This Regulation shall apply to vehicles registered in the Member States that are driven within the Community.

For the purposes of this Regulation:

1. 1.

   ‘distinguishing sign of the Member State of registration’ shall mean a set composed of one to three letters in Latin capitals indicating the Member State in which the vehicle is registered;

2. 2.

   ‘Vehicle’ shall mean any motor vehicle and its trailer as defined in:

   • Council Directive 70/156/EEC of 6 February 1970 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the type-approval of motor vehicles and their trailers5,

   • Council Directive 92/61/EEC of 30 June 1992 relating to the type-approval of two or three-wheel motor vehicles6.

Member States requiring vehicles registered in another Member State to display a distinguishing registration sign when they are being driven on their territory shall recognise the distinguishing sign of the Member State of registration displayed on the extreme left of the registration plate in accordance with the Annex to this Regulation as being equivalent to any other distinguishing sign that they recognise for the purpose of identifying the State in which the vehicle is registered.

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.