for car registration but also in postcodes statistics and for many other purposes Each code consists of two digits except for Corse du Sud and Haute Corse 2A and 2B and the overseas departments where the identifier consists of 3 digits in the series 971 to 978 the first two digits were often stacked on plates to save space Between 1950 and 2009 France experienced some territorial changes which reflected on regional codes Algeria was part of France until 1962 and French Algeria was also divided into departements They had their own codes which were used on plates the same way as in the rest of France Alger 91 Oran 92 Constantine 93 and the Southern Territories 94 Bone was created in 1955 and received 99 Several new departements were created in 1956 1958 as France was struggling with independence movements in the Algerian War The new departements used codes such as 9A 9B 9C 9D etc After the independence of the country French car plates were no longer used there and Algerian codes became obsolete In 1968 two departements in the Paris region were split into smaller ones because of the growing population 75 which had been the code for Seine was attributed to Paris and 78 Seine et Oise to Yvelines Newly created departements were Essonne 91 Hauts de Seine 92 Seine Saint Denis 93 Val de Marne 94 and Val d Oise 95 Most of them received numbers that had previously been allocated to the departements in French Algeria Saint Pierre and Miquelon now a self governing overseas collectivity with its own registration plates was a proper departement between 1976 and 1985 As such it could have had FNI format car plates but it always kept its own local format Special plates edit Permanent special plates edit nbsp Registration plate of the Police nationale nbsp Registration plate of the Armee de terre nbsp Pre 2003 pair of RATP bus plates nbsp Old brigade of Sapeurs Pompiers de Paris plate SPVL mean Sapeurs Pompiers Vehicule Leger nbsp Diplomatic plate for the Czech Republic 168 nbsp A plate for an agricultural vehicle nbsp Plate of German military staff in France nbsp A registration plate for French Forces and Civilian Elements stationed in Germany Unlike the SIV system the FNI comprised many special plates The state public services such as the National Police French Police nationale had special plates that comprised the departement code a letter to indicate in which area the vehicle was authorised to travel D for the departement R for the region N for the national territory E for the European Union a dash four numbers from 1001 to 9999 and a letter The French Armed Forces French Forces armees francaises including the Gendarmerie French Gendarmerie nationale had a different registration plate with a number to identify the army unit 2 for Gendarmerie 6 for the Army French Armee de terre 7 for the Air Force French Armee de l air 7 for the Navy French Marine nationale and 8 for the General Services two digits to identify the year of car registration 01 for 2001 a number to identify the type of vehicle 1 for cars and coaches 3 for lorries etc and four numbers from 0001 to 9999 Registration plates bore the symbol of the army unit the vehicle belonged to for instance a black anchor on a French flag for the Navy The Paris Fire Brigade French Brigade des sapeurs pompiers de Paris although part of the Armed Forces had different plates with letters to identify the type of vehicle for instance PS for first aid followed by numbers The Marseille Naval Fire Battalion French Bataillon de marins pompiers de Marseille used regular plates with the Bouches du Rhone departement code while the one in Brest used similar plates as the Navy In Paris RATP buses used special registration plates with only four numbers until March 2003 when standard registration plates were adopted 9 Diplomatic cars used green plates with orange or white lettering depending on the series 10 Plates comprised one to three numbers identifying the embassy or the international organisation letters identifying the status C for consulates CD for embassies CMD for ambassadors K for technical staff and a series of numbers Agricultural vehicles had white or yellow plates with black lettering They contained one to five numbers identifying the farm and the departement code Several vehicles belonging to the same farm could share the same figures German military staff in France used black plates with white characters Registration plates started with DF followed by a number identifying the headquarters area 0 to 3 for Paris 4 for Var and 6 to 9 for Strasbourg and three numbers between 000 and 999 Vehicles owned by the French Forces and Civilian Elements stationed in Germany FFECSA carried a pale blue plate with silver characters Plates contained a number from 0 to 9 a number identifying the headquarters area 0 for the Comptoir de