vehicles 0.4.1 → 0.8.0

data/data/plates/ca-nl.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,743 @@
+# plates/ca-nl.yml — Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada (PRD-PLATES gate L2/L3,
+# Canada east wave).
+#
+# NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR DOES NOT CALL IT A LICENCE PLATE OR A NUMBER PLATE.
+# The Highway Traffic Act's term of art is IDENTIFICATION PLATE, defined at s. 2:
+# "'identification plate' means an identification plate issued under this Act in
+# respect of a vehicle". "Number plate" appears exactly once in the whole
+# consolidation, in the marginal note to s. 32 ("number plate capable of being
+# confused with identification plate or marker"). The province also issues
+# MARKERS and DECALS as separate objects under s. 34. A consumer searching this
+# jurisdiction's law for "licence plate" will find nothing; that is recorded here
+# so nobody repeats the search.
+#
+# FOUR STRUCTURAL FACTS THAT SHAPE THIS FILE
+#
+# 1. THE PLATE'S ENTIRE CONTENT IS THE REGISTRAR'S, IN ONE SENTENCE. HTA s. 16(2),
+#    verbatim: "The registrar shall issue, in respect of a vehicle that has been
+#    registered, (a) a numbered vehicle licence in a form prescribed by the
+#    registrar; and (b) ONE OR MORE IDENTIFICATION PLATES AS DETERMINED BY THE
+#    REGISTRAR, AND THE IDENTIFICATION PLATES SHALL BE DISTINCTIVE AND NUMBERED AS
+#    THE REGISTRAR MAY DETERMINE." That is the whole statutory specification: how
+#    many plates, what they look like and how they are numbered are all one
+#    official's discretion. s. 16(4) adds that the registrar "may issue different
+#    vehicle licences and identification plates in respect of different classes of
+#    vehicles or in respect of the same class of vehicle used for different
+#    purposes" — the statutory basis for the class-letter system in
+#    `common.class_letters`, without naming a single letter.
+#
+# 2. PLATE COUNT IS A CLASS SIGNAL AND THE ACT MAKES IT VISIBLE. s. 30(2),
+#    verbatim: a driver or owner shall ensure that "(a) where ONE plate is issued,
+#    that the plate is clearly visible from the REAR of the vehicle; and (b) where
+#    2 plates are issued, one plate is clearly visible from the FRONT of the
+#    vehicle and the other plate is clearly visible from the rear." The Act never
+#    says WHICH classes get two — that is s. 16(2)(b) discretion — but the
+#    secondary record is consistent that buses, trucks, emergency vehicles and
+#    government vehicles carry two while private cars carry one.
+#
+# 3. THE CLASS LETTER IS THE ONLY DECODE, AND IT IS ENTIRELY SECONDARY. Every
+#    Newfoundland and Labrador series shares one three-letter three-numeral
+#    skeleton and is separated only by its leading letter or letter pair — A/H/J
+#    private car, B bus, C truck, D dealer, E emergency, F farm, G government,
+#    K trail bike, M motorcycle, PR apportioned, S snowmobile, T trailer, TX taxi,
+#    W tow truck, X heavy machinery, V off-road and veteran, VO1/VO2 amateur radio,
+#    AA antique, FF firefighter. NO INSTRUMENT STATES ANY OF IT. The table is
+#    inlined in `common.class_letters`, tagged `secondary-wikipedia`, and every
+#    series below that relies on it says so.
+#
+# 4. THE BASE HAS CHANGED FOUR TIMES SINCE 2007 WITHOUT THE FORMAT MOVING ONCE.
+#    The pitcher-plant base ran from April 2007, was interrupted by the
+#    "COME HOME 2022" base for calendar 2022, resumed in January 2023, was
+#    interrupted again by the "1949 - 2024 / 75" confederation-anniversary base for
+#    calendar 2024, and resumed in November 2025 with the province name in black.
+#    Four bases, one format (ABC 123), continuous serial allocation across all of
+#    them. Each interruption is authored as its own series because the DESIGN and
+#    the PERIOD both differ (PRD-PLATES §2.3), and they overlap the pitcher-plant
+#    series by construction — the parallel-issuance case §2.2 contemplates.
+#
+# SEPARATOR NOTE (PRD-PLATES §2.6): the serial prints as a gap. Every `pattern`
+# spells the emitted space; every regex accepts it as optional.
+jurisdiction: ca-nl
+authority:
+  name: Motor Registration Division, Department of Digital Government and Service NL
+  url: "https://www.gov.nl.ca/motorregistration/plates/"
+binding: vehicle
+binding_note: >-
+  HTA s. 16(2) issues identification plates "in respect of A VEHICLE that has been
+  registered", and s. 33 lets a traffic officer seize a plate "that was not issued
+  for it". The physical plate is the Crown's: s. 28(1), verbatim, "Every licence,
+  identification plate, marker and permit that the registrar issues is and remains
+  the property of the Crown and shall be returned to the registrar on the
+  registrars request." (The consolidation prints "registrars" without an
+  apostrophe; quoted as found.) s. 28(2) is unusual and worth carrying: a person
+  who FINDS an unexpired plate that is not theirs "shall return the plate or
+  licence to the registrar or nearest traffic officer."
