Vehicle registration plates of Brilliania
Regular Vehicle registration plates of Brilliania generally consist of 6 or 7 symbols on a reflective background with a blue band containing the international oval EB to the left; they have been issued officially since 2006. The National Service for the Registration and Licensing of Vehicles (IELEZN) is responsible for the registration of vehicles and the issuing of drivers licenses.
History
Brilliania was the first nation to issue vehicle registration plates, starting in 1888 with a simple serial number of up to 4 digits on a white on black plate, which were affixed to the rear of horse carriages. The King owned the number 1 plate on his personal horse carriage. When the first car was introduced in 1902, front plates became mandatory on all vehicles except for horse carriages. Between 1905 and 1920, vehicle registration plates were issued every 2 years, continuing the all-numeric format.
1920 system
Starting in 1920, the format changed to a leter indicating the province, two numbers blocked by vehicle type, a dash and three serial numbers. Starting in 1936 in Kostegarba, most provinces added a serial letter after the provincial letter.
| Allocation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 1 - 39 | Private vehicles excluding motorcycles |
| 41 - 70 | Commercial vehicles |
| 71 - 96 | Private motorcycles, mopeds and sidecars |
| 97 | Diplomatic sidecars |
| 98 | Diplomatic motorcycles |
| 99 | Diplomatic cars |
License plates were provided by the owner, nearly always by authorized private stores. Although there was a standard font, material (steel) and sizes, de facto there were considerable variations in font, material and sizes. Hand-painted license plates were occasionally seen, and plastic became a common material for license plates in the 70's. Some vehicles even had the registrations made with stickers put on the vehicle itself. Motorcycles required front plates and rear plates, and sidecars were registered seperately. Agricultural vehicles were not registered. Trailers carried both the registration of the prime mover and a seperate registration in the normal series. Since 2010, reregistrations of imported pre-1982 vehicles are allowed using old-style license plates with the serial leter Z.
1982 system
The new system, in which provinces got serial blocks instead of a single letter, was introduced in 1982. The colours of the plate were also changed to black on white. The IELEZN also made the rulings on sizes and material stricter, with hand-painted registrations and sticker plates made illegal and the sizes standardised as 50x10, 25x20 or 15x10. The letters C, I, O and U were originally used, but were discontinued in 1984.
Regular format
The format for regular vehicles consists of 2 or 3 letters, followed by a dash and 2 sets of 2 numerals separated by a dash. The first letter indicates the province of registration and second and third (if needed) letters are serial. The letters C, I, O, Q, U and W are never used because of legibility issues, and the letters A, E, M and Y are not used as second letters, to prevent the formation of words considered inappropriate. License plates with low or repeating serial numbers are not sold, and license plates are not reissued.
Provinces
Since the introduction of the 1920 system, each province issues license plates with their own letter. The system was changed in 1982, with new serial allocations being used. Note that for the current allocations, the system starts with two letters and after exhausting the two letter allocations goes over to three letters. For example, Kostegarba issued DZ-99-99 as the last two letter registration prior to moving to ABA-00-01.
| First letter allocation | Province | Pre-1982 system allocation |
|---|---|---|
| AA - DZZ | Kostegarba | K |
| FA - JZZ | Iparina | P |
| KA - NZZ | Otzaurte | T |
| PA - VZZ (excluding S) | Junguite | J |
| SA - SZZ | Saranegertu | N/A (S used for pre-1982 vehicle re-registrations) |
| XA - ZZZ | Villogo | V |
Slurs and offensive terms
The IELEZN has a list of combinations which are considered to be offensive or controversial. These include both domestic and some foreign swear words, terms which could be interpreted as offensive, initials of well-known individuals including politicians and criminals whose cases were reported widely, and abbreviations of all political parties in Brilliania.
Withdrawal of YG registrations
In 2019, after the stabbing in Saranegertu, the Villogo office of the IELEZN withdrew more than 6,000 registrations with the serial letters YG, since these are the initials of spree killer Yuka Gabizara.
