In Taiwan, all motor vehicles are required to register and display vehicle registration plates issued and managed by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MoTC). The plates feature combinations of Latin alphabet (A to Z), Arabic numerals (0 to 9) and dashes (âÂÂ). Certain special types also incorporate Chinese characters. Unique license plates are issued for imported cars.
Types of number plates
Taiwan's current number plate system utilizes Latin letters and Arabic numerals. The various types of number plates include:
- Note: The plates for military vehicles and agricultural machines are not managed by the MoTC.
- Until 1 January 2007, plates were identified as having been issued under the jurisdiction of either Taiwan Province, Taipei City, Kaohsiung City, Kinmen County or Lienchiang County. Since that time, the legends identifying the place of issuance have been removed— plates display only registration numbers— but the plates are still issued separately by each jurisdiction.
- 1992-Series License Plate is similar to North American plates: The size () and the format. However it used "Mexico Mode" rather than "US Mode": There is one national numbering system, such that serials are not duplicated in multiple jurisdictions. In Taipei City "AD-3608" is issued but, the other four jurisdiction would not issue the "AD-3608" style anymore. This prevents the problem that two or more jurisdictions would have "AD-3608". License Plate Scanning and Identifying Systems in Taiwan also ignore it. There is a rule for numbering of different jurisdictions, such as "XY-****" can only be issued by Kaohsiung City, "WZ-****" can only be issued by Lienchiang County.
- On 17 December 2012, the Taiwanese government started issuing new registration plates. The main changes included adding an additional digit and enhancing the security features of the plate. Additionally, the numeral 4 is no longer used, as it is considered unlucky.
Light vehicles
A light vehicle in Taiwan is defined as a motor vehicle with a permissible maximum weight not exceeding , and no more than nine seats, including the driver's seat. The plate patterns and their corresponding classes are as follows:
Heavy vehicles
The definition of a heavy vehicle in Taiwan is a motor vehicle having a permissible maximum weight exceeding and/or more than nine seats, including the driver's seat.
Motorcycles
Special use plates
Banned combinations of characters on registration plates
The following table shows the status of the ban on certain combinations of letters and numbers on vehicle registration plates currently in circulation (bold text indicates that the combination has been banned).
References
External links