Region code on license plates
Content
Car registration plates contain a set of information that individualizes the car, among which the region code occupies a special place. For a relatively short period of existence, it has undergone not only quantitative, but also qualitative changes. And soon, according to some reports, it is planned to completely abandon its use.
RF Vehicle License Plate Standard
License plates of vehicles in Russia are issued in accordance with the State Standard of the Russian Federation GOST R 50577–93 “Signs for state registration vehicles. Types and basic dimensions. Technical requirements” (hereinafter referred to as the State Standard). This document describes in detail the parameters of license plates: dimensions, color, material, service life and so on.
It should be noted that in Russia there are several types of license plates according to clause 3.2 of the State Standard:
- with two-digit and three-digit region codes;
- two- and three-line (for transit transport);
- with a highlighted yellow region code (also transit numbers);
- yellow color (for vehicles carrying out commercial transportation of passengers);
- black (for transport of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation);
- red (for transport of diplomatic and consular offices and other foreign missions);
- blue (for vehicles belonging to the Ministry of Internal Affairs);
- and a number of less common numbers.
In total, the State Standard contains 22 types of registration plates.
Traffic police codes of Russian regions for 2018
Each region of the Russian Federation has one or even several codes for use on license plates. According to the original plan, they were supposed to help identify the place of residence of the owner of the vehicle on the road.
Find out how you can check traffic police fines: https://bumper.guru/shtrafy/shtrafyi-gibdd-2017-proverit-po-nomeru-avtomobilya.html
The number of codes allocated by the traffic police for all territorial units of the Russian Federation
Article 65 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation lists its subjects. As of 2018, there are 85 of them. The traffic police (State Inspectorate for Road Safety) has identified 136 codes for 86 territorial units of the Russian Federation. In addition to the regions, foreign territories under the control of Russia (like Baikonur) have a special code.
The most recent is the Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia dated October 5, 2017 No. 766 “On state registration plates of vehicles”. There, in the form of a table in Appendix No. 2, all territorial units of the Russian Federation and the codes of their license plates are listed.
Table: current region codes for car registration plates
| Territorial unit of the Russian Federation | At the region |
| The Republic of Adygea | 01 |
| The Republic of Bashkortostan | 02, 102 |
| The Republic of Buryatia | 03 |
| Altai Republic | 04 |
| The Republic of Dagestan | 05 |
| The Republic of Ingushetia | 06 |
| Kabardino-Balkaria | 07 |
| The Republic of Kalmykia | 08 |
| The Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia | 09 |
| The Republic of Karelia | 10 |
| The Republic of Komi | 11 |
| The Republic of Mari El | 12 |
| The Republic of Mordovia | 13, 113 |
| The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) | 14 |
| Republic of North Ossetia - Alania | 15 |
| The Republic of Tatarstan | 16, 116, 716 |
| The Republic of Tuva | 17 |
| Udmurt Republic | 18 |
| The Republic of Khakassia | 19 |
| Chuvash Republic | 21, 121 |
| Altay | 22 |
| Krasnodar | 23, 93, 123 |
| Krasnoyarsk Territory | 24, 84, 88, 124 |
| Primorsky Krai | 25, 125 |
| Stavropol region | 26, 126 |
| Khabarovsk Krai | 27 |
| Amur Region | 28 |
| Arkhangelsk region | 29 |
| Astrakhan region | 30 |
| Belgorod region | 31 |
| Bryansk region | 32 |
| Vladimir region | 33 |
| Volgograd region | 34, 134 |
| Vologda region | 35 |
| Voronezh region | 36, 136 |
| Ivanovo region | 37 |
| Irkutsk Region | 38, 85, 138 |
| Kaliningrad region | 39, 91 |
| Kaluga region | 40 |
| Kamchatka | 41, 82 |
| Kemerovo region | 42, 142 |
| Kirov region | 43 |
| Kostroma region | 44 |
| Kurgan region | 45 |
| Kursk region | 46 |
| Leningrad Region | 47 |
| Lipetsk region | 48 |
| Magadan region | 49 |
| Moscow region | 50, 90, 150, 190, 750 |
| Murmansk region | 51 |
| Nizhny Novgorod region | 52, 152 |
| Novgorod region | 53 |
| Novosibirsk region | 54, 154 |
| Omsk Region | 55 |
| Orenburg region | 56 |
| Orel region | 57 |
| Penza region | 58 |
| Perm | 59, 81, 159 |
| Pskov region | 60 |
| Rostov region | 61, 161 |
| Ryazan region | 62 |
| Samara region | 63, 163, 763 |
| Saratov region | 64, 164 |
| Sakhalin Region | 65 |
| Sverdlovsk region | 66, 96, 196 |
| Smolensk region | 67 |
| Tambov region | 68 |
| Tver region | 69 |
| Tomsk region | 70 |
| Tula region | 71 |
| Tyumen Region | 72 |
| Ulyanovsk region | 73, 173 |
| Chelyabinsk region | 74, 174 |
| Trans-Baikal Territory | 75, 80 |
| Yaroslavl region | 76 |
| Moscow | 77, 97, 99, 177, 197, 199, 777, 799 |
| St. Petersburg | 78, 98, 178, 198 |
| The Jewish Autonomous Region | 79 |
| Republic of Crimea | 82 |
| Nenets Autonomous Okrug | 83 |
| Ханты-Мансийский автономный округ | 86, 186 |
| Chukotka Autonomous Okrug | 87 |
| Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District | 89 |
| Sevastopol | 92 |
| Baikonur | 94 |
| The Chechen Republic | 95 |
Read also about the marks on the driver's license and their meaning: https://bumper.guru/klassicheskie-modeli-vaz/poleznoe/metki-na-pravah-i-ih-znacheniya.html
Region codes: old and new
During the existence of the Russian Federation, that is, a little less than 30 years, the list of region codes on license plates has been changed many times both upwards by highlighting new codes and by canceling old ones.