+instrument:
+  statute: "Highway Traffic Act, RSNL1990 c. H-3 — ss. 2 (definitions), 16 (registration and issuance of identification plates), 28 (Crown property), 30 (attachment), 31 (kept clean), 32 (confusable plates), 33 (seizure), 34 (other plates and markers), 35 (lost or mutilated), 41(3), 195 (regulations)"
+  sources:
+    - "https://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislation/sr/statutes/h03.htm  # Highway Traffic Act, RSNL1990 c. H-3, full consolidated text, fetched 2026-08-02 — every statutory quotation in this file"
+  licence: >-
+    The Highway Traffic Act is an EDICT OF GOVERNMENT and its text is
+    uncopyrightable (PRD-PLATES §4). Every verbatim statutory quotation here is of
+    that text.
+  regulations_not_read: >-
+    HTA s. 34 empowers the registrar to "issue other plates or markers that may be
+    prescribed in regulations made under section 195, in addition to the
+    identification plates referred to in section 16, which shall be displayed on
+    the vehicle in the manner that may be prescribed in the regulations." The
+    Motor Vehicle Registration Regulations under s. 195 were NOT located or read in
+    this pass and are the first place a verifier should look for anything about
+    plate appearance, colour or class letters. Recorded as the principal gap in
+    this file.
+
+artwork_risk:
+  posture: crown-copyright-asserted
+  basis: >-
+    Newfoundland and Labrador asserts Crown copyright: gov.nl.ca pages close with
+    "This page and all contents are copyright, Government of Newfoundland and
+    Labrador, all rights reserved." No provincial open licence covering plate
+    ARTWORK was located. The statute TEXT is free as an edict of government.
+  emblem_rule: >-
+    PRD-PLATES §3 placeholder default applies. The pitcher plant (the provincial
+    floral emblem, and the centrepiece of the provincial wordmark), the whale
+    graphic of the 2022 base, the provincial flag sections and the half maple leaf
+    of the 2024 base are all rendered `placeholder`. The pitcher-plant wordmark is
+    a government identifier likely to carry trade-mark protection independent of
+    copyright; unresearched, flagged.
+
+common:
+  terminology:
+    note: >-
+      THE STATUTE'S OWN WORD IS "IDENTIFICATION PLATE" — see the file header. HTA
+      s. 2, verbatim: "'identification plate' means an identification plate issued
+      under this Act in respect of a vehicle". The definition of "fictitious
+      identification plate or marker" then shows the family: "an identification
+      plate, STICKER OR MARKER which has not been issued under this Act or which has
+      not been issued for the registration year in which it is used or which is
+      attached to a vehicle other than that for which it was issued". Plates,
+      stickers and markers are three statutory objects, and snowmobile registrations
+      in this province are DECALS rather than plates (secondary).
+    source: "https://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislation/sr/statutes/h03.htm  # HTA s. 2 definitions"
+  issuance:
+    text: >-
+      HTA s. 16(2), verbatim: "The registrar shall issue, in respect of a vehicle
+      that has been registered, (a) a numbered vehicle licence in a form prescribed
+      by the registrar; and (b) one or more identification plates as determined by
+      the registrar, and the identification plates shall be distinctive and numbered
+      as the registrar may determine." s. 16(4), verbatim: "The registrar may issue
+      different vehicle licences and identification plates in respect of different
+      classes of vehicles or in respect of the same class of vehicle used for
+      different purposes."
+    consequence: >-
+      NOTHING ABOUT A NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR PLATE IS PRESCRIBED BY LAW except
+      that the registrar prescribes it. That is the weakest statutory frame in the
+      Canada east wave — weaker than Ontario's (which at least fixes display),
+      weaker than New Brunswick's and Prince Edward Island's (which fix content),
+      and far weaker than Nova Scotia's and Québec's. Consequently EVERY `format`
+      in this file is a secondary claim and every one says so.
+    source: "https://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislation/sr/statutes/h03.htm  # HTA s. 16(2),(4)"
+  display:
+    text: >-
+      HTA s. 30(1), verbatim: "A driver, owner, or a person having care or control
+      of a vehicle shall ensure that identification plates are securely fastened at
+      all times to the vehicle for which they are issued so as to prevent the plates
+      from swinging and are at a height of not less than 30 CENTIMETRES from the
+      ground measured from the bottom of each plate and in a place and position so
+      that the plate is clearly visible." s. 30(2): "(a) where one plate is issued,
+      that the plate is clearly visible from the rear of the vehicle; and (b) where
+      2 plates are issued, one plate is clearly visible from the front of the
+      vehicle and the other plate is clearly visible from the rear."
