Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

requires its residents to register their

motor vehicle A motor vehicle, also known as motorized vehicle or automotive vehicle, is a self-propelled land vehicle, commonly wheeled, that does not operate on Track (rail transport), rails (such as trains or trams) and is used for the transportation of pe ...

s and display

vehicle registration plate A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate (British English), license plate (American English), or licence plate ( Canadian English), is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identificati ...

s. The current plate design was introduced in the 1990s, but some of the previous 1972 through 1990 design remain in use. All vehicles are required to display plates on the front and back. Peculiarly, in Colombia commercial vehicles are also required to display plates on the sides. This is usually done not with actual metal plates, but by a large

decal A decal (, , ) or transfer is a plastic, cloth, paper, or ceramic substrate that has printed on it a pattern or image that can be moved to another surface upon contact, usually with the aid of heat or water. The word is short for ''decalcom ...

of the license plate. This practice can also be found on taxis in neighboring Panama and Peru, but in Colombia all commercial vehicles and public transport vehicles must display them.

Current plate types

Previous plate types

References

External links