Canceled and canceled area codes
In our opinion, the following reasons could lead to the abolition of the old region codes:
- association of regions (Perm Region and Komi-Permyatsky Autonomous District, Krasnoyarsk Territory and its constituent districts, Irkutsk Region and Ust-Ordynsky Buryatsky District, Chita Region and Aginsky Buryatsky Autonomous Area);
- increase in the number of registered cars (Moscow, Moscow region, St. Petersburg);
- admission to the Russian Federation of new subjects (the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol);
- the location of the region, which contributes to a large flow of transit cars (Primorsky Territory, Kaliningrad Region);
- other reasons.
To date, the issuance of 29 license plate codes has been discontinued: 2,16, 20, 23, 24, 25, 34, 42, 50, 52, 54, 59, 61, 63, 66, 74, 78, 86, 90, 93, 96, 97, 98, 99, 150, 190, 197, 199, 777. The main reason for their cancellation is the exhaustion of the available unique combinations of letters and numbers necessary for further assignment, as well as the abolition of regions due to merger.
Video: why Crimean numbers are issued throughout Russia
New region codes
From 2000 to the present day, 22 new area codes have been put into effect. Among them there are both two- and three-digit:
- double digits:
- 82 (Republic of Crimea);
- 92 (Sevastopol);
- 95 (Chechen Republic);
- three digits starting with "1":
- 102 (Republic of Bashkortostan);
- 116 (Republic of Tatarstan);
- 123 (Krasnodar Territory);
- 124 (Krasnoyarsk Territory);
- 125 (Primorsky Territory);
- 134 (Volgograd region);
- 142 (Kemerovo region);
- 152 (Nizhny Novgorod region);
- 154 (Novosibirsk region);
- 159 (Perm Territory);
- 161 (Rostov region);
- 163 (Samara region);
- 174 (Chelyabinsk region);
- 178 (St. Petersburg);
- 186 (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug);
- 196 (Sverdlovsk region);
- three digits starting with "7":
- 716 (Republic of Tatarstan);
- 750 (Moscow region);
- 799 (Moscow).
In 2000, by order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the issuance of registration plates with the region code "20" was discontinued. The new code for the Chechen Republic was "95".
This complex operation is aimed at solving the problem of cars stolen from all over Russia, for which Chechnya has become a kind of sump. The number change was also accompanied by the re-registration of all vehicles that were in the Republic at that time.
The region code "82" also has an interesting fate. Initially, it belonged to the Koryak Autonomous Okrug, which was merged with the Kamchatka Region and lost its administrative independence. After the entry of two new regions into the Russian Federation, this code was assigned to the Republic of Crimea. But his wanderings did not end there, and since 2016, due to the lack of free combinations, license plates with the code “82” began to be issued in many regions of Russia. Among them: St. Petersburg, Belgorod, Kemerovo, Kursk, Lipetsk, Samara, Rostov, Orenburg, Novosibirsk regions, the Republic of Dagestan, Chuvashia and Tatarstan, the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and others.
Three-digit region codes: new format
Initially, the region codes on license plates corresponded to the order in which the subjects of the federation were listed in Part 1 of Art. 65 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. But already in the first ten years it became clear that in the most developed and populated territories there would not be enough registration plates for everyone.
It is estimated that only 1 license plates can be issued per area code. In this regard, new codes began to be made by adding the first digit to the old one (for example, "727" and "276" for St. Petersburg). First, the number "78" was used, and then "178" was used as the first one. Exceptions to this general logic may be due to the processes of merging regions. So, the codes "1" and "7" were allocated to the Perm Territory, and "59" got it from the Komi-Permyatsk Autonomous Okrug, which became part of it.
By order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs dated June 26, 2013 No. 478, the use of "7" was allowed to form three-digit codes of territorial units.
This move - using "7" rather than "2" - can be explained by the fact that "7" is better read by crime cameras. In addition, "7" takes up less space on license plates than "2", and therefore will not require changing the sizes established by the State Standard.
Based on this, numbers starting with the number "3" and ending with two zeros are definitely a fake. But the numbers for "2" were issued in small numbers in Moscow, so it's real to meet them on the roads.
Region code on the car number and place of residence of the car owner
In 2013, by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of August 7, 2013 No. 605 “On Approval of the Administrative Regulations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the provision of state services for the registration of motor vehicles and trailers to them”, when selling a car to a new owner, you can not change existing numbers. For this reason, linking the code on the car number to the region of residence or registration of the owner has begun to lose relevance since 2013.
About ways to obtain an international driver's license: https://bumper.guru/voditelskie-prava/mezhdunarodnoe-voditelskoe-udostoverenie.html
Upcoming changes in license plate format
Some sources have reported that in 2018 the Government of the Russian Federation may change the registration number standards that have been used for decades. It is proposed to abandon the region codes and increase the number of letters and numbers to four. The issue of equipping license plates with chips is also being discussed.
Video: about the planned changes in the format of car license plates
At the moment, region codes are presented in two- and three-digit formats. However, they may soon disappear completely. We just have to keep an eye on how car registration plates will change in the future.
