San Marino's plates run on an unbroken statutory chain back to a 1922 Regolamento whose article 11 is still, a century later, the formal target of amendment. Not an EU member, so no Euro-band has ever appeared. Blue characters on white have held since 1986 — and since July 2023 that blue is pinned to a named standard, RAL 5017.
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A widely repeated claim puts the RSM initials' removal at the 2022 redesign. It is off by 37 years: the 1986 decree replaced the 1922 spec with one listing only the arms, the "Repubblica di San Marino" legend and the number. RSM survives today only as the separate white oval nationality sign and on the historic-vehicle plate.
Decreto 18 dicembre 1986 n. 151 art. 1
One letter, added by name, in 2022
The ordinary alphabet grew from 19 to exactly 20 letters in 2022 with the addition of U — a plate beginning with U can only be from the current series. D, E, I, O, Q and R stay excluded: I, O and Q for legibility, R and E because they belong to trailers and export plates.
Decreto Delegato 16 settembre 2022 n. 132 art. 3
A plate designed to look old
The historic-vehicle plate's reflective film is specified as "pellicola riflettente con effetto ingiallente" — deliberately yellowing — a statute prescribing the appearance of age rather than merely permitting it.
Decreto 15 marzo 2006 n. 65 art. 2
Frames are illegal
San Marino bans license-plate frames outright — and mounting screws must be non-reflective and may not sit over the numbers, the arms, or the inspection sticker.
Legge 10 marzo 1989 n. 23 art. 18
standard plates
5
the default series issued to private road vehicles
RSM
The earliest registration the law reaches was never a plate at all: the 1922 Regolamento required RSM and the number to be painted directly onto the front of the vehicle, with an actual plate only at the rear.
RSM is the Republic itself — Repubblica di San Marino — followed by a plain number: with a fleet this small, the country's initials plus a counter were the whole system for sixty years.
RSM
Repubblica di San Marino — Republic of San Marino
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
~1922–1986documented from 1922 — the format is likely olderissued for: car, van, truck, bus, motorcycle
Standard 1986
Nothing to decode, and that is the story: the 1986 reform stripped even RSM off the ordinary plate, leaving five bare digits — the entire national fleet, simply counted.
In the sample, 9 for any digit.
1986–1993issued for: car, van, truck, bus
Standard 1993
The letter is a counter, not a code: it steps forward once the four digits are spent. A San Marino plate can tell you roughly when it was issued, never where — the whole country is one registration district.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit.
1993–2023issued for: car, van, truck, bus
Standard 2022
The current plate split from its 1993 ancestor for one reason: the front plate shrank to 300×100 mm to fit sports cars with shallow recesses, while the rear stayed 390×120 — the same car now legally carries two different plate sizes at once.
Still letter-plus-counter, but the alphabet is curated: D, E, I, O, Q and R are skipped — some too easily misread, others already claimed by the export and trailer series — and U was only admitted in 2022, as the plate's twentieth letter.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit.
~2022 → todaydocumented from 2022 — the format is likely olderissued for: car, van, truck, bus
Standard 2022 300×100 mm
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit.
~2022 → todaydocumented from 2022 — the format is likely olderissued for: car, van, truck, bus
electric plates
2
EV-distinct plates or suffixes (German E, CN green plates)
Electric VE
VE stands for Veicolo Elettrico — electric vehicle — printed green like everything else on the plate. Take-up was so small that the whole green-plate experiment was wound up within four years.
VE
Veicolo Elettrico — electric vehicle
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
2019–2023issued for: car, van
Electric VE motorcycle
Same VE — Veicolo Elettrico — but the motorcycle version carries four digits where the car plate has three: a rare case of the smaller vehicle getting the longer number.
VE
Veicolo Elettrico — electric vehicle
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
2019–2023issued for: motorcycle, moped
motorcycle plates
1
reduced-size series for motorcycles where format/design differs
Motorcycle
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit.
~1993 → todaydocumented from 1993 — the format is likely olderissued for: motorcycle
moped plates
1
insurance/registration plates for mopeds (NL/DE small plates)
Moped
Contrary to a persistent claim, mopeds have no letter block of their own: the letter is drawn from the same ordinary alphabet as every car plate — no instrument has ever reserved a moped letter.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit.
~1993 → todaydocumented from 1993 — the format is likely olderissued for: moped
agricultural plates
2
farm vehicles/equipment where separately serialized
Agricultural MA
MA stands for Macchine Agricole: farm machinery on San Marino's only yellow plate. Its sibling MO series — works machinery — came from the same decree wearing the opposite scheme, green on white.