+    cleanliness: >-
+      s. 31, verbatim: "Each identification plate shall be kept free from dirt and
+      shall be so affixed and maintained that the numbers on it may at all times be
+      plainly visible and clearly legible and that the view of the plate shall not
+      be obstructed or obscured."
+    confusable: >-
+      s. 32, verbatim: "A plate or number capable of being confused with an
+      identification plate or the number on a plate shall not be exposed upon a part
+      of a vehicle."
+    note: "30 cm is the same minimum height as Nova Scotia (300 mm), New Brunswick (30 cm) and Prince Edward Island (300 mm). Four Atlantic statutes, one number, independently enacted — recorded in each file."
+    source: "https://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislation/sr/statutes/h03.htm  # HTA ss. 30(1)-(2), 31, 32, 33"
+  dimensions:
+    note: >-
+      NO NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR INSTRUMENT PRESCRIBES A PLATE SIZE. s. 16(2)(b)
+      leaves it to the registrar and the Act says nothing more. The 6 in x 12 in
+      North American convention is recorded on the series below as
+      `plate_basis: convention`.
+  charset:
+    note: >-
+      NO INSTRUMENT STATES A SERIAL ALPHABET OR ANY LETTER EXCLUSION, and no
+      secondary states one either — the Newfoundland and Labrador article, unlike
+      the Ontario, Nova Scotia and Québec articles, carries NO excluded-letter
+      claim. No `regex_strict` is authored anywhere in this file, and the absence is
+      a finding rather than an omission.
+  class_letters:
+    note: >-
+      TAGGED SECONDARY (PRD-PLATES §4, owner override 2026-08-02) — the whole table.
+      Inlined rather than put in `plates/_decode/` because PRD-PLATES §2.4 sends
+      LARGE, CLOSED, PRIMARY-SOURCED lists to a decode file and this is small
+      (nineteen rows) and not primary. It decodes VEHICLE CLASS, never geography:
+      a Newfoundland and Labrador serial encodes no region and no date.
+    rows:
+      - { code: "A", meaning: "private car", note: "AAA-001 from 1982, exhausted at AZZ-999 in 1998" }
+      - { code: "H", meaning: "private car", note: "the block after A — HAB-001 from autumn 1996, exhausted at HZZ-999 in summer 2013" }
+      - { code: "J", meaning: "private car", note: "the block after H — JAA-001 from summer 2013, current" }
+      - { code: "AA", meaning: "antique auto", note: "'Antique Auto' screened to the left of the serial; the article states cars must be at least 25 years old — the same age bar New Brunswick puts in its Act (MVA s. 1) and five years below Ontario's" }
+      - { code: "B", meaning: "bus", note: "BA for public-use buses, BP for private-use; two plates" }
+      - { code: "C", meaning: "truck / heavy vehicle", note: "pickups, SUVs and large vans; CAA-001 from 1982, exhausted at CZZ-999 in 2017, then CA0 001 onward; CR marks large mobile cranes; two plates" }
+      - { code: "D", meaning: "dealer" }
+      - { code: "E", meaning: "emergency vehicle", note: "fire and police, provincial or municipal; also search and rescue; two plates" }
+      - { code: "F", meaning: "farm vehicle", note: "FA farm tractors, FE farm equipment, FT farm trucks" }
+      - { code: "FF", meaning: "firefighter", note: "fire-department crest to the left of the serial" }
+      - { code: "G", meaning: "government vehicle", note: "GM municipal, GP provincial, GF federal; two plates" }
+      - { code: "K", meaning: "trail bike", note: "dual-purpose on/off-road motorcycles; same size and base as the motorcycle plate" }
+      - { code: "M", meaning: "motorcycle", note: "MCA-001 from 1982" }
+      - { code: "PR", meaning: "apportioned (International Registration Plan)", note: "transport trucks; PRP-001 from 1982, reached PRZ-999 in 2012, then PRA-001 onward" }
+      - { code: "S", meaning: "snowmobile", note: "issued as DECALS, not plates; older ones may be all-numeric; the current decal is black on white" }
+      - { code: "T", meaning: "trailer", note: "TAA-001 from 1982; TX is carved out for taxis" }
+      - { code: "TX", meaning: "licensed taxi", note: "supplemented by a municipal taxi licence sticker" }
+      - { code: "V", meaning: "off-road (quads and UTVs) in the VLL-999 shape; VETERAN in the V9999 shape", note: "ONE LETTER, TWO PROGRAMMES, DISTINGUISHED ONLY BY THE SHAPE OF WHAT FOLLOWS — the sharpest ambiguity in this table and the reason the two are authored as separate series" }
+      - { code: "VA", meaning: "veteran motorcycle" }
+      - { code: "VO1 / VO2", meaning: "amateur radio", note: "VO1 for the island of Newfoundland, VO2 for Labrador — the plate reproduces the holder's federal callsign and is NOT issued sequentially; per the article's citation to ISED's RIC-9 call-sign policy, plates run 5 or 6 characters" }
+      - { code: "W", meaning: "tow truck", note: "displayed IN ADDITION to a C-series plate — a genuine two-plate-two-series case" }
+      - { code: "X", meaning: "heavy machinery", note: "tractors, backhoes, forklifts" }
+    source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Newfoundland_and_Labrador  # TAGGED SECONDARY, read 2026-08-02: the whole 'Vehicle class' table, its per-letter notes and its last-issued serials. No Newfoundland and Labrador instrument states any of it."
