As of 14 April 2009, all French vehicle registration plates are issued using the XX-NNN-ZZ format, successfully introduced in Italy in 1994, composed of a series of 7 alphanumeric characters, made up of 2 letters, 3 numbers, and then 2 letters (for instance: AB-123-CD). There is no longer a local département code as in the previous system, but only a sequential number. This number is allocated to a vehicle for its life and does not change if the car is sold or the owner moves. There is an option to include a blue strip on the right of the plate, showing the Département Number of the owner's choice, plus the region logo of the chosen département, although this is not compulsory.

Regular license plates are black-on-white, front and rear. Temporary license plates are colored silver-on-red, both front and rear.

Due to the current economic climate, the introduction of the new plates was postponed from 1 January 2009 until 15 April 2009 for all new cars. It was again postponed until 15 October 2009 for all other vehicles due to computer bugs in the SIV system. Effective 15 October 2009, all vehicles will obtain license numbers according to the new format (provided, for the vehicles that already have a license number, their registration certificate is to be changed, e.g., the owner moves or the vehicle is sold).

The vehicle categories having special license plate numbers prior to the reform (police, administration, or the armed forces) will now be in the general scheme.

General scheme (1950-2009)

The plate bore a "number" of the following formats: either nnnn LL dd, or nnn LLL dd.

• nnn (or nnnn) is a 2-, 3- or 4-digit number.
• LL (or LLL) is a 2- or 3-letter group.
• dd is a 2-digit number indicating the département in which the car is registered.

Exceptions to this scheme are:

• in Corsica
  Corsica
  Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
  
  , the département identifier was either 2A (Corse-du-Sud) or 2B (Haute-Corse) since 1975. Prior to that date, all of Corsica was a single département with the identifier 20.
• in the overseas départments
  Overseas departments and territories of France
  The French Overseas Departments and Territories consist broadly of French-administered territories outside of the European continent. These territories have varying legal status and different levels of autonomy, although all have representation in the Parliament of France , and consequently the...
  
  , the département identifier consisted of 3 digits (in the series 971 to 978), the first two digits often being stacked to save space.

Vehicle owners had to re-register their vehicle if they relocated permanently to another département. There used to be a once-per year tax on cars, called the vignette, whose rate depended on the department. 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, computerized files allow large national databases to be maintained without the need for them to be split them at local level.

A side effect of the vehicle tax system was that many corporations registered their vehicles in departments, such as Oise

Oise

Oise is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise.-History:Oise is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...

 (60), with lower rates. Regulations aimed at preventing such schemes were passed in 1999.

Military plates (superseded by the new system)

Military plates bore an 8-digit number, as well as, generally, the insignia of the branch of the military forces to which they belong:

• French Army
  French Army
  The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...
  
  
• French Navy
  French Navy
  The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
  
  
• French Air Force
  French Air Force
  The French Air Force , literally Army of the Air) is the air force of the French Armed Forces. It was formed in 1909 as the Service Aéronautique, a service arm of the French Army, then was made an independent military arm in 1933...
  
  
• French Gendarmerie
• Délégation Générale pour l'Armement
  Délégation Générale pour l'Armement
  The Direction générale de l’armement, which could be translated as “General Directorate for Armament”, or DGA, is the French Government Defence procurement agency responsible for the program management, development and purchase of weapon systems for the French military.-Armament programs...
  
   (DGA)
• Service de santé des armées (SSA) and other small services .

Civilian state administrative plates (superseded by the new system)

These concerned civilian vehicles owned by the national government; it did not include local governments.

They were of the form dddL nnnnM.

• ddd was a 2- or 3-digit department number.
• L was either D, R, N, or E, meaning that the normal circulation zone of the vehicle is the registration department and neighboring ones, the registration region and neighboring ones, the full national territory, or the full national territory and foreign countries. Local service vehicles were generally coded D. French National Police
  French National Police
  The National Police , formerly the Sûreté Nationale, is one of two national police forces and the main civil law enforcement agency of France, with primary jurisdiction in cities and large towns. The other main agency is the military Gendarmerie, with primary jurisdiction in smaller towns and rural...
  
   vehicles with police insignia were coded N.
• nnnn was a 4-digit number and M was a letter.

National police

French National Police

The National Police , formerly the Sûreté Nationale, is one of two national police forces and the main civil law enforcement agency of France, with primary jurisdiction in cities and large towns. The other main agency is the military Gendarmerie, with primary jurisdiction in smaller towns and rural...

 forces were registered using this scheme while municipal police

Municipal police

.Municipal police are law enforcement agencies that are under the control of local government, including the municipal government, where it is the smallest administrative subdivision. They receive pay from the city budget, and usually have fewer rights than the "state paid" police...

 forces were registered using the standard scheme.

External links

• Site on French registration plates
  • Information about French Licence Plates: codes, colors, etc.
  • Informations sur les Plaques d'immatriculations Françaises
• 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.

* A very original French "plate artiste" : Joel Ducorroy

Joel Ducorroy

Joel Ducorroy is an original French artist, born in 1955 and known as a "plate artist" .His art consists of stamping word or words onto license plates. He uses license plates as a way of breaking away from the traditional canvas...