Аргентинские автомобильные номерные знаки: История и эволюция

Argentina vehicle license plates

Argentine license plates (in Spanish, chapas patentes or simply patentes) are used to uniquely identify motor vehicles on the roads of Argentina. The current system employs three letters followed by three digits, issued consecutively, but the license plate system underwent significant changes before the use of this format. The history of license plates in Argentina can be broken down in two major phases, the decentralized phase (until 1972) and the centralized one (since 1972). During the decentralized phase, license plates were assigned by each municipality or by the provinces, while during the second phase, the national state took charge of standardizing and centralizing the design and style.

The first formal patents were issued in the early 1900s, although few records of them exist. The period between 1916 and 1969 was the most prolific in designs. Each district was allowed to issue its own license plates.

In 1958, under Decree Law 6582, the National Registry of Automotive Property (RNPA) was created. It is a body dependent on the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, whose mission is to regulate everything related to the registration of ownership of motor vehicles, subsequent procedures and pledge credits. Its first objective was to unify, regulate and standardize the different identifications or automotive patents, a task carried out until then by each municipality in the country autonomously. The format of the first license plates created by the RNPA, issued from June 1, 1964, consisted of a letter and six numerical digits printed in white in relief on a black background, and all its content was framed by a thin white painted box also in relief. The letter identified the province or district where the automobile was located, while the numbers were generated consecutively, although zoned according to the corresponding registry. These first patents used a somewhat small typeface that made it difficult to read them at a certain distance, especially when faced with police requirements. Due to this inconvenience, in the mid 1970s a new format of larger patent plate began to be issued, where the characters were larger and in which the white box was also eliminated, as can be seen in the photograph on the right. Although this considerably changed and improved the appearance of the patent plates themselves, it did not modify the patent system at all and kept the same numerical sequence. This change was observed more quickly in the Federal Capital and some districts of Greater Buenos Aires, although the vast majority of sectional registries began to issue the new plates between the end of 1970 and the beginning of 1971. However, between 1972 and 1973 many vehicles with the old format were also patented and re patented, but they were issued by those sections with little registration activity that took much longer to exhaust the number series (from 200 to 500 numbers) assigned to them by the RNPA during 1970. The vast majority were small towns in the interior of the provinces or far from the big cities; this was gradually regularized when each registry mentioned began to issue a new assigned number series, already with the patent plates in the definitive format.

The only two districts to exceed one million license plates issued were the province of Buenos Aires (in 1973 it exceeded one million and in 1984 two million) and the Federal Capital (in 1980 it reached one million). As the original format contemplated only six digits, a conflict was unexpectedly generated by incorporating another new digit using the same plate format and its typography, but the issue was quickly resolved by moving the province identification letter a little upwards and adding a number extra below it representing just the unit of a million.

In 1994 the government decreed that all vehicles sold on or after January 1, 1995 were to have a new license plate design, used vehicles would get new plates upon re sale after that date, and all other vehicles would be issued with new plates in stages. The new design consists of three letters followed by three digits, and removes any clues identifying the vehicle's province of origin. This was advertised as a federalist move from the government. In a move to simplify the transition, all plates issued to vehicles sold prior to the cut off date started with the letter R (and successively S, T, U, V, W, and part of the X series), while vehicles being registered for the first time received plates in a series starting alphabetically with AAA 000. The lettering is impressed in white on a black background. The plates also have a white frame with the word Argentina at the top, screened in light blue. All materials are reflective, to improve visibility on the road. Some plates feature a small "D" or "T" between the letters and the numbers, denoting that this plate is a duplicate or triplicate when the previous plate or plates had been damaged, lost or stolen. In some provinces, unofficial stickers, with the province name printed in the same type and size of the word "Argentina", were issued and sold to be added to the bottom edge of the plate, as a way to identify the province (as in the old plate pattern). This system, however, did not become popular and was rarely used.

In October 2014 the design of the new license plate to be used by all Mercosur countries was officially presented. It consists of a plate of , with a white background, the characters and frame in black and a blue band at the top that shows the name of the country, its flag and the Mercosur logo. The typeface used is FE Schrift. In Argentina, the serial format is AA 000 AA, allowing a total of 450 million combinations. The system started with AA 000 AA, AA 000 AB AA 000 AZ, AA 000 BA AA 000 ZZ, AA 001 AA
By January 2017, there were plates with license numbers as high as AA 950 AA. It is expected the AB series to start in February 2017. Series AC started in December 2017, while AD started in November 2018. As of April 2019, the highest number is AD530.

ImageTypeSerial formatDesignDiplomatic CorpsCD 1234 or CD 1234black on white; longer plate size; variety of manufacturing stylesD123xxA  Consular corpsCC 1234orange on teal; "Rep. Argentina" legend; longer plate sizeC123xxA  Special missionsME 1234orange on teal; "Rep. Argentina" legend; longer plate sizeM123xxA  International organizationOI 1234orange on teal; "Rep. Argentina" legend; longer plate sizeI123xxA  Non diplomatic embassy staff (personal auxiliar)PA 1234orange on teal; "Rep. Argentina" legend; longer plate sizeA123xxAMotorcycle123/ABCUntil 2010. White on black; vertically at left is one letter province code over a horizontal line over "RNPA".123 ABCStarting in 2010. Registro Nacional de la Patente AutomotorABC 12white on black; "RNPA" and "Republica Argentina" legendsTemporaryRAB 1234possibly UAB 1234red on white; made of paperTrailer101 ABC 123; alpha numeric sequence matches that of primary moversame design as standard plate but with narrower serial charactersTransporte Nacional de CargasABC 123teal on yellow; more square plate