+    source_statute: "https://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislation/sr/statutes/h03.htm  # HTA s. 16(4): the registrar 'may issue different vehicle licences and identification plates in respect of different classes of vehicles' — the statutory power the table above is an exercise of, and the only primary that touches it"
+
+classes_not_modelled:
+  electric:
+    exists: false
+    mechanism: >-
+      A PROTOTYPE THAT NEVER SHIPPED, and the government announced it. In November
+      2019 the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador published "Provincial
+      Government Highlights Prototype of Electric Vehicle Licence Plates" — a green
+      serial on white with the provincial wordmark — announced by the Premier at the
+      Drive Electric NL Electric Vehicle Showcase. The article states that as of
+      2023 the design had not been made available and that electric vehicles simply
+      use ordinary series plates.
+    why_not_modelled: >-
+      A DESIGN THAT WAS NEVER ISSUED IS NOT A SERIES. Recorded because the
+      government primary exists, because three of the six jurisdictions in this wave
+      DO have an electric series (Ontario, Québec, Prince Edward Island) and a
+      consumer will ask, and because the honest answer is "announced, prototyped,
+      not issued".
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.gov.nl.ca/releases/2019/exec/1120n06/  # Government of Newfoundland and Labrador news release, 20 November 2019, cited by the article. NOT FETCHED in this pass — cited as the known government primary, unread."
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Newfoundland_and_Labrador  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the prototype's description and the statement that it had not been issued as of 2023"
+  snowmobile:
+    exists: true
+    mechanism: "The S block in `common.class_letters` is issued as DECALS rather than plates, per the article, which also notes that older ones may be all-numeric and that the colour changed from orange-on-white to black-on-white."
+    why_not_modelled: >-
+      A decal is not an identification plate. HTA s. 2's definition of "fictitious
+      identification plate or marker" distinguishes "an identification plate,
+      sticker or marker", so the statute knows the difference too. Modelling a decal
+      as a plate series would misrepresent the object.
+  antique_firefighter_farm_emergency:
+    exists: true
+    mechanism: "The AA, FF, F and E blocks in `common.class_letters` — all real, all with last-issued serials recorded in the article."
+    why_not_modelled: >-
+      Their arrangements are inconsistent in the secondary itself: the antique
+      block's last issue is given as "4433" and the firefighter block's as "6163FF",
+      neither of which fits the LLL 999 skeleton every other block follows. Rather
+      than reconcile two shapes the source does not explain, the blocks are recorded
+      in the class table and no series is authored. A verifier with a photograph can
+      settle each in one edit.
+  tow_truck_second_plate:
+    exists: true
+    mechanism: >-
+      The W block, per the article: "Tow trucks display a SECOND plate (in addition
+      to a 'C' series plate)." That is one vehicle wearing two plates from two
+      different series simultaneously — a schema-relevant case, and the only one of
+      its kind found in the Canada east wave.
+    why_not_modelled: >-
+      Recorded rather than authored because the pairing rule, not the serial, is the
+      interesting part, and no instrument states either. A parse API asked about a
+      W-series string must be told the vehicle also carries a C-series plate, which
+      is what this entry is for.
+
+series:
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # THE CURRENT STANDARD SERIES — the pitcher-plant base.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-nl-standard-2007
+    class: standard
+    categories: [car, van]
+    period: { start: 2007 }
+    period_evidence: secondary-wikipedia
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "LLL 999"
+      regex: '\A[A-Z]{3} ?\d{3}\z'
+      charset:
+        notes: >-
+          Three letters, three numerals. NO EXCLUSION IS STATED BY ANY SOURCE — see
+          `common.charset` — so no strict twin is authored. The FIRST LETTER is the
+          class code (`common.class_letters`): private cars run in the A, H and J
+          blocks, and the J block is current.
