S.I. No. 287/1990:

ROAD VEHICLES (REGISTRATION AND LICENSING) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1990.

ROAD VEHICLES (REGISTRATION AND LICENSING) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1990.

The Minister for the Environment in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 5, 6 and 12 of the Roads Act, 1920 hereby makes the following Regulations:--

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) (Amendment) Regulations, 1990.

2. These Regulations and the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations, 1982 to 1987 shall be construed as one and may be cited as the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations, 1982 to 1990.

3. The Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations, 1982 ( S.I. No. 311 of 1982 ) are hereby amended by:--

( a ) the insertion into the Second Schedule thereto of the following:

( b ) the insertion into Part II of the Third Schedule thereto after the words "Provisions to be complied with in respect of vehicles first registered on or after the 1st day of January, 1987" of the words "but not later than the 31st day of December, 1990";

( c ) the addition of the following paragraph to Part II of the Third Schedule thereto:

"10. The provisions of this Part of this Schedule shall be deemed to be complied with if the identification mark exhibited on the vehicle complies with the provisions of Part III of this Schedule.";

( d ) the addition to the Third Schedule thereto of the following Part:

"PART III

Article 26

Form of Identification Marks.

Provisions to be complied with in respect of vehicles registered on or after the 1st day of January, 1991.

1. The identification mark of a vehicle shall be displayed on a rectangular plate in conformity with either diagram no. 9 or diagram no. 10 shown above.

2. ( a ) The plate on which an identification mark is exhibited shall not contain any words, letters, numbers, emblems or other marks of any kind other than those required under this Part.

( b ) The identification mark shall not incorporate the figure nought unless such figure forms part of the identification mark assigned to the vehicle by the licensing authority.

3. The plate on which an identification mark is exhibited shall exhibit the appropriate placename as set out in paragraph 4 of this Part, the flag of the European Communities and the letters IRL all of which shall be arranged in conformity with this Part.

4. The appropriate placename in relation to any vehicle means the name shown in the following Table corresponding to the index mark which is incorporated in the identification mark assigned to the vehicle under article 25 of these Regulations.

TABLE

Index Marks and Corresponding Placenames.

5. The periphery of the plate shall be marked all around by a black border having a stroke width of 5 millimetres.

6. The identification mark shall be exhibited on a metal or plastic plate.

7. An identification mark which is exhibited on a metal plate shall be embossed by being raised above the flat surface of the plate and shall form part of the plate.

8. An identification mark which is exhibited on a plastic plate shall be affixed with an adhesive substance to the rear of the plate and be so affixed that it cannot be readily detached therefrom.

9. A plastic plate on which an identification mark is exhibited shall be constructed of transparent material of at least 2.5 millimetres in thickness.

10. The identification mark and place name shall be formed of black characters and shall be exhibited on white reflex reflective material so that the identification mark appears at all times from the front of the plate as black characters on a white background.

11. The flag of the European Communities shall appear as a circle of twelve gold stars against a blue background (of a colour shade generally known as royal blue); the centre points of the twelve stars shall form a circle with a radius of 15 millimetres and the straight lines forming the apexes of the stars shall be 4 millimetres in length.

12. The letters IRL shall appear in white letters on the blue background of the flag of the European Communities underneath the circle of stars and each such letter shall have a height of 20 millimetres and a stroke width of 4 millimetres. The total width of the space taken by each of the letters R and L shall be 12 millimetres. The distances between adjoining letters shall be uniform.

13. The blue background and gold stars of the flag of the European Communities and the white letters IRL shall be formed of reflex reflective material.

14. The place name shall appear in black letters above the identification mark and each letter of the placename shall have a height of not less than 12 millimetres and a stroke width of not less than 3 millimetres. The total width of the space taken by each letter (other than the letter 1) shall be not less than 9 millimetres. Where an accented vowel occurs in the placename the length accent character shall have a height of 2 millimetres above the letter. The distances between the nearest parts of adjoining letters shall be uniform. Where the placename comprises more than one word the distances between the nearest letters of adjoining words shall be uniform and not less than three times the distance between adjoining letters.

15. The identification mark shall appear in black characters and each letter or figure shall have a height of 70 millimetres and a stroke width of 10 millimetres. The total width of the space taken by each letter or figure (other than the letter "I" or the number "1") shall be 36 millimetres. The distances between adjoining letters and adjoining figures shall be uniform and shall be not less than 8 millimetres.

16. The distance between the inner edge of the blue background of the flag of the European Communities and the first letter of the placename shall be equal to the distance between the last letter of the placename and the inner edge of the black border on the right-hand side of the plate and shall not be less than 8 millimetres.

17. In the case of an identification mark which is exhibited on a plate in conformity with Diagram No. 9 shown above:

( a ) the external size of the plate shall be 520 millimetres in width and 110 millimetres in height;

( b ) the blue background of the flag of the European Communities shall extend vertically from the inner edge of the black border at the top of the plate to the inner edge of the black border at the bottom of the plate and shall extend horizontally for a distance of 40 millimetres from the inner edge of black border on the left-hand side of the plate;

( c ) the distance between the inner edge of the blue background of the flag of the European Communities and the first figure of the identification mark shall be equal to the distance between the last figure of the identification mark and the inner edge of the black border on the right-hand side of the plate and shall not be less than 8 millimetres;

( d ) the index mark shall be separated from adjoining figures on each side of the index mark by a hyhen with a stroke width of 10 millimetres which shall extend horizontally for a distance of 22 millimetres; the distances between each hyphen and the nearest part of any adjoining letter or figure shall be uniform and shall not be less than 10 millimetres;

( e ) the margin between the inner edge of the black border at the top of the plate and the nearest part of any letter in the placename (excluding any length accent) shall be 5 millimetres in height;

( f ) the space between the nearest part of any letter of the placename and any letter or figure of the identification mark shall be not less than 4 millimetres in height;

( g ) the space between the nearest part of any letter or figure of the identification mark and the inner edge of the black border at the bottom of the plate shall be not less than 8 millimetres in height.

