Vehicle registration plates of Taiwan

In Taiwan, all motor vehicles are required to register and display its vehicle registration plates. The plates are issued and managed by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MoTC). The vehicle registration numbers in Taiwan contains Latin alphabets (A to Z), Arabic numerals (0 to 9) and dash (–); some special types also contain Chinese characters.

1992 examples of available plates

2014 examples of available plates

Types of number plate

Taiwan's current number plate system uses Latin letters with Arabic numerals. There are many types of number plate used in Taiwan, they are:

Ordinary vehicles				Temporary or testing				Special usage
No.	Name	Chinese		No.	Name	Chinese		No.	Name	Chinese
1	Plate of heavy vehicles	大型汽車號牌		6	Temporary plate of vehicles	汽車臨時號牌		11	Plate of embassies	使字汽車號牌
2	Plate of light vehicles	小型汽車號牌		7	Temporary plate of motorcycles	機車臨時號牌		12	Plate of consulates	領字汽車號牌
3	Plate of heavy-duty motorcycles	重型機車號牌		8	Temporary plate of trailers	拖車臨時號牌		13	Plate of foreign affairs	外字汽車號牌
4	Plate of light-duty motorcycles	輕型機車號牌		9	Testing plate of vehicles	汽車試車號牌		14	Plate of power machines	動力機械牌證
5	Plate of trailers	拖車號牌		10	Testing plate of motorcycles	機車試車號牌

• The plates of 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 (320 × 150 mm) 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.

Plates issued prior to 1 January 2007, carried a legend indicating the jurisdiction of issuance—here Taiwan Province (台灣省).

Motorcycle plate of the province of Taiwan

• On 17 December 2012, Taiwanese government started issuing new registration plates. The main changes are: add an additional digit and enhance the security features of the plate.

Light vehicles

The definition of light vehicles in Taiwan is: Motor vehicles having a permissible maximum weight NOT exceeding 3,500 kg and NOT more than nine seats including the driver's seat.

Pattern 1	Pattern 2	Class	Notes
ABC-5678	AB-0001 0001-AB	Ordinary light vehicles	Private cars or light trucks not for commercial uses.
EBC-5678		Ordinary light electrical vehicles	Private electrical cars or light trucks not for commercial uses. This kind of plate has green ridges on the top and bottom sides, with white words "電動車" on the top side.
RAA-5678	AA-6688 8866-AA	Rental light vehicles	Cars or light trucks for rental uses.
REA-5678		Rental light electrical vehicles	Electrical cars or light trucks for rental uses. This kind of plate has green ridges on the top and bottom sides, with white words "電動車" on the top side.
WAB-5678		Ordinary light vehicles for the disabled	Private cars for the disabled.
WEA-5678		Ordinary light electrical vehicles for the disabled	Private electrical cars for the disabled. This kind of plate has green ridges on the top and bottom sides, with white words "電動車" on the top side.
TBC-567 TDA-5678	YA-001 001-YA	Business light passenger vehicles	Taxis.
ETC-567 EAM-5678		Electrical business light passenger vehicles	Electrical Taxis. This kind of plate has green ridges on the top and bottom sides, with white words "電動車" on the top side.
QAB-123 KPA-5678	HA-001 001-HA	Business light trucks	Small trucks, cargo vehicles for commercial uses. The same pattern also applied to the heavy trucks.

Heavy vehicles

The definition of heavy vehicles in Taiwan is: Motor vehicles having a permissible maximum weight exceeding 3,500 kg and/or more than nine seats including the driver's seat.

Pattern 1	Pattern 2	Class	Notes
PAA-567 KJA-5678	TA-001 001-SA	Ordinary heavy passenger vehicles	Private buses not for commercial uses.
AAA-123 KEA-5678		Ordinary heavy trucks	Private heavy trucks not for commercial uses.
CA-123 HAA-5678	SA-01 01-SA	Ordinary Trailers	Coupling with a truck.
KAA-123 KAA-5678 JYA-567 PSA-5678	AA-001 001-AA DD-001 001-PP	Business heavy passenger vehicles	Tour buses.
FAB-123 KKA-5678	AB-001 001-AB	Business heavy passenger vehicles	Highway buses, city buses.
LAA-123 KLA-5678 HAA-567	HA-001 001-HA	Business heavy trucks	Large trucks, cargo vehicles for commercial uses. The same pattern also applied to the light trucks.
XA-123 HBA-5678	XA-01 01-XA	Business Trailers	Coupling with a truck.
EAA-123 EAL-5678	168-FN	Electrical heavy passenger vehicles	Electrical buses for commercial or private uses. This kind of plate has green ridges on the top and bottom sides, with white words "電動車" on the top side.