l Economat 1 Baden Baden 2 Freiburg im Breisgau 3 Landau Pfalz etc a dash and four numbers between 1001 and 9999 The President of France could use registration plates ending with PR 75 for instance 9999 PR 75 Temporary plates edit nbsp A red provisional plate As with the SIV system the FNI allowed temporary plates for car dealers and mechanics They contained one to four numbers the two letters WW and the departement code Some departements used an extra letter after WW Monaco could use these plates but with a blue background white lettering and MC instead of the departement code Duty free cars purchased abroad or in the free trade zones of Gex and Savoie used red plates with white or silver characters They contained one to three numbers three letters between TAA and TZZ a departement code and an expiry date Cars bought outside the European Union and registered in Gex and Savoie had plates with five numbers TT and a letter identifying the free zone Q for Savoie and W for Gex They did not have an expiry date as they were valid as long as the owner resided in a free zone History editFirst attempts edit The very first attempt to register vehicles in France date from the 18th century In 1749 a Marechaussee officer from Paris suggested a system of vehicle identification to Louis XV His idea only concerned Paris where crimes were numerous in the streets 11 No decision was taken until 1783 when Louis XVI required coachmen to put a metal plate with their name and address on their carriage 12 In the 19th century several French cities implemented local registration systems for carriages For instance in Lyon they had to bear a plate with a number to cross the Parc de la Tete d Or In 1893 it became mandatory for all cars and carriages in France to have a plate with the name and address of the owner 13 Registration documents called carte grise grey card were created in 1899 14 1901 edit nbsp nbsp Left map of the districts and geographical codes used between 1901 and 1919 Right map of the districts and geographical codes used after 1919 Following the rapid development of the motor vehicle at the end of the 19th century French authorities adopted a nationwide registration system in 1901 The 11 September 1901 Circular created a regional system and registration plates contained three numbers followed by a letter identifying a region In 1899 the Mining Administration had been chosen to approve car engines and it logically had to attribute the new plates The administration decided to use its regional mapping and attributed a letter to each of its districts Each district comprised up to ten departements They were only used by the Mining Administration and they have nothing to do with present day French regions 14 The system did not offer a wide range of combinations even if regions could begin a second series of three numbers once they had reached 999 with the first one The identifying letter had to be doubled to show that a car plate belonged to the second series 13 To anticipate any shortage three regions obtained a second letter in 1904 O for Nancy K for Poitiers and V for Marseille Regions were allowed to begin new series of three numbers in 1905 The new ones were distinguished from the original ones by a number between 2 and 9 added after the letter 1 was probably avoided because it could have been confused with another character such as the I 13 As Paris was still running up of combinations four digit series were allowed locally in 1910 13 Temporary registration plates for vehicles for sale were created in 1909 They had the letter W instead of the regional code 13 Schematic representations 456 M Plate from the Marseille region before 1905 345 MM Plate from the Marseille region before 1905 second series 634 T3 Plate from the Toulouse region after 1905 Geographical codes in use in 1901 13 Code Region Code Region Code RegionA Alais nowadays Ales B Bordeaux C Chalon sur SaoneD Douai E G I U X Paris F Clermont FerrandH Chambery L Le Mans M MarseilleN Nancy P Poitiers R ArrasS Saint Etienne T Toulouse Y Z Rouen1919 edit In 1919 regions were reorganised Some disappeared while other ones were created After its reversion to France following World War I Alsace Lorraine became the Strasbourg region in 1922 Until then cars in that region had continued to use German plates with the regional code VI 13 Geographical codes in use after 1919 1922 13 Code Region Code Region Code RegionA Alais B P K Bordeaux C H LyonD Douai E G I U X Paris F Clermont FerrandJ Strasbourg 1922 L Nantes M V Marseille V withdrawn after 1921 N O Nancy O withdrawn after 1920 R Arras S Saint EtienneT Toulouse Y Z Rouen1928 edit nbsp A 1932 Gard department license plate this model of plate could be lighted from the inside at night nbsp A pair of 1949 Ille et Vilaine department license plates In 1928 a new system