Withdrawal of AKB registrations
Registrations with the serial letters AKB were accidentally issued by the Kostegarba office of the IELEZN and registrations until AKB-04-00 were issued. These were noticed by an employee and the remaining 9600 registrations were withheld. The 400 people with AKB registrations had their registrations invalidated with new registrations being given.
Sizes and colours
All license plates use reflective backgrounds; this has been mandatory since 1967.
Regular vehicles
Regular license plates either measure 50x10 cm, or 25x20 cm for two line plates. It is possible but extremely rare that cars carry rear license plates in the same size used for motorcycles: these are only seen on imported vehicles if a regular license plate does not fit.
Motorcycles and mopeds
Motorcycles require front and rear plates; the front plate being 24x8 cm and the two-line rear plate 15x20 cm. Moped rear license plates are 15x10 cm, with the serial on three lines. The front plates are the same as these used for motorcycles. There are two variants of motorcycle front plates; a sticker plate or an embossed aluminium plate. Some motorcycles and mopeds do not carry front plates and some mopeds use motorcycle plates.
Colours
There are several different background colours. used on Brillian vehicle registration plates.
| Colours | Usage |
|---|---|
| Black on white | Denotes cars, motorcycles, mopeds or trailers used privately or commercially, not weighing above 25 tonnes. |
| White on black | Denotes cars, motorcycles or mopeds used privately or by an organization of classic vehicle enthousiasts, produced at least 30 years old These vehicles use registrations from the former private series with the provincial indicating letter being followed by the letter Z, instead of the usual A, B, D, E, or G. These do not feature the blue band and use old-style dies. |
| Green on white | Denotes cars, motorcycles or mopeds used privately or commercially, not weighing above 25 tonnes and being powered electrically. These were introduced in 2019 and became mandatory soon afterwards after a spate of car crashes with electric vehicles. |
| White on red | Denotes cars, motorcycles, mopeds or trailers used by non-profit associations, not weighing above 25 tonnes and for which taxes are not necessary. These are used by ambulances, police vehicles, fire service vehicles, charitable instutitions, non-diplomatic NGO's and mental healthcare facilities. These vehicles are also not required to have front license plates, but most of these vehicles do carry them. |
| White on light blue | Denotes cars, motorcycles, mopeds or trailers used by foreign representatives. These use a different serial format (three numerals, a dash and three more numerals). Regular registrations in the Otzaurte provincial allocation are also used for non-diplomatic embassy personnel, as Martirien Herria houses all foreign embassies in Brilliania. These are also seen with a serial of PRTKL and a single digit serial number, which are a form of vanity plates used on vehicles used for the transport of important foreigners. |
| White on orange | Denotes vehicles which are considered as "exceptional vehicles" by the IELEZN: this category includes vehicles above 25 tonnes, self-built vehicles, exceptionally wide (semi-)trailers, agricultural machinery and most vehicles which have a maximal speed limit between 20 and 50 km/h, except microcars and cars modified with a speed limiter which recieve white license plates. |
Trailers
Trailers use regular series license plates but also display the registration of the towing vehicle.
Insurance plates
A special insurance series is issued for handicapped transport vehicles, invalid carriages and small electric scooters with a speed below 20 km/h. Until 2006, the upper limit was 50 km/h and mopeds were included in this series. Since 2016, these license plates have been stickers applied to the rear of the vehicle. Prior to 2016, these were small embossed aluminium plates issued in annually varying colours. Both formats have the same size, 6x6 cm. The format consists of three numbers above three letters. These are issued by insurance companies in each province and the serial are issued randomly from a central pool - not serial like regular registrations. Only the letters B, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, N, P, R, S, T, X and Z are used, with the letters B, D, and F being reserved as first letters for small electric vehicles.
Special serial formats
Diplomatic vehicles
Diplomatic vehicles use black on blue plates with three numerals, a dash, and three numerals. The first three numerals depend on the embassy in most cases. International organisations have non-coded license plates with the first three numerals starting at 800, and embassies can request registrations without coding with the first three numerals starting at 900. The serial number 001 is always issued to the Ambassador.
