In Europe, a lot of cars have country indicators that indicate the country of origin and that look like this:
I heard that in some European country this is necessary to have. Since I don't want to deface my car if not absolutely necessary, I'd like to know in which European countries I'm required to have this country indicators.
My license plate looks like this:
The EU countries now have new registration plates incorporating the country code and the EU flag on the left. This voids the need for the former oval sticker, enforced by the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. Quoting from the "Council Regulation (EC) No 2411/98 of 3 November 1998 on the recognition in intra-Community traffic of the distinguishing sign of the Member State in which motor vehicles and their trailers are registered":
Member States requiring vehicles registered in another Member State to display a distinguishing registration sign when they are being driven on their territory shall recognise the distinguishing sign of the Member State of registration displayed on the extreme left of the registration plate in accordance with the Annex to this Regulation as being equivalent to any other distinguishing sign that they recognise for the purpose of identifying the State in which the vehicle is registered.
See for example Italy and France:
For more information, here is a wikipedia article.
Cars with a Swiss licence plate are obliged by the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic to place a CH sticker on their car, when travelling inside the EU zone.
The Liechtenstein licence plate does indeed contain the country indicator. This is FL which stands for Fürstentum Liechtenstein:
I could not find an authoritative reference on the topic. In my opinion however, the FL marking can easily be confused with the equivalent of a region/city coding (such as those found on German plates). To be safe, I would suggest you do in fact stick a country indicator oval on your car, to avoid problems with over-zealous police officers. I can't imagine how hard it would be to try and convince foreign police that FL is indeed a country indicator, by quoting them the Vienna Convention.
FL marking is already clearly separated from the registration number.
I think that you wouldn't need such a sticker in Europe if the sign of the country is incorporated into the registration plate. But I'm afraid that's not the case with your plates and therefor you will need a sticker.
The Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, Article 37 says:
- Every motor vehicle in international traffic shall display at the rear, in addition to its registration number, the distinguishing sign of the State in which it is registered.
- This sign may either be placed separately from the registration plate or may be incorporated into the registration plate.
- When the distinguishing sign is incorporat ed into the registration plate, it must also appear on the front registration plate of the vehicle if such is obligatory.
Here is a list of the coutries that signed the convention.
"FL" on your plates looks more like region/city code and not like a country code. According to the Vienna Convention (Annex 3.3.d) FL on your plates would not be recognized as a distinguishing sign and you need to a separate sticker.
The distinguishing sign of the State of registration shall be positioned so as to be easily identifiable and so that it cannot be confu sed with the registration number or impair its legibility. The distinguishing sign shall therefor e be at least of a different colour from the registration number, or have a different background colour to that reserved for the registration number, or be clearly separated, preferably by a line, from the registration number;
If you have such a license plate, you will need have a country-identifying sticker if driving abroad with that car.
Someone already posted a Wikipedia link to the Vienna conventions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Convention_on_Road_Traffic
It is quite clearly stated (in this summary) that "A distinguishing sign of the country of registration must be displayed on the rear of the vehicle. This sign may either be placed separately from the registration plate or may be incorporated into the vehicle registration plate.". The symbol in your license plate is insufficient for this.