MA
Macchine Agricole — agricultural machinery
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
~1990 → todaydocumented from 1990 — the format is likely olderissued for: tractor, machine, trailer
Machinery MO
MO is Macchine Operatrici — works machinery. Its deliberate twin is the MA agricultural plate, created by the same decree: green-on-white for the building site, black-on-yellow for the farm.
MO
Macchine Operatrici — works machinery
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
~1990 → todaydocumented from 1990 — the format is likely olderissued for: machine
trailer plates
1
trailers and semi-trailers where separately serialized
Trailer R
The leading R marks a trailer, numbered from 900 upward. Small tag-along carrelli get no number of their own — just a repeater plate copying the towing car's, stamped with a tiny red R, 21 millimetres tall.
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
~1986 → todaydocumented from 1986 — the format is likely olderissued for: trailer, semitrailer
historic plates
2
vintage/oldtimer regimes (German H, ES historico)
Historic H
The H prefix marks a certified historic vehicle; no instrument spells out what H abbreviates. The design is deliberate nostalgia — RSM, dropped from ordinary plates in 1986, returns here as it did on the pre-1976 originals it imitates.
RSM
Repubblica di San Marino — Republic of San Marino
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
~2006 → todaydocumented from 2006 — the format is likely olderissued for: car, van, motorcycle
Historic H 280.8×203.6 mm
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
~2006 → todaydocumented from 2006 — the format is likely olderissued for: car, van, motorcycle
personalized plates
1
owner-chosen serials inside an official frame
Personalized
The one San Marino plate where the characters mean exactly what you pay them to mean: the combination is the owner's own choice, at EUR 900 a pair — provided it includes a digit and offends no one.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit.
~2003 → todaydocumented from 2003 — the format is likely olderissued for: car, van
dealer plates
1
trade/garage plates bound to a business, not a vehicle
Prova
PROVA is simply Italian for "test". The plate belongs to the trade, not the vehicle — "trasferibile da veicolo a veicolo", says the instrument — moving from car to car as each goes out on trial.
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
~2007 → todaydocumented from 2007 — the format is likely olderissued for: car, van, truck, motorcycle
export plates
1
plates for vehicles leaving the jurisdiction permanently
Export E
The red E marks the export series: provisional plates for vehicles leaving San Marino permanently, set apart from every other series by monochrome national arms and plain black characters.
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
~1990 → todaydocumented from 1990 — the format is likely olderissued for: car, van, truck, motorcycle
government plates
1
civil government fleets with distinct series
Red Cross CRS
CRS is the Croce Rossa Sammarinese — San Marino's own Red Cross — in red on white, a colour scheme no other current series in the Republic is allowed to wear.
CRS
Croce Rossa Sammarinese — Sammarinese Red Cross
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
~1989 → todaydocumented from 1989 — the format is likely olderissued for: car, van, ambulance
police plates
2
police fleets where distinct from government
Police
One word covers three forces: the single POLIZIA legend serves all the Republic's corps — Gendarmeria, Polizia Civile and Guardia di Rocca — so nothing on the plate tells you which one is behind the wheel.
In the sample, 9 for any digit.
~1986 → todaydocumented from 1986 — the format is likely olderissued for: car, van, motorcycle
Police 300×100 mm
In the sample, 9 for any digit.
~1986 → todaydocumented from 1986 — the format is likely olderissued for: car, van, motorcycle
diplomatic plates
2
diplomatic corps (embassy) issuance, usually its own decode
Diplomatic CD 1976
The only pearl-grey plate San Marino has ever issued, and the only one with two shades of blue on the same metal: dark "blu" for RSM and the digits, lighter "azzurro" for the CD.
CD is the Corpo Diplomatico, and this pearl-grey plate kept RSM alive after the ordinary series dropped it — painting the two in different blues: "blu" for RSM and the digits, lighter "azzurro" for the CD.
CD
Corpo Diplomatico — diplomatic corps
RSM
Repubblica di San Marino — Republic of San Marino
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
1976–1986issued for: car, van
Diplomatic CD 1986
CD — Corpo Diplomatico — with numbering opened at 01, so the serial is a straight count of accredited diplomatic vehicles. Since 2022 the CD prints red against blue digits, a two-tone effect written into the decree itself.
CD
Corpo Diplomatico — diplomatic corps
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
~1986 → todaydocumented from 1986 — the format is likely olderissued for: car, van