+        private_car_blocks: [A, H, J]
+      progression: >-
+        Continuous across base changes: the article's record runs HMV 001 to JPZ 999
+        and then JTD 001 to JWY 999 on this base, with the JRA-JTC and JUH-JVV
+        stretches falling inside the 2022 and 2024 commemorative bases. THE SERIAL
+        RUN IGNORES THE BASE, which is why the commemorative series below overlap
+        this one instead of interrupting it.
+      separator_note: "a printed gap; `pattern` spells the emitted space and `regex` accepts it as optional"
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 12, h: 6, unit: in, plate_basis: convention }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      colour_note: "embossed blue serial on white. No instrument states either colour — HTA s. 16(2)(b) leaves the whole appearance to the registrar. Both hexes observed."
+      legend_bottom_options: ["Newfoundland Labrador"]
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder, description: "the provincial wordmark, screened centre-bottom: a pitcher plant with 'Newfoundland' and 'Labrador' below it" }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+      display: "ONE plate, REAR, for a private car (HTA s. 30(2)(a)); the count itself is registrar's discretion under s. 16(2)(b)"
+      spec_history:
+        - { from: 2007, to: 2025, note: "provincial wordmark in blue" }
+        - { from: 2025, note: "same base with the province name in BLACK, per the article — a wordmark colour change inside one design, recorded here rather than cut as a series (PRD-PLATES §2.3)" }
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislation/sr/statutes/h03.htm  # HTA s. 16(2)(b) (the registrar determines number, distinctiveness and numbering), s. 16(4) (different plates for different classes), s. 28(1) (Crown property), s. 30(1)-(2) (30 cm, one plate rear / two plates front and rear), s. 31 (kept clean)"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Newfoundland_and_Labrador  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the pitcher-plant base from April 2007, the ABC 123 format, the December 2021 / January 2023 and December 2022 / January 2024 interruptions, the November 2025 resumption with a black province name, and the issuance ranges"
+    notes: >-
+      THE CURRENT NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR PLATE, ON THE WEAKEST STATUTORY FRAME IN
+      THE WAVE. HTA s. 16(2)(b) is the entire law of this plate's appearance — "one
+      or more identification plates as determined by the registrar ... distinctive
+      and numbered as the registrar may determine" — so period, format and colours
+      are all the article's and the grade is `secondary-wikipedia` throughout.
+      period.start 2007 is the article's April 2007 date, unfootnoted. THE SERIES IS
+      NOT ENDED AT EITHER COMMEMORATIVE INTERRUPTION and that is a deliberate
+      modelling decision: the serial run continued straight through both, so what
+      happened in 2022 and 2024 was a parallel base rather than a succession. The
+      two commemorative series therefore OVERLAP this one, legally under
+      PRD-PLATES §2.2 and with distinct notes. PARSE CAUTION: ABC 123 is also the
+      current shape in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, so a bare string is not
+      diagnostic; the province is recoverable only from the image, or from the class
+      letter if the consumer has the block table in `common.class_letters`.
+
+  - id: ca-nl-comehome-2022
+    class: standard
+    categories: [car, van]
+    period: { start: 2022, end: 2022 }
+    period_evidence: secondary-wikipedia
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "LLL 999"
+      regex: '\A[A-Z]{3} ?\d{3}\z'
+      charset: { notes: "identical to ca-nl-standard-2007 — the base changed and the mark did not" }
+      progression: "JRA 001 to JTC 999 per the article, i.e. a contiguous slice of the ordinary J-block run"
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 12, h: 6, unit: in, plate_basis: convention }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed, note: "white-to-teal gradient, per the article" }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      legend_bottom_options: ["COME HOME 2022"]
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder, description: "a screened blue whale graphic; the provincial wordmark screened in red at the top" }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+    sources:
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Newfoundland_and_Labrador  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the January-December 2022 'COME HOME 2022' base, its whale graphic and teal gradient, and the JRA 001 to JTC 999 range"
+    notes: >-
+      A COMMEMORATIVE BASE THAT REPLACED THE STANDARD BASE FOR A CALENDAR YEAR, for
+      Newfoundland and Labrador's 2022 Come Home Year. Its own series because both
+      the design and the period differ (PRD-PLATES §2.3), and it deliberately
+      overlaps ca-nl-standard-2007 because the serial run never broke: JRA-JTC is a
+      slice of the ordinary J allocation that happens to have been struck on a
+      different base. Entirely secondary, and the only Canadian series in this wave
+      whose whole existence is a one-year tourism campaign.