was adopted to replace the first one It retained its regional characteristic but greatly widened geographic codes Under the 1928 system each departement obtained its own codes consisting of two letters The least populated for instance Cantal and Haute Loire received only one code here CZ and JZ respectively while most of the departements received several ones Seine the most populous one received several dozen new codes 15 The new codes did not use the letters I and O because they could be confused with the numbers 1 and 0 or W which was reserved for use on provisional plates Double letters and letter combinations that designated countries such as GB for Great Britain were also avoided 15 Blocks of codes were allocated to the departements following for the most part the alphabetical order of their names The first departement Ain thus received AB AC AD and AE while the last Yonne received ZU ZV and ZY 16 As the system lasted only 22 years a lot of the departements never used all of their codes Isere for instance was allocated HK HL HM HN HP and HQ but used only HK 16 Registration plates issued after 1928 were similar to the older ones with one to four numbers followed by the two letter code This code could be in turn followed by a number from 1 to 9 for the same purpose as in the 1901 system The first car registered in Paris obtained 1 RB and when 999 RB had been reached the following car obtained 1 RB1 15 Temporary plates for vehicles in transit on the French territory were created in 1933 They used TT instead of the geographical code Diplomatic plates were first issued in 1936 They were in dark yellow with white lettering 15 Initially planned to last 75 years the system was withdrawn in 1950 15 The following format kept the geographical structure but identified departements with numbers rather than letters allowing a greater range of combinations Schematic representations 7857 BX Plate from Aveyron 4955 HK9 Plate from Isere 3178 ZA1 Plate from VaucluseGeographical codes in use between 1928 and 1950 16 Code Region Code Region Code Region Code Region Code RegionAB AE Ain AF AM Aisne AN AQ Allier AR Basses Alpes AS Hautes AlpesAT AU Ardeche AV AY Ardennes AZ Ariege BA BM Alpes Maritimes BN BS AubeBT BV Aude BX BY Aveyron BZ Territoire de Belfort CA CR Bouches du Rhone CT CY CalvadosCZ Cantal DB DF Charente DG DM Charente Inferieure DN DQ Cher DR DS CorrezeDT Corse DU DZ Cote d Or EA EC Cotes du Nord ED EF Creuse EG EI DordogneEK ER Doubs ES EZ Eure FA FD Drome FE FH Eure et Loir FJ FM FinistereFN FR Gard FS FX Haute Garonne FY FZ Gers GA GN Gironde GP GU HeraultGV GZ Ille et Vilaine HA HC Indre HD HJ Indre et Loire HK HQ Isere HR HT JuraHU HV Landes HX HZ Loir et Cher JA JF Loire JG Haute Loire JH JN Loire InferieureJP JS Loiret JT JU Lot JV JY Lot et Garonne JZ Lozere KA KE Maine et LoireKF KH Manche KJ KP Marne KQ KR Haute Marne KS KT Mayenne KU KZ Meurthe et MoselleLA LD Meuse LE LG Morbihan LH LN Moselle LP LQ Nievre LS LZ OiseMB MV Nord MX MZ Orne NA NG Pas de Calais NH NK Puy de Dome NM NR Basses PyreneesNS Hautes Pyrenees NT NU Pyrenees Orientales NV NZ Bas Rhin PB PD Haut Rhin PF PZ RhoneQA QC Haute Saone QD QH Saone et Loire QJ QM Sarthe QN QP Savoie QR QT Haute SavoieQU QZ Seine et Marne RB VZ Seine XA XK Seine Inferieure XL XN Deux Sevres XP XU SommeXV XZ Tarn YA YR Seine et Oise YS YT Tarn et Garonne YU YZ Var ZA ZD VaucluseZE ZG Vendee ZH ZK Vienne ZL ZP Haute Vienne ZQ ZT Vosges ZU ZY YonneOverseas territories edit nbsp From left to right top to bottom car plates from New Caledonia French Polynesia Kerguelen Islands and Wallis and Futuna Overseas territories of France do not have the same system as continental France unlike the overseas departements Overseas territories have diverse statuses and enjoy a large autonomy They are French Polynesia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Wallis and Futuna Saint Martin Saint Barthelemy New Caledonia the French Southern and Antarctic Lands TAAF and Clipperton Island nbsp Two plates from Saint Martin The top one dates from when the island was part of Guadeloupe 971 nbsp Plate sample from French Polynesia 986 Saint Pierre and Miquelon white front plate and white or yellow rear plate with black lettering Contains SPM followed by one to three digits and a letter SPM 999 A Saint Barthelemy white front plate and white or yellow rear plate with black lettering Contains one to three digits and a letter 999 A Saint Martin white front and rear plates Contains four digits a dash and three letters 9999 AAA New Caledonia white front plate and yellow black plate or black plates with silver lettering Contains one to six digits followed by NC 999999 NC French Polynesia white front plate and yellow black plate or black plates with silver lettering One to six digits followed by P 999999 P French Southern