Vehicle registration plates of Taiwan

This article is about Taiwan. For the People's Republic of China, see Vehicle registration plates of China.

Taiwan

Taiwanese regular legal standard number plate.
Country	Taiwan
Country code	RC
Current series
Size	320 mm × 150 mm 12.6 in × 5.9 in
Colour (front)	Black on white
Colour (rear)	Black on white

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.

• 
  1992 examples of available plates
• 
  2014 examples of available plates

Types of number plates

Taiwan's current number plate system utilizes Latin letters and Arabic numerals. The various types of number plates include:

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

• 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 (320 mm × 150 mm (12.6 in × 5.9 in)) 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.

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

Registration plates on Taiwanese motorcycles.

• 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 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:

Pattern 1	Pattern 2	Class	Notes
ABC-5678	AB-0001 0001-AB	Ordinary light vehicles	Private cars or light trucks not used for commercial uses
EBC-5678		Ordinary light electrical vehicles	Private electric cars or light trucks not for commercial uses. These plates have green ridges on the top and bottom sides, with white text "電動車" on the top side.
RAA-5678	AA-6688 8866-AA	Rental light vehicles	Cars or light trucks intended for rental use.
REA-5678		Rental light electrical vehicles	Electric cars or light trucks for rental use featuring green ridges on the top and bottom sides, with white words "電動車" on the top side.
WAB-5678		Ordinary light vehicles for disabled people	Private cars for disabled people
WEA-5678		Ordinary light electrical vehicles for disabled people	Private electrical cars for disabled people. 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 and cargo vehicles for commercial uses. The same pattern is also applied to heavy trucks.

Heavy vehicles

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.

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 and 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 is also applied to 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 cc (34 cu in), or electric motorcycles with power more than 54 hp (40 kW).
LAB-5678	001-AAA	Large heavy-duty motorcycle	Motorcycles with a cubic capacity between 250 and 550 cc (15 and 34 cu in), or electric motorcycles with power between 40 and 54 hp (30 and 40 kW).
MAB-5678	AAA-001 001-HAA	Ordinary heavy-duty motorcycle	Motorcycles with a cubic capacity between 50 and 250 cc (3.1 and 15.3 cu in), or electric motorcycles with power between 5 and 40 hp (3.7 and 29.8 kW).
QAA-5678	TAA-001 001-TAA	Ordinary light-duty motorcycle	Motorcycles with a cubic capacity not exceeding 50 cc (3.1 cu in), or electric motorcycles with power between 1.34 and 5 hp (1.00 and 3.73 kW), or electric motorcycles with power not exceeding 1.34 hp (1.00 kW) and top speed more than 45 km/h (28 mph).
SAA-5678	AAA-001 001-AAA	Small light-duty motorcycle	Electric motorcycles with power not exceeding 1.34 hp (1.00 kW) and the fastest speed not exceeding 45 km/h (28 mph).

Special use plates

Pattern	Class	Notes
使 001 外 0001 外 0151	Diplomatic vehicle	For vehicles belonging to the foreign diplomatic missions in Taiwan.
軍A-00001	Military vehicle	For military uses.
臨A00001 機臨10001	Temporary plate	Printed on paper, for a vehicles before registration, or vehicles transiting the territory of Taiwan.
試0001 試A0001 試S0001	Testing	For testing recently manufactured or imported vehicles.
機械ZA-01	Large heavy power machines	For power machines weighing more than 75 tons.
機械MA-01	Heavy power machines	For power machines weighing between 42 and 75 tons.
機械AA-01	Ordinary power machines	For power machines weighing less than 42 tons.
A1-0001	Agricultural machines	Machines for agricultural uses.

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).

Type	1992 [Out of I/O with number (example：I2-0001)]	2012/2014 [Out for I/O/4]	Possible
Profanity	*-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[needs translation]), 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), PKK (庫德工人黨)
Intelligence agency	FBI (美國聯邦調查局), GPU (俄羅斯聯邦國家政治保衛局)	(無[needs translation])	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)
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	IO, OI (Similar to the all-numeric format of the fifth generation.), AC (閩南語：會死[needs translation]), LIE (騙子), SLY (奸詐), SON (兒子), SOS (求救訊號), 原因不明：[needs translation]POW (Prisoner 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[needs translation]), LKK (老扣扣[needs translation]), RIP (息止安所), BC (白痴), CD (閩南語：死豬[needs translation]), FK (接近髒話fuck), JC, JS (閩南語：擠死[needs translation]), KC, KS (閩南語：氣死[needs translation]), MP (沒品[needs translation]), WC (廁所), ZT (豬頭[needs translation]), DIE-911 (影射911事件[needs translation])

External links

• License plate rules of the issuing office in Taipei City