+
+  - id: ca-nl-anniversary-2024
+    class: standard
+    categories: [car, van]
+    period: { start: 2024, end: 2024 }
+    period_evidence: secondary-wikipedia
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "LLL 999"
+      regex: '\A[A-Z]{3} ?\d{3}\z'
+      charset: { notes: "identical to ca-nl-standard-2007" }
+      progression: "JUH 001 to JVV 999 per the article — again a contiguous slice of the J-block run"
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 12, h: 6, unit: in, plate_basis: convention }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#000000"
+      colour_note: "embossed BLACK serial, per the article — the only black-serial Newfoundland and Labrador base recorded, and the only black standard serial in the Canada east wave"
+      legend_bottom_options: ["1949 - 2024"]
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder, description: "screened blue and grey sections of the provincial flag, a screened red half maple leaf, the pitcher-plant wordmark at the top and a screened '75' in the centre" }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+    commemorates: "the 75th anniversary of Newfoundland and Labrador's entry into Canadian Confederation on 31 March 1949"
+    sources:
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Newfoundland_and_Labrador  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the January-December 2024 anniversary base, its flag and half-maple-leaf graphics, the '1949 - 2024' and '75' legends, and the JUH 001 to JVV 999 range"
+    notes: >-
+      THE SECOND ONE-YEAR COMMEMORATIVE BASE, on the same logic as
+      ca-nl-comehome-2022 and overlapping ca-nl-standard-2007 for the same reason.
+      Worth authoring separately rather than folding into a single "commemorative"
+      series because the colours differ sharply — black serial here against blue on
+      every other Newfoundland and Labrador base — so a photograph is decisive even
+      though a string is not. Entirely secondary.
+
+  - id: ca-nl-standard-1993
+    class: standard
+    categories: [car, van]
+    period: { start: 1993, end: 2007 }
+    period_evidence: secondary-wikipedia
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "LLL 999"
+      regex: '\A[A-Z]{3} ?\d{3}\z'
+      charset: { notes: "as the current series; the private-car blocks in this period were A (to AZZ-999 in 1998) and then H" }
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 12, h: 6, unit: in, plate_basis: convention }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#C8102E"
+      colour_note: "embossed RED serial on white, per the article — a different serial colour from both its predecessor (blue) and its successor (blue), which makes this base unusually easy to place"
+      legend_bottom_options: ["A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE"]
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder, description: "a screened Viking ship with a red sail against a yellow sunset, at the bottom of the plate; 'Newfoundland & Labrador' screened in red at the top" }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+      display_note: >-
+        THE ONE PLATE-COUNT FACT THE ARTICLE DATES: front and rear plates were
+        required for private cars until 1997, on the A block. So a Newfoundland and
+        Labrador private car of this vintage may lawfully carry two plates where a
+        modern one carries one — and HTA s. 30(2) accommodates both without saying
+        which applies when, because the count is s. 16(2)(b) discretion.
+    sources:
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Newfoundland_and_Labrador  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the mid-1993 'A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE' Viking-ship base, its red serial, the ATA 001 to AZF 999 and AZG 001 to AZZ 999 / HBD 001 to HEP 999 ranges, the September 1996 - September 1997 Cabot 500 interruption, and the front-plate requirement to 1997"
+      - "https://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislation/sr/statutes/h03.htm  # HTA s. 30(2): the statutory rule that accommodates one-plate and two-plate vehicles without prescribing which class gets which"
+    notes: >-
+      ONE SERIES BACK, and it carries the wave's clearest example of a PLATE-COUNT
+      CHANGE inside a single design: private cars in this province wore two plates
+      until 1997 and one thereafter, on the same base. Also interrupted, exactly as
+      the current base is: a "CABOT / Celebrate 500 Years" base ran September 1996 to
+      September 1997 on the H block. That interruption is NOT authored as a series
+      here — the L2/L3 scope is the current series plus one back, and a
+      commemorative base inside a superseded base is L4 work — but it is recorded so
+      a verifier knows it was seen and skipped deliberately.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # TRUCK / HEAVY VEHICLE — the C block, and the block that ran out.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-nl-truck-c
+    class: standard
+    categories: [truck, van]
+    period: { start: 1982 }
+    period_evidence: secondary-wikipedia
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "CLL 999"
+      regex: '\AC[A-Z]{2} ?\d{3}\z'
+      charset: { notes: "the literal C is the class letter (`common.class_letters`). The article records the CR pair as marking large mobile crane units — a sub-block, not a separate series." }
+      progression: "CAA-001 from 1982 to CZZ-999 in 2017, then the CA0 001 shape below"
+    variants:
+      - name: "post-exhaustion truck arrangement"
+        format: { pattern: "CL9 999", regex: '\AC[A-Z]\d ?\d{3}\z' }
+        note: >-
+          The article states that when the C block exhausted at CZZ-999 in 2017 the
+          province moved to CA0 001 onward, i.e. it swapped the third character from
+          a letter to a digit rather than opening a new letter. A variant rather than
+          a series because the base, the class and the period are unchanged; the
+          current issue quoted by the article, CL7-999, fits this shape.
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 12, h: 6, unit: in, plate_basis: convention }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder, description: "the pitcher-plant wordmark, as the standard base" }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+      display: "TWO plates, front and rear, per the article — so HTA s. 30(2)(b) applies and a C-plated vehicle is plated fore and aft"
+    scope_note: >-
+      TAGGED SECONDARY, AND IT MATTERS FOR THE PARSE LAYER: the article says the C
+      block covers "pickup trucks, SUVs and large vans" and adds that "some trucks
+      and vans may now be registered as private cars". So the C letter is evidence of
+      a truck registration and its absence is NOT evidence against one — the same
+      shape of caution Ontario needs for its commercial pickups.
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislation/sr/statutes/h03.htm  # HTA s. 16(4): the registrar may issue different plates for different classes — the only primary behind the C block; s. 30(2)(b): the two-plate display rule this class falls under"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Newfoundland_and_Labrador  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the C block, its 1982 start, its 2017 exhaustion at CZZ-999, the CA0 001 successor shape, the CR crane sub-block, the two-plate requirement and the current issue CL7-999"
+    notes: >-
+      THE BLOCK-EXHAUSTION CASE OF THIS FILE, and the reason it is authored with a
+      variant rather than a second series: Newfoundland and Labrador did not change
+      the base or the class when CZZ-999 ran out in 2017, it changed one character
+      class inside the same allocation. period.start 1982 is the article's start for
+      the C block and is `secondary-wikipedia` like everything else here; note it is
+      a claim about the BLOCK, which has outlived four bases, not about a design.
+      `class: standard` because the vocabulary has no truck member.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # MOTORCYCLE — the M block.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-nl-motorcycle-m
+    class: motorcycle
+    categories: [motorcycle]
+    period: { start: 1982 }
+    period_evidence: secondary-wikipedia
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "MLL 999"
+      regex: '\AM[A-Z]{2} ?\d{3}\z'
+      charset: { notes: "the literal M is the class letter. The K block (trail bikes) shares the plate size and base per the article and is a separate letter, not a variant of this series." }
+      progression: "MCA-001 from 1982; the article's current issue is MEO-723"
+    design:
+      plate_note: "reduced motorcycle size; no instrument states one and no measured figure was obtained. Deliberately absent rather than guessed."
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+      display: "ONE plate, REAR (HTA s. 30(2)(a))"
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislation/sr/statutes/h03.htm  # HTA s. 30(2)(a): where one plate is issued it must be visible from the rear"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Newfoundland_and_Labrador  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the M block from 1982 (MCA-001) and the K trail-bike block sharing its size and base"
+    notes: >-
+      Entirely secondary but for the display rule. Authored because the M letter is a
+      clean class signal and because Newfoundland and Labrador's separate K block for
+      DUAL-PURPOSE trail bikes is a distinction no other jurisdiction in this wave
+      draws — recorded in `common.class_letters` rather than authored, since its
+      arrangement is unstated beyond the example KAP-048.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # TRAILER — the T block, with a carve-out for taxis.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-nl-trailer-t
+    class: trailer
+    categories: [trailer, semitrailer]
+    period: { start: 1982 }
+    period_evidence: secondary-wikipedia
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "TLL 999"
+      regex: '\AT[A-Z]{2} ?\d{3}\z'
+      charset:
+        notes: >-
+          The literal T is the class letter, and the second letter is NOT free: the
+          article states TX is reserved for taxi plates, so a T-series trailer plate
+          never has X in position two. That reservation is NOT encoded in `regex` —
+          it would need a strict twin and none is authored in this file — but it is
+          the reason ca-nl-taxi-tx exists as its own series and why the two regexes
+          overlap on paper while never colliding in issue.
+      progression: >-
+        The article's account is unusually detailed and worth carrying because it is
+        a genuine allocation history: TAA-001 from 1982; a jump from TET-999 to
+        TVT-001 when the flag base arrived in 2001; TZZ-999 reached, then a jump BACK
+        to TEV-001 on the pitcher-plant base in 2008. Newfoundland and Labrador
+        reuses the gaps it leaves.
