Vehicle registration plates of Georgia (country)

Vehicle registration plates of Georgia are composed of an embossed serial of two letters, a hyphen, three numbers, a hyphen, and two letters (AA-123-AA), in black on a white background with a blue vertical strip on the left. The plates are issued in the Latin alphabet. Georgian registration plates are the same size as the most common European registration plate. All plates have the international road code "GE" in the lower left corner of the plate and the national flag in the upper left corner. This set of new style registration plates have been in use since 1 September 2014.

History

1980 to 1993 Between 1980 and 1993, Georgian registration plates were manufactured in accordance with the Soviet GOST 3207-77 standard. The alphanumeric sequence took the form of: x #### XX, where x is a lowercase Cyrillic serial/counter letter; # is any digit in the range 0–9; and XX are two uppercase Cyrillic letters indicating where the vehicle was first registered.

Georgia used codes ГА, ГГ and ГР without particularity of territory, АИ was only used for Abkhazia, and ЮО was only used for South Ossetia.

1993 to 2014 Following the Georgian civil war of 1991–1993, the country adopted its own national system with the format AAA-123 in black on a white background. On the left side, the plate bore the country code GEO, and displayed either the old flag of the Republic of Georgia (until 1995) or no flag. In 2007, all plates started displaying the new current Georgian flag, and in 2010 the country code was changed from GEO to GE. Originally, the first letter of the old registration plate was assigned according to the territory where the vehicle was registered:

A - Tbilisi B - Adjara C - Abkhazia D - Kutaisi E - Rustavi F - Zugdidi L - Poti M - Guria N - Akhaltsikhe O - Gori P - Mtskheta R - Telavi S - Bolnisi

In 2004, this system was exhausted and was removed.

The combination was allowed to be chosen at the buyer's discretion, irrespective of the standard format. Some commercial organizations have bought up all the number sequences of the old registration plates within one tri-letter combination (e.g. all the TBC plates are owned by TBC Bank, and all the MZE plates are owned by Mze TV Company). Ambulances had plates in the PSP series, after the pharmaceutical company sponsoring them, or in the EMS series (from Emergency Medical Services), and fire engines have plates in the SOS series.

Other special-use combinations include:

AAA - Government MAR - Mayor or administrative staff of Tbilisi city hall MSS - State Security PAL - Ministry of Internal Affairs POL - Police QQQ - Escort vehicle of the President SPS - President office staff TCT, TTC - Tbilisi Transport Company TMC, TMB, TBM - Tbilisi Microbus Company

Trailers and machinery equipment used a AA-123 format. Transit plates used a AA-1234 format beginning with the letters TR,TG, or TG. Motorcycles used two-line plates with format AA/1234. Vehicles of foreign owners with temporary residence in Georgia had a yellow background and followed the format FG 00001.

Current series

A new, European-style registration plate was introduced on 1 September 2014. These have sets of two letters first and last, with three numerals in the middle (like French and Italian registration plates). A blue strip on the left contains the Georgian flag and a "GE", and there is a small security hologram on the bottom right. As additional security features, the plates have a watermark-like symbol of the LEPL Service Agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and a machine-readable data matrix code near the hologram. The former-style plates with three letters, a hyphen and three numbers are valid until 2030 but can be exchanged with the current style for free. Single-line plates measure 520 × 110 mm, and a two-line style measuring 280 × 180 mm exists to accommodate owners of imported North American or Japanese vehicles. Georgian license plates are customisable. The price varies according to the combination, and combinations of letters and digits beyond the normal format are possible for a higher fee. The letter combination SP-xxx-SP is reserved for the Security Police.

Special codes, colours, and formats

Motorcycle plates measure 240 × 135 mm, and follow a two-line format AA/1234 with the blue band in the top left corner. Agricultural machinery also bears two-line plates with format AA/123. Trailers use a AA-123-A format on either single or two-line plates. Temporary license plates have red letters and a red outline, and begin with the letters GA, GE, GG, GC, or GP, followed by a hyphen and four digits. Export plates can be printed on paper or stickers, and display a four-digit sequential number, a red or yellow vertical band with the indication of the year of validity (on the top) and optionally the month (on the bottom), and two serial letters. Temporary transit plates, in use since April 1st, 2024, have a smaller size of 390 × 113 mm, and follow a 1234 AA format in black characters on white background. They display the Georgian flag and 'GE' country code in the top left corner, and on the bottom they present a QR code and a red or blue horizontal line with the text 'TRANSIT'. Motorcycle transit plates are on two lines and follow a 123/AA with the red stripe vertically on the right. Test vehicles have standard-sized license plates with a combination beginning with 'TEST' and two digits The European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM) uses blue license plates with white characters beginning with 'EUMM' and three digits.

Embassies and consulates Embassy and consulate vehicles have their own registration plate with white characters and white numbers on a red background. Numbers on embassy plates are formatted so that the first two digits represent the foreign entity/organization the vehicle is registered, followed by a CMD, D or AS. The last three digits are sequential, where XX CMD 001 is (generally) the Ambassador's flag car. For a list of foreign entity/organization and their first digits, see below:

Code Country or organization001 002 003 004 005 006 007 008 009 010 011 012 013 014 015 International organizations016 017 018 019 020 World Bank021 022 023 024 025 European Bank for Reconstruction and Development026 027 International Committee of the Red Cross028 029 030 031 032 033 035 036 Council of Europe037 038 039 040 041 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees043 044 045 046 European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia047 Asian Development Bank048 049 NATO050 051 052 054 055 056 057 059 063 065 067 075

Abkhazia and South Ossetia The self-proclaimed republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia issue their own registration plates: Russian-style plates in Abkhazia and Soviet-style plates in South Ossetia. Since 2004 these registration plates are forbidden to be used on the territory controlled by the government of Georgia; while the Georgian plates are not allowed to be used on the territory controlled by these breakaway republics. Thus most cars that cross the boundaries of the unrecognised republics have to use Russian registration plates.

Military plates

As of 2011, military police patrol vehicle plates were black with white letters, with a narrow yellow strip on the left containing the letters "GA" above each other. The code was two Latin letters followed by three numerals, with a safety hologram separating them. Dimensions are by . Regular military license plates receive a green strip on the left.

References

External links Vehicle registration rules (official page)