Vehicle registration plates of Uruguay

Uruguay requires its residents to register their motor vehicles and display vehicle registration plates.

2016 Mercosur Uruguayan license plates

Departmental coding

Plates issued in each department begin with a one-letter code. These codes, used on the unique local issues of the past, have carried over to the current national series as part of the standard nationwide format.

Department or entity	Code
Artigas Department	G
Canelones Department	A
Cerro Largo Department	E
Colonia Department	L
Durazno Department	Q
Flores Department	N
Florida Department	O
Lavalleja Department	P
Maldonado Department	B
Montevideo Department[1]	S
Paysandú Department	I
Río Negro Department	J
Rivera Department	F
Rocha Department	C
Salto Department	H
San José Department	M
Soriano Department	K
Tacuarembó Department	R
Treinta y Tres Department	D

S also used on plates issued to vehicles owned by the government and several other plate types that are issued centrally.

Current series

Prior to the introduction of this series, plates issued in each department had a unique design, in many instances displaying only the name of the municipality, rather than that of the department or the country. The change echoes that made in Argentina in 1994 with the change to a national plate series displaying the nation's name rather than a more local designation.

Under the current plate series, a single serial number format of ABC 1234 (and ABC 123 for motorcycles) has been introduced for the entire country, with either the country name, the vehicle type, or both displayed on the plate. Now absent are department or municipality designations, except for the small official logos displayed on many plates, one between the letters and numbers indicating the department of registration and another in the lower right corner indicating the municipality of registration. Plates in the current series employ FE-Schrift for their serials.

Some older plates are still in use, but evidently they are being replaced with plates of the current series, as even many antique cars have plates from the current series.

Italicized letters indicate a departmental code; bold letters indicate a fixed type code that appears on all plates of a particular type:

Image	Type		Legend	Serial format	Design
Image	English	Spanish	Legend	Serial format	Design
	Passenger	Particular	URUGUAY	ABC 1234	black on white
	Motorcycle	Motocicleta	URUGUAY	ABC 123	black on white
	Official	Oficial	OFICIAL—URUGUAY	SOF 1234	blue on white
	Ambulance	Ambulancia	URUGUAY	AAM 1234	green on white; embossed cross in lower left corner
	Doctor	Médico	URUGUAY	AME 1234	green on white; embossed cross in lower left corner
	Departmental Assembly	Edil Junta Departamental	EDIL JUNTA DEPARTAMENTAL	AED 1234	white on light blue; screened type designation
	President of Departmental Assembly	Presidente de la Junta Departamental	PRESIDENTE J. DEPARTAMENTAL	APE 1	white on light blue; screened type designation
	Diplomatic	Diplomático	URUGUAY	SCD 1234	black on white
	Diplomatic—Motorcycle	Diplomático—Motocicleta	URUGUAY	SCD 123	black on white
	Diplomatic—Consular Corps	Diplomático—Cuerpo Consular	URUGUAY	SCC 1234	black on white
	Diplomatic—Consular Corps—Motorcycle	Diplomático—Cuerpo Consular—Motocicleta	URUGUAY	SCC 123	black on white
	Government	Gobierno	URUGUAY	SAB 1234	black on white
	Government—unknown type	?	URUGUAY	SAB 1234	white on orange
	International organization	Organización internacional	URUGUAY	SOI 1234	black on white
	National Representative	Representante Nacional	REPRESENTANTE NACIONAL	ARN 1234	blue on white
	Non-governmental organization	Organización no gubernamental	URUGUAY	SNG 1234	black on white
	Livery	Remise	REMISE	ARE 1234	black on yellow
	Taxi		TAXI	ATX 1234	black on yellow
	Public transportation	Transporte colectivo	URUGUAY	ATC 1234	black on yellow
	School	Escolar	ESCOLAR	AES 1234	black on yellow
	Tourist van	Turismo	TURISMO—URUGUAY	AMT 1234	black on yellow
	Tourist bus	Turismo	TURISMO—URUGUAY	ATU 1234	white on blue
	Truck	Carga	CARGA URUGUAY	ATP 1234	black on white
	Rental motorcycle	Motocicleta—Alquiler	URUGUAY	AAL 123	black on yellow
	Rental vehicle	Alquiler	ALQUILER—URUGUAY	AAL 1234	black on white

Previous series

Montevideo pre-1996 license plate

While also issued by department with the same codes, these plates employ varying designs, with unique plate sizes and shapes, dies, and color schemes and may identify the municipality of registration rather than the department itself. Many plates featured a white and blue color scheme.

Italicized letters indicate a departmental code; bold letters indicate a fixed type code that appears on all plates of a particular type:

Location and/or type	Serial format	Design	Legend(s)
Diplomatic	CC 123?	white on blue	?
National Navy	123	black on white; embossed anchor at center	"ARMADA"
Public safety/government	MI 12-345 MI 123456	black on white or blue on white; variety of manufacturing styles	none
Artigas Department	GA-1234	blue on white	"ARTIGAS"; "ROU" debossed in embossed box at left
Canelones Department	ABC 123
Caneloles Department—Official	A 1234	white on blue	"OFICIAL URUGUAY"
Cerro Largo Department—Melo city	EM-12345	black on white	"CERRO LARGO" embossed at top; "ROU" embossed vertically at left; "MELO" embossed vertically at right; the small M below the hyphen also indicates the city
Colonia Department	LA-1234	blue on white	"COLONIA" debossed within embossed square that contains the "L"; "URUGUAY" at top. Some plates have a full-color seal, while others do not.
Maldonado Department—Punta del Este city	B 51-234 B 512-345	black on white	"PUNTA DEL ESTE" at bottom; first number signifies city
Maldonado Department—San Carlos city	B 212-345	black on white	"SAN CARLOS" at bottom; first number signifies city
Río Negro Department—Fray Bentos city	JAB 123	black on white	"FRAY BENTOS" at top, "RIO NEGRO" in orange band at bottom
Salto Department	HA 123	black on white; Salto logo at left	"SALTO" at bottom
Soriano Department	K 12-3456	blue on white	"SORIANO URUGUAY" at bottom

2016 Mercosur standard

In October 2014 the design of the new license plate to be used by all Mercosur countries was officially presented. This consists of a plate of 15.75 in × 5.12 in (400.05 mm × 130.05 mm), with a white background, the characters and frame in black and a blue band at the top that shows the name of the country, its flag and the Mercosur logo. The typeface used is FE-Schrift.

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External links

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[1] S also used on plates issued to vehicles owned by the government and several other plate types that are issued centrally.

Vehicle registration plates of South America
Sovereign states	Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Guyana Paraguay Peru Suriname Uruguay Venezuela
Dependencies and other territories	Falkland Islands French Guiana South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands