Vehicle registration plates of Taiwan

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 (–). Certain special types also incorporate Chinese characters. Unique license plates are issued for imported cars.^[1]

Taiwan's current number plate system utilizes Latin letters and Arabic numerals. There 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 ^{[citation needed ]} 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 (320 mm ×ばつ 150 mm (12.6 in ×ばつ 5.9 in)) and the format. However it used "Mexico Mode" rather than "US Mode": One national numbering system, such that serials are not duplicated in multiple Jurisdiction: Taipei City issued "AD-3608", the other four jurisdiction would not issue "AD-3608" anymore. There won't be the problem that two or more jurisdictions all have "AD-3608". So the legends identifying the place of issuance is not so important. And License Plate Scanning and Identifying Systems in Taiwan also ignore it. Actually, there's a rule of numbering of different jurisdiction: such as "XY-****" can only be issued by Kaohsiung City, "WZ-****" can only be issued by Lienchiang County.

• On 17 December 2012, 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.

A light vehicle in Taiwan is defined as a motor vehicle with a permissible maximum weight not exceeding 3,500 kg (7,700 lb), and no more than nine seats, including the driver's seat. The plate patterns and their corresponding classes are as follows:

The definition of a heavy vehicle in Taiwan is a motor vehicle having a permissible maximum weight exceeding 3,500 kg (7,700 lb) and/or more than nine seats, including the driver's seat.

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).^{[2] [3]}

• License plate rules of the issuing office in Taipei City