18. In the case of an identification mark which is exhibited on a plate in conformity with Diagram No. 10 shown above:

( a ) the external size of the plate shall be 340 millimetres in width and 220 millimetres in height;

( b ) the blue background of the flag of the European Communities shall be located at the top left-hand corner of the plate and shall extend vertically downwards from the inner edge of the black border at the top of the plate for a distance of 100 millimetres and shall extend horizontally from the inner edge of the black border at the left-hand side of the plate for a distance of 40 millimetres;

( c ) the distance between the inner edge of the blue background of the flag of the European Communities and the first figure of the identification mark shall be equal to the distance between the last letter of the index mark and the inner edge of the black border on the right-hand side of the plate;

( d ) the index mark shall be separated from the figures on the upper line of the identification mark by a hyphen with a stroke width of 10 millimetres which shall extend horizontally for a distance of 22 millimetres; the distances between the hyphen and the nearest part of any adjoining letter or figure shall be uniform and shall not be less than 10 millimetres;

( e ) the distance between the inner edge of the black border at the left-hand side of the plate and the nearest figure on the lower line of the identification mark shall be equal to the distance between the last figure on that line and the inner edge of the black border at the right-hand side of the plate and shall not be less than 40 millimetres;

( f ) the margin between the inner edge of the black border at the top of the plate and the nearest part of any letter in the placename (excluding any length accent) shall be 12mm in height;

( g ) the space between the nearest part of any letter of the placename and the nearest part of any character in the upper line of the identification mark shall be not less than 12 millimetres in height;

( h ) the space between the upper and lower line of the identification mark shall be not less than 12 mm in height;

( i ) the margin between the lower line of the identification mark and the inner edge of the black border at the bottom of the plate shall be not less than 12 millimetres in height.

19. In the case of an identification mark and plate exhibited on a bicycle, an invalid carriage or a pedestrian-controlled vehicle:

( a ) any of the dimensions prescribed in paragraph 5, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 or 18 of this Part may be reduced to an amount which is not less than half of the amount so prescribed, and

( b ) the plate bearing the identification mark need not be rectangular provided that the letters and figures thereon comply as nearly as possible with the arrangement shown in Diagram No. 9 or Diagram No. 10 shown above or as described in paragraph 20 of this Part, as the case may be.

20. In the case of a bicycle, an invalid carriage or a pedestrian-controlled vehicle on which an identification mark is displayed on a plate generally of the type shown in Diagram No. 10 shown above and the dimensions of the identification mark or plate are reduced in accordance with paragraph 19 of this Part, the identification mark or plate shall not be held to be in contravention of this Part solely because:--

( a ) the flag of the European Communities is located at the bottom left-hand corner of the plate, and

( b ) part of the placename is located overhead the flag of the European Communities.

21. In the case of a vehicle which is provided with an indented space to accommodate a registration plate and the size of the space is such that it can accommodate neither a plate of the dimensions prescribed in paragraph 17 (a) of this Part nor a plate of the dimensions prescribed in paragraph 18 (a) of this Part, the dimensions prescribed in paragraph 5, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 or 18 of this Part may be reduced provided that the dimensions as so reduced comply as nearly as possible with the dimensions so prescribed.

22. An identification mark or plate shall not be held to be in contravention of this Part by reason only of failure to comply with the dimensions prescribed in this Part provided that:--

( a ) in the case of a prescribed dimension which is 70 millimetres or less, the difference between the dimension of the identification mark or plate and the prescribed dimension is not greater than 1 millimetre, and

( b ) in the case of a prescribed dimension which is greater than 70 millimetres, the difference between the dimension of the identification mark or plate and the prescribed dimension is not greater than 3 millimetres.

23. The provisions of paragraphs 1 to 22 of this Part shall not apply in the case of a large public service vehicle on which an identification mark is so constructed and used that it is illuminated by transparency or translucency and in such a case the characters of the identification mark shall appear white when the mark is so illuminated during lighting-up hours and shall appear at all other times white against a black background.

24. In this Part the word "plate" includes an unbroken surface forming part of the vehicle.".

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for the Environment

this 5th day of December, 1990.

PADRAIG FLYNN,

Minister for the Environment

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations require all registration plates for vehicles registered on or after 1 January, 1991 to incorporate:

--the full Irish language name of the city/county of registration, above the registration number,

--the flag of the European Communities, and

--the nationality symbol IRL for Irish-registered vehicles, fixed by a United Nations Convention on Road Traffic (Geneva, 1949).

The Regulations also prescribe dimensions and other technical requirements in relation to vehicle registration plates. Owners of vehicles registered since 1 January, 1987 have the option of converting to the format of registration plate prescribed in the Regulations.

These Regulations further provide a statutory basis for motor tax application form R.F. 100 recently introduced in relation to the first licensing and registration of certain vehicles.