Esitmated Population 58,609,285 est. from 1997

France is comprised of 22 regions and sub divided into 96 departments .

France has one of the most highly developed transportation systems in Europe.

The nation has about 17,800 miles of national highways ,including 4600 miles

of limited-access autoroutes. In all the road network measures some 554,600 miles !

In 1996 , France had 524 motor vehicles for every 1000 inhabitants !!

437 vehicles out of every 524 were passenger vehicles.

French Passenger

The current series plates commenced in April 1950 , that being, Silver or White

on Black . New registrations as of 1 /1/ 1993 must be as follows :

Front Plate : Black on reflective White

Back Plate : Black on reflective Yellow

All plates ( except Corsica ) ending with a two numerical code for the

departsment in which the vehicle is registered .

French Military Plates

From 1960 - 1980 , the french military plate had two groups of numbers.The

first group consisted of 3 numbers and the second group consisted of a 4 digit serial #.

From 1980 - Present , the military plate has two groups of FOUR numbers each.The second group consisting of a 4 digit serial # .

Both first groups of numbers can be deciphered as follows :

The first number being.....

2 for ARMY.......... prior to 1970

3 for AIR FORCE..prior to 1970

4 for NAVY..............prior to 1970

5 for Common Services prior to 1970

6 for ARMY..........................After 1970

7 for AIR FORCE...............After 1970

8 for NAVY ....................... After 1970

9 for Common Services.. After 1970

The middle digit (prior to 1980) ,middle 2 digits ( after 1980 )

These digits denote the year of the license plate issuance.

The last digit meaning ......

1 New cars or Coaches

3 New Lorries , Tractors , Machines

4 New Armoured Vehicles

5 Rebuilt Cars or Coaches

7 Rebuilt Lorries , tractors , Machines

8 Rebuilt Armoured vehicles

9 Motor Cylces both New & Rebuilt

0 2 & 4 Wheeled Trailers.

French Temporary Plates

Vehicles in France for temporary import or for export have the current

series temporary plates.

These plates consist of Silver on Red . The make up is that of :

Up to four digit series followed by T T followed by the department code.

(Since 1991 there has been issuance of TxT,where x being another letter.)

The department code being followed by ; Date of issuance. Normally the month over the year.

The temporary plates were similar to current issue except for the fact that

they were undated. The year of validity was displayed in white on a red oval on the rear of the vehicle.

Prior to 1954 the French Temporary plates were white on red. They consisted of a serial number , followed by T T , followed by the last digit of the year issued,

finally a letter denoting the PORT (see list below)

A	Dunkerque	P	Sète
B	Calais	R	Toulon
C , D	Boulogne	S	Marseille
E	Dieppe	T	Nice
F , G	Le Havre	U	Villefranche
H , J	Cherbourg	V	Lyon
I	Strasbourg	X,Y,Z	Paris
K	St Nazaire	Q	Haute - Savoie
L	La Rochelle	W	Ain
M	Bordeaux
N	Bayonne

French Diplomatic

The complex system consists of a code number indicating the Embassy

or Organization , one of the following codes and a serial number:

CMD Chief of Diplomatic Missions Orange on Green

CD Diplomatic Corps Orange on Green

C Cosulate Consular Silver / white on Green

K Embassy Consular Silver/white on Green

Members of delegations to International Organizations have a code letter prefixing a normal diplomatic registration ,plus 200 is added to the normal Embassy code

French Diplomatic codes

- France	30 Zaire	60 Italy	90 Netherlands	120 Yugoslavia
1 Afghanistan	31 Rep. Korea	61 Jamaica	91 Peru	121 Zambia
2 S. Africa	32 Costa Rica	62 Japan	92 Philippines	122 Mauritius
3 Albania	33 C. d'Ivoire	63 Jordan	93 Poland	123 Mongolia
4 Algeria	34 Cuba	64 Kenya	94 Portugal	124 Yemen PDR
5 Germany	35 Benin	65 Kuwait	95 Rhodesia	125 Bangladesh
6 U.S.A.	36 Denmark	66 Laos	96 Romania	126 Qatar
7 Egypt	37 Domin. Rep.	67 Lebanon	97 Rwanda	127 U.A.E.
8 S. Arabia	38 El Savador	68 Liberia	98 San Marino	128 G.D.R.
9 Argentina	39Ecuador	69 Libya	99 Vatican	129 Singapore
10 Australia	40 Spain	70 Liechtenst	100 Senegal	130 Oman
11 Austria	41 Ethiopa	71Luxemburg	101 S . Leone	131 Bahrain
12 Belgium	42 Finland	72 malaysia	102 Somalia	132 Korea PDR
13 Myanmar	43 Gabon	73 Malawi	103 Sudan	133 Seychelles
14 Bolivia	44 Ghana	74 Madagascar	104 Sweden	134 Malta
15 Bhutan	45 U.K.	75 Mali	105 Switzerland	135 Djibouti
16 Brazil	46 Greece	76 Morocco	106 SYRIA	136 Comoros
17 Bulgaria	47 Guatemala	77 Mauritania	107Tanzania	137 Angola
18 Burundi	48 Guinea	78 Mexico	108 Chad	138 Equ . Guinea
19 Cambodia	49 Haiti	79 Monaco	109 Czech. Rep.	139 Zimbabwe
20 Cameroon	50 Burkina F.	80 Nepal	110Thailand	140 Cape Verde
21 Canada	51 Honduras	81 Nicaraqua	111 Togo	141Gu.-Bissau
22 C.A.R.	52 Hungary	82 Niger	112 Trinidad	190 Quebec
23 Sri Lanka	53 India	83 Nigeria	113 Tunisia	191 Int.Court of justice
24 Chile	54 Indonesia	84 Norway	114 Turkey	193 Korea PDR
25 Taiwan	55 Iraq	85 New Zealand	115 Russian F.
26 China	56 Iran	86 Uganda	116 Uruguay
27Cyprus	57 Ireland	87 Pakistan	117 Venezuela
28 Colombia	58 Iceland	88 Panama	118 Vietnam
29 Congo	59 Israel	89 Paraguay	119 Yemen