Motorcycles

Pattern 1	Pattern 2	Class	Notes
AB-123 LGA-1001	AA-01	Large heavy-duty motorcycle	Motorcycles with a cubic capacity exceeding 550 cm³.
LAB-5678	001-AAA	Large heavy-duty motorcycle	Motorcycles with a cubic capacity between 250 cm³ and 550 cm³, or electric motorcycles with power more than 40 HP.
MAB-5678	AAA-001 001-HAA	Ordinary heavy-duty motorcycle	Motorcycles with a cubic capacity between 50 cm³ and 250 cm³, or electric motorcycles with power between 5 HP and 40 HP.
QAA-5678	TAA-001 001-TAA	Ordinary light-duty motorcycle	Motorcycles with a cubic capacity not exceeding 50 cm³, or electric motorcycles with power between 1.34 HP and 5 HP, or electric motorcycles with power not exceeding 1.34 HP (1 kW) and the fastest speed more than 45 km/hr.
SAA-5678	AAA-001 001-AAA	Small light-duty motorcycle	Electric motorcycles with power not exceeding 1.34 HP (1 kW) and the fastest speed not exceeding 45 km/hr.

Special use plates

Pattern	Class	Notes
使 001 外 0001	Diplomatic Vehicle	For the vehicles belonging to the foreign diplomatic missions in Taiwan.
軍A-00001	Military Vehicle	For military uses.
臨-00001	Temporary plate	Printed on paper, for a vehicles before registration, or vehicles transit the territory of Taiwan.
試-0001	Testing	For testing recently manufactured or imported vehicles.
機械AA-01	Large heavy power machines	For power machines weight more than 75 tons.
機械AA-01	Heavy power machines	For power machines weight more than 42 tons, not exceeding 75 tons.
機械AA-01	Ordinary power machines	For power machines weight less than 42 tons.
A1-0001	Agricultural machines	Machines for agricultural uses.

Out of Vehicle registration plates

The following table shows the status of the ban on the English letters of the current circulation number plates: (Bold text indicates that it has been banned)[1][2]

Type	1992 [Out of I/O with number (example：I2-0001)]	2012/2014 [Out for I/O/4]	Possible
Foul language	*-G8（生殖器）註：G8-*未禁用、 FOP（愚蠢）、 FUC、FUG、FUK、FUQ、FUT（Fuck）、BC（白痴）、FK（Fuck）	AGG、AGY（生殖器）、 ASS（屁股）	TMD（他媽的）、WTF（What The Fuck）
Sex	BJ（口交）、BT（變態）	SEX（性）	AV（成人影片）、GM（肛門）、GT（龜頭）、HC（花痴）、LP（生殖器）、MC（月經）、ML（做愛）、SJ（射精）、SL（色狼）、SM（虐戀）、TT（保險套）、YD（陰道）、YJ（陰莖）
Gender, occupation and Disability discrimination	IQO（同IQ0，沒智商)、 SEX（性）、TIT（乳房）	GAY（同志）、ASD（自閉症）	BRA（女性內衣）、NUN（修女、比丘尼）、SJB（神經病）
Country or Political Party abbreviation	KMT-*（國民黨）註：*-KMT未禁用、 PRC（中華人民共和國）註：*-PRC未禁用、 ROK（大韓民國） NP（新黨）	KMT（國民黨）、DPP（民進黨）、FTP（自由台灣黨）MKT（民國黨）、CPA（國會政黨聯盟）、YSP（青年陽光黨）、PDF（人民民主黨）、TSP（台灣基進黨）、SDP（社會民主黨）、FHL（信心希望聯盟）	CCP（中國共產黨）、GPT（綠黨）、 NPP（時代力量）、PFP（親民黨）、TSU（台灣團結聯盟）、
Intelligence agency	FBI（美國聯邦調查局）、 GPU（俄羅斯聯邦國家政治保衛局）	(無)	KGB（俄羅斯聯邦國家安全委員會）
Racism	FOE（敵人）、GOD（神）	KKK（3K黨）	HEZ（真主黨）、NAZ（納粹）、 PKK（庫德工人黨）
Animal	FOX（狐狸）、HOG、PIG（豬）、 PUG（哈巴狗）、PUP （小動物）	ANT（螞蟻）、APE（猿）	BUG（蟲子）、CAT（貓）、DOG（狗）、
Other (including negative words)	IO、OI（與五代純數字格式相似）、 AC（閩南語：會死）、 MC（月經）、WC（廁所）、 LIE（騙子）、SLY（奸詐）、 SON（兒子）、SOS（求救訊號） 原因不明：POW(P.O.W.)(Prisoners of War) 、SDX	ASS（屁股）、 BAD（糟糕）、MAD（瘋子）、 SAD（傷心）、 FAT（肥胖）	BUM（無賴）、CKK（死翹翹）、LKK（老扣扣）、RIP（息止安所）、BC（白痴）、CD（閩南語：死豬）、FK（接近髒話fuck）、JC、JS（閩南語：擠死）、KC、KS（閩南語：氣死）、MP（沒品）、WC（廁所）、ZT（豬頭）、DIE-911（影射911事件）。

References

1. ASS、G8開上街　不雅車牌滿街跑
2. CAT、SEX…怪車牌 不准上路

External links

Media related to License plates of the Republic of China (Taiwan) at Wikimedia Commons

• License plate rules of the issuing office in Taipei City