and Antarctic Lands two digits indicating the year the car was built followed by the four last digits of the serial number of the car Registration plates are only in use on Kerguelen Islands and are imported from Reunion They are regular French plates white with the European strip and the number and symbol of Reunion 99 9999 Wallis and Futuna white front plate and yellow black plate or black plates with silver lettering Contains one to four digits followed by WF 9999 WFDiplomatic codes pre 2009 17 editCode Country Code Country Code Country2 nbsp South Africa 4 nbsp Algeria 5 nbsp Germany6 nbsp United States 7 nbsp Egypt 9 nbsp Argentina11 nbsp Austria 12 nbsp Belgium 16 nbsp Brazil20 nbsp Cameroon 26 nbsp China 28 nbsp Colombia36 nbsp Denmark 40 nbsp Spain 43 nbsp Gabon45 nbsp United Kingdom 46 nbsp Greece 53 nbsp India54 nbsp Indonesia 59 nbsp Israel 60 nbsp Italy62 nbsp Japan 63 nbsp Jordan 67 nbsp Lebanon76 nbsp Morocco 77 nbsp Mauritania 78 nbsp Mexico91 nbsp Peru 93 nbsp Poland 94 nbsp Portugal96 nbsp Romania 100 nbsp Senegal 105 nbsp Switzerland113 nbsp Tunisia 114 nbsp Turkey 115 nbsp Russia120 nbsp Yugoslavia 180 nbsp Eritrea 415 nbsp European Union416 nbsp Euratom 433 nbsp Organisation internationale de la Francophonie 434 International Bureau of Weights and Measures435 European Molecular Biology Laboratory 431 CERNSee also editEuropean vehicle registration platesReferences edit Qu est ce que le SIV systeme d immatriculation des vehicules www service public fr interieur a b c d Legifrance 9 February 2009 Arrete du 9 fevrier 2009 fixant les caracteristiques et le mode de pose des plaques d immatriculation des vehicules PDF National Gendarmerie National Gendarmerie Bouin Jerome 28 October 2008 Immatriculations le numero de departement sauve Registrations Department number saved Le Figaro in French Paris Dassault Group ISSN 0182 5852 Journal officiel de la Republique francaise arrete du 9 fevrier 2009 art 9 Arrete du 27 avril 2007 modifiant l arrete du 1er juillet 1996 relatif aux plaques d immatriculation des vehicules Circulaire n 84 84 du 24 decembre 1984 portant application de l arrete en date du 5 novembre 1984 relatif a l immatriculation des vehicules Vernhes Bruno Immatriculations des Bus parisiens de la RATP jusqu en 2003 Registration of Parisian RATP buses until 2003 Francoplaque La Passion des Plaques d Immatriculation in French Archived from the original on 3 April 2015 Retrieved 3 June 2015 Privileges Les vehicules Benefits Vehicles in French Ministere des affaires etrangeres July 2012 Catalogue de l expositionGabriel de Saint Aubin New York Paris 2007 2008 texte de Kim de Beaumont Gabriel de Saint Aubin reviste le contexte biographique de ses œuvres parisiennes note 51 page 46 Recueil general des anciennes lois francaises depuis l an 420 Volume 27 par Athanase Jean Leger Jourdan Decrusy Francois Andre Isambert a b c d e f g h Chevry Jean Emmanuel Zuraw Jean Francois Vernhes Bruno 3 articles sur le Systeme d immatriculation Francais de 1901 a 1928 Three articles on the French registration system 1901 1928 Francoplaque La Passion des Plaques d Immatriculation in French Archived from the original on 12 October 2015 Retrieved 3 June 2015 a b Une petite histoire des plaques d immatriculation en France A short history of registration plates in France PDF Francoplaque La Passion des Plaques d Immatriculation Archived from the original PDF on 13 May 2015 Retrieved 3 June 2015 a b c d e Le Systeme d immatriculation Francais de 1928 a 1950 The French Registration System from 1928 to 1950 Francoplaque La Passion des Plaques d Immatriculation in French Archived from the original on 27 March 2017 Retrieved 10 November 2016 a b c Indices departementaux avant et apres 1950 Departmental indexes before and after 1950 Histo Bus Grenoblois in French Standard 216 Archived from the original on 3 March 2016 Retrieved 10 November 2016 Kraus Frank Diplomatic and Consular French plates Francoplaque La Passion des Plaques d Immatriculation Archived from the original on 24 March 2016 Retrieved 24 April 2016 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to License plates of France Site on French registration plates Information about French Licence Plates codes colors etc Archived 2016 07 23 at the Wayback Machine in English Informations sur les Plaques d immatriculations Francaises Archived 2011 01 12 at the Wayback Machine in French Feature about the shake up in the car registration system in 2009 Radio France International A French game of numbers From Our Own Correspondent BBC News 22 December 2005 Information and data about French plates in Spanish Photos of license plates of France Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Vehicle registration plates of France amp oldid 1182865436, 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