Members of Parliament
Parlimentarians recieve regular plates with the reserved serial letter combination FPF (Funtzionari Politico Federala, Federal Political Servant), followed by a dash, and two sets of two numerals followed by a dash. FPF-00-01 is reserved for the Speaker of the Federal Assembly. There is no differentiation between members of the Federal Assembly and the Assembly of States. The seperate series is to mark the driver as being immune from prosecution because of parliamentary immunity. Once a parliamentarian loses their immunity, the FPF plates must be replaced by regular license plates.
A scandal erupted in 2019 after independent investigation by the centrist news site Brillian Bulletin discovered multiple incidences of vehicle registration fraud by parliamentarians. Some parliamentarians gave their FPF plates to relatives or friends and some parliamentarians covered their FBF license plates with fake regular series plates out of safety concerns. Most notably, former parliamentarian Ane Mentarrine always used forged license plates for her vehicles to prevent taxation.
Army
The Gudaroste uses black on white plates with the reserved letter combinations DL (Defentsako Langileak, Defence Staff), DM (Defentsako Materiala, Defence Material) or GB (Gudarako Blindatuta, Armoured Warfare) a dash and two sets of two numerals separated by a dash.
Government
Vehicles used by the federal government including the First Citizen's official vehicle carry license plates with three numbers flanked by a traditional pattern on both sides. Older government vehicles used three numbers followed by the coat of arms instead.
Temporary
There are three types of temporary license plates in Brilliania.
Car dealers
The first type are used for test drives and the transportation of vehicles which are unregistered or deregistered. These plates are made of printed cardboard with reflective coating (until 2018) or thin aluminium (since 2018) and do not feature the blue band to the left. The serial format consists of one letter indicating the province, a dash, three numerals, a dash, and a serial letter. The text PROBAN above VÍZSGARA (both meaning FOR TESTING) is printed on the left-hand side.
Lost registration
The second type is used for vehicles with lost registration papers, vehicles awaiting inspection or vehicles awaiting a remake of their registration plates. These are also occasionally found on recently imported vehicles awaiting a registration in Brilliania. The serial format consists of 1 letter indicating the province, a dash, and two sets of two numerals separated by a dash. These are either visible as owner-provided aluminium plates or printed laminated paper plates. The IELEZN website provides for a standard design for these paper plates which is downloadable, although most temporary plates of these kind are home-made with a printer or provided by a car dealership. Some temporary license plates feature unofficial features such as sentences, dealer logos, addresses, phone numbers, social media usernames or advertising, and some are written on a piece of paper using a marker. The IELEZN has cracked down on unofficial formats, forbidding any information not relevant to the registration to be added to the paper plate except the words "matrikula aldi baterako" or "ideiglenes rendszám" (temporary license plate).
Export
The third type shares the same registration format as the second type but are used solely for export. These are officially made and feature a date band on the right side with two numbers denoting the month above two numbers denoting the year the registration expires.
Because there is a low amount of possible registrations in this format, registrations used for temporary or export registrations are allowed to be reissued.
Historical vehicles
Vehicles produced at least 30 years ago are allowed to have white on black plates in a style similar to pre-1982 license plates. These use a serial format of a letter indicating the province from the old registration format, a serial letter starting at Z and progressing in reverse order, and a serial number starting at 1-1. Saranegertu province did not exist prior to 1996, but it has issued the registrations SZ 1-1 to SZ 1-392 to vehicles at the Saranegertu Museum of Transport. The museum uses vehicle test plates for the outside display of vehicles. Most notably, four embassies have imported vehicles which qualify for the status of "historical vehicle", for which registrations using the first numerals 99 were issued.
Vanity plates
Since 2000, the IELEZN has allowed the issuance of customized license plates, which may at most have seven characters, of which at least one must be a numeral. The letters I, O and Q are barred. Vanity plates cost around 10000 Florrin. There are strict standards for these registrations before they can be allowed, including:
- No meaning which could be offensive including slurs or other negative terms
- No brand names
- No slang or indecent terminology
- No mimicking of regular registrations
The registrations may only be requested by individuals (not to companies). The license plates look like regular plates but additionally feature the entire VIN on the bottom in small letters.