Vehicle registration plates of Macau
In Macau, vehicle registration marks have been issued by the Transport Bureau since 2008. The bureau does not provide the registration plates themselves; these are made by garages and vehicle accessory shops at the owners' request.
Overview
Macanese registration plates follow the common system adopted for all the Portuguese overseas territories in the 1950s which, in turn, was based on the system introduced on Mainland Portugal in 1937.All vehicles must display two plates: one at the front, and one at the rear. Depending on the width of the recess, either a rectangular or square plate is fitted – although a mix of both types is also possible. Two-wheeled vehicles are always fitted with a single square plate on the rear. Both front and rear plates are identical in design: white alphanumerics on a black background. In the case of commercial vehicles, yellow characters are used instead. Buses have been fitted with yellow-on-black plates since 2000.
Format
The initial series simply consisted of the letter M followed by a hyphen and up to three digits with no leading zeroes.In the 1960s, the system was revised to include two pairs of double digits. The first registration issued in this format was M-00-01.
Once M-99-99 had been reached in the 1980s, the system underwent another change to include a sequential serial letter after the 'M' prefix – the first registration issued in this format was MA-00-01. Registrations in the range MA-00-01 to MA-09-99 are reserved for government vehicles – e.g. MA-00-01 is allocated to the vehicle of the Chief Executive of Macau SAR.
As of October 2023, the current allocated prefix is AB.
Two-wheeled vehicles
Motorcycles whose engine capacity is greater than 51cc are fitted with a single, square registration plate from the same series as regular vehicles.Mopeds, on the other hand, are furnished with plates which follow a unique format: CM-xdddd where CM stands for Ciclomotor", x is a digit between 1 and 9, and d is a digit in the range 0-9. Unlike regular Macanese registration plates, these feature black characters on a white background.
Special plates
- Plates with the EX prefix are issued temporarily to vehicles which are pending formal examination and registration. These plates can have up to 4 digits, and feature white characters on a red background. They are issued exclusively by IAM.
- Plates with the ES prefix are issued to car dealers, enabling them to use an unregistered vehicle on the public road. These plates are red-on-white, and can feature up to 3 digits without leading zeroes. They are also issued exclusively by IAM.
- Plates with the ZA prefix are reserved for the People's Liberation Army in Macau. These plates are produced to Mainland Chinese standards, but retain the design of standard Macanese license plates.
- Plates with the T prefix are issued to vehicles registered outside the Macau SAR which can be driven on public roads under a temporary permit for import. These plates are yellow-on-black, and can feature up to 3 digits; they are issued by DSAT.
- Plates with the HK prefix are issued to vehicles registered in Hong Kong. They maintain the white-on-black colour scheme of standard Macanese license plates. Introduced in 2018, these plates are issued jointly by the Hong Kong and Macau SAR Governments and are regulated by a quota system, limiting allocation to vehicles owned by individuals or companies with business interests in Macau. Since their introduction, only 4,500 plates have been issued.