Artical 35. Registration

1. (a) In order to be entitled to the benefits of this Convention, every motor vehicle in international traffic, and every trailer, other than a light trailer, coupled to a motor vehicle shall be registered by a Contracting Party or a subdivision thereof, and the driver of the motor vehicle shall carry a valid certificate of such registration issued either by a competent authority of such Contracting Party or subdivision thereof or on behalf and by authorization of such Contracting Party or subdivision thereof by an association duly empowered thereto by that Contracting Party or subdivision thereof. This certificate, to be known as the registration certificate, shall bear the following particulars at least:

A serial number, to be known as the registration number, composed in the manner indicated in Annex 2 to this Convention;
The date of first registration of the vehicle;
The full name and home address of the holder of the certificate;
The name or the trademark of the maker of the vehicle;
The serial number of the chassis (the maker’s production or serial number);
In the case of a vehicle intended for the carriage of goods, the permissible maximum mass;
In the case of a vehicle intended for the carriage of goods, the unladen mass;
The period of validity, if not unlimited.
The particulars entered in the certificate shall either be in Latin characters or so-called English cursive script only, or be repeated in that form.

(b) Contracting Parties or subdivisions thereof may, however, decide that the year of manufacture, instead of the date of first registration, shall be entered on certificates issued in their territories.

(c) In the case of motor vehicles of categories A and B as defined in Annex 6 and Annex 7 to this Convention and, if possible, for other motor vehicles:
            (i) The certificate shall be headed with the distinguishing sign of the State of registration as defined in Annex 3 to this Convention;
            (ii) The letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H respectively shall be placed before or after the eight items of information which are required under subparagraph (a) of this paragraph, to be shown on all registration certificates;
            (iii) The words Certificat d’immatriculation in French may be placed either before or after the title of the certificate in the national language (or languages) of the country of registration.

(d) For trailers, including semi-trailers, imported temporarily into a country by a mode of transport other than road transport, a photocopy of the registration certificate, certified as a true copy by the authority which issued the certificate, shall be considered sufficient.

2. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article, an articulated vehicle which is not disassembled while in international traffic shall be entitled to the benefits of the provisions of this Convention even if it has only a single registration and a single certificate for the drawing vehicle and semi-trailer composing it.

3. Nothing in this Convention shall be construed as limiting the right of Contracting Parties or subdivisions thereof to require, in the case of a vehicle in international traffic which is not registered in the name of a person travelling in it, proof of the driver’s right to be in possession of the vehicle.

4. It is recommended that Contracting Parties should set up, if they have not already done so, a service responsible for keeping, at the national or regional level, a record of motor vehicles brought into use and a centralized record, for each vehicle, of the particulars entered in each certificate of registration.