The Law On 4D Plates In Ireland
With an increasing interest from car enthusiast around Ireland for 4D License Plates, one big question looms that no one seems to be talking about...
What are the laws on 4D Plates and are they legal?
Well lets dive right in.
For all you hasty readers, the simple answer is... Yes, 4D license plates are in fact legal in Ireland.
It all comes down to how the plate is put together.
The Laws on Vehicle Registration plates in Ireland are very specific and plates must conform to a certain standard in order for them to be deemed "road legal" in the eyes of the law.
Here are 6 key points which determine whether a license plate is road legal or not:
- Text
- Boarder
- Placename
- European Flag
- Font Size and Spacing
- White Reflective Background
These 6 components must be present and correctly displayed on the plate in order for it to be road legal.
Text:
License plate text must be displayed in Black colour. The license plate font must be easily readable, contain the car year of registration, county of registration and vehicle issued number for that years period.
Boarder:
A solid black boarder must envelope the edges of the license plate width of 5 millimetres.
Placename:
The name of the county, when represented above the registration characters on a number plate, must always be written in Irish.
European Flag:
The letters "IRL" and the European Union flag of 12 gold stars, arranged in a circle on a background with a blue reflective finish must be present to the left side of the plate.
Font Size and Spacing:
Each character will have a height of 70 millimetres and a stroke width of 10 millimetres. The width of space taken by each character (other than the letter “I” or the number “I”) shall be no less than 36 millimetres and no more than 50 millimetres. The distances between letters and figures shall be uniform.
White Reflective Background:
All characters and placename must be formed in black and must be presented on white reflective material so that characters appear at all times on the plate as black characters on a white background.
So what about 4D plates then?
Well here's the good news...
Nowhere in the Irish Statute Book does it say that text on a license plate cannot be raised.
So long as the numbers are not easily removable, and the plate displays the key 6 components correctly, It's all 100% Legal.
Now, there are some things to take note of.
We here at Paradox Plates ensure that all our plates have a fully road legal standard option to choose from. Plates that are considers road legal will be marked with "RL".
Example: 4D Plates IRL Font - Standard (RL)
Anything that does not included "RL" when selecting your plate option, you may run the risk of potential problems with An Garda Síochána and your NCT.
Now we all know how it goes.
If you do have a 4D plate that does not include one or more of the key legal features, the chances of finding yourself in trouble can just be down to the person you're dealing with at the time.
Some are real sticklers for the rules, some are a lot more relaxed.
We do recommend when buying a 4D plate or any plate for that matter, that you do stick to the legal format for public road driving. Anything outside of this, for shows, car meets etc, you can pretty much display whatever you want.
But, at the end of the day, it's your own choice for what you want to go for.
If you would like to purchase a 4D plate now, just click "Here" and find one that suits your taste.
If you have any question or concerns, feel free to drop us an email at info@paradoxplates.com, and we'll get back to you in a flash.
Everything provided in this article is our own condensed overview based on the public legal information presented on the Irish Statute Book under Article:
S.I. No. 432/1999 - Vehicle Registration and Taxation (Amendment) Regulations, 1999.
If you would like to read this article in full detail, please click "Here".