MiscellaneousEswatini: National Vehicle Standard: Specification for Vehicle Number Plates – Aluminium

April 2, 2024

Eswatini: National Vehicle Standard: Specification for Vehicle Number Plates – Aluminium

 

The African Kingdom of Eswatini has published a new standard for vehicle number plates:

PRD/SZNS ARS 1375: 2023 Vehicle Standards – Specification for Vehicle Number Plates – Aluminium.

The standard specifies the requirements for the materials, sizes and retro-reflectivity of aluminium number plates, including tests for reflective performance, longevity and durability. The type and size of number plates and characters to be embossed on number plates for countries using Latin alphabet characters and Arabic numeral characters are also specified.

The size of number plates and characters for countries using Arabic alphabet characters as well as painted metal or plastic types of number plates are out of scope for this standard.

Other relevant documents mentioned in the standard are:

  • ASTM G154: Standard practice for operating fluorescent ultraviolet (UV) lamp apparatus for exposure of non-metallic materials
  • CIE 15: Colorimetry, 3 Edition
  • CIE 54.2: Retro-reflection – Definition and measurement
  • ISO 7591: Road vehicles – Retro reflective registration plates for motor vehicles and trailers

The proposed date of adoption is the 13 April 2024.

The principles incorporated in this specification are to focus on items which are likely to be possible to harmonise across a wide range of countries so as to encourage and facilitate harmonisation in order to minimise costs rather than to attempt to standardize on the identification of country.

The number plates covered in this draft are limited to aluminium blanks, number plate sizes, reflective material quality and various tests to ensure a reasonable durability and good legibility of the alpha numeric characters by human eye and by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR). It is vital that the character style used is constant throughout the regions.

It is understood that the painting versions of number plates and the plastic types of number plates are more likely to suffer reduction in quality or deviation from a standard than the type specified in this standard.

Opportunities to standardize on sizes to enhance the possibility of international trade appear to be evident from the large number of variations currently in use in Africa and globally – see list for discussion and illustration of the need to harmonise in the Bibliography.

Acknowledgement is given to the following publications for the assistance derived from them:

  1. a) The South African Bureau of Standards – SANS 1116 – Retro-reflective number plates for motor vehicles – Parts 1 and 2: 2016
  2. b) The Malawi Bureau of Standards DMS 639-1:2011 – Draft Malawi Standard – Retro reflective registration plates for motor vehicles – Specification Part 1: Blank Plates (Aluminium)
  3. c) The Zambia Bureau of Standards ZS 266: 2017 – Reflex-Reflecting vehicle number plates –  Specification
  4. d) International Standard ISO 7591, Road vehicles – Retro-reflective registration plates for motor vehicles and trailers

The full text of the standard is available HERE.

To find out more about vehicle regulations in Africa, please contact the Institute for Global Automotive Regulatory Research directly.

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