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 12, h: 6, unit: in, plate_basis: convention }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+      display: "ONE plate, REAR (HTA s. 30(2)(a))"
+    sources:
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Newfoundland_and_Labrador  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the T block from 1982, the TET/TVT and TZZ/TEV jumps, the TX taxi reservation and the current issue TMJ-999"
+      - "https://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislation/sr/statutes/h03.htm  # HTA s. 16(4): the class-plate power"
+    notes: >-
+      AUTHORED FOR THE ALLOCATION HISTORY as much as for the format: the T block
+      jumped forward in 2001 and backward in 2008, which means a Newfoundland and
+      Labrador trailer serial is NOT monotonic in time and a consumer must not read
+      one as a date proxy. Entirely secondary.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # TAXI — the TX carve-out.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-nl-taxi-tx
+    class: taxi
+    categories: [car, van]
+    period: { start: 1982 }
+    period_evidence: secondary-wikipedia
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "TXL 999"
+      regex: '\ATX[A-Z] ?\d{3}\z'
+      charset: { notes: "the literal TX is the class marker, carved out of the T (trailer) block. One free letter and three numerals follow." }
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 12, h: 6, unit: in, plate_basis: convention }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+    supplement: "the article states a TX plate is 'supplemented with a MUNICIPAL taxi licence sticker' — so the provincial plate identifies the class and a municipality licenses the operation, a two-level arrangement worth recording because a photograph will show both"
+    sources:
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Newfoundland_and_Labrador  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the TX block, its carve-out from T, the municipal sticker and the current issue TXP-999"
+      - "https://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislation/sr/statutes/h03.htm  # HTA s. 16(4): different plates for 'the same class of vehicle USED FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES' — the limb of the power a taxi plate is issued under, since a taxi is an ordinary car put to a different use"
+    notes: >-
+      THE ONE SERIES IN THIS FILE WHOSE STATUTORY BASIS IS THE SECOND LIMB OF
+      s. 16(4) — "the same class of vehicle used for different purposes" — which is
+      exactly what a taxi is. `class: taxi` is a first-class member of
+      _meta/classes.yml and this is its Canadian instance in the wave: Québec
+      withdrew its T prefix when it deregulated (plates/ca-qc.yml
+      classes_not_modelled.taxi), New Brunswick reserves H for taxis without a
+      documented grammar, and Newfoundland and Labrador still issues.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # DEALER — the D block.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-nl-dealer-d
+    class: dealer
+    categories: [car, van, truck]
+    period: { start: 1982 }
+    period_evidence: secondary-wikipedia
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "DLL 999"
+      regex: '\AD[A-Z]{2} ?\d{3}\z'
+      charset: { notes: "the literal D is the class letter" }
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 12, h: 6, unit: in, plate_basis: convention }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+    binding: business
+    permitted_use: "the article states the D block is 'issued to auto dealers for test driving and transporting cars' — no instrument located states a permitted-use rule, in sharp contrast to Prince Edward Island (HTA s. 41, quoted in plates/ca-pe.yml) and Québec (Règlement art. 152, quoted in plates/ca-qc.yml)"
+    sources:
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Newfoundland_and_Labrador  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the D block, its permitted use and the current issue DAW-768"
+      - "https://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislation/sr/statutes/h03.htm  # HTA s. 16(4) (the class-plate power) and s. 22 (the registrar's dealer-plate provisions referenced at 'store and use identification plates and dealer plates in accordance with this Act and the regulations') — the Act knows the term 'dealer plates' but never describes one"
+    notes: >-
+      THE ACT USES THE PHRASE "DEALER PLATES" AND NEVER DEFINES IT — the dealer
+      provisions require a dealer to "store and use identification plates and dealer
+      plates in accordance with this Act and the regulations" and to account for
+      "the dealer's inventory of dealer plates, identification plates and markers",
+      so the class is statutory in NAME while every visible property of it is
+      secondary. `binding: business` for the usual reason: the plate belongs to the
+      trade, not to a vehicle.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # GOVERNMENT — the G block, with three sub-blocks by level of government.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-nl-government-g
+    class: government
+    categories: [car, van, truck]
+    period: { start: 1982 }
+    period_evidence: secondary-wikipedia
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "GLL 999"
+      regex: '\AG[A-Z]{2} ?\d{3}\z'
+      regex_strict: '\AG[MPF][A-Z] ?\d{3}\z'
+      charset:
+        notes: >-
+          The literal G is the class letter and the SECOND letter encodes the level
+          of government: GM municipal, GP provincial, GF federal, per the article.
+          `regex_strict` encodes that three-way second-letter restriction; `regex`
+          does not, so a consumer who distrusts the secondary loses nothing. This is
+          the only strict twin in the whole file, and it exists because this is the
+          only Newfoundland and Labrador block whose SECOND character is documented
+          as constrained.
+        second_letter: { M: municipal, P: provincial, F: federal }
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 12, h: 6, unit: in, plate_basis: convention }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+      display: "TWO plates, front and rear, per the article — HTA s. 30(2)(b)"
+    sources:
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Newfoundland_and_Labrador  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the G block, the GM/GP/GF sub-blocks by level of government, the two-plate requirement and the current issues GMO-320, GPR-292 and GFM-154"
+      - "https://www.assembly.nl.ca/legislation/sr/statutes/h03.htm  # HTA s. 16(4) (the class-plate power); s. 30(2)(b) (two-plate display)"
+    notes: >-
+      A THREE-LEVEL DECODE IN ONE CHARACTER — municipal, provincial and FEDERAL
+      vehicles all plated by the province, distinguished by the second letter. That
+      is worth authoring and worth a strict twin, and it is also the file's clearest
+      illustration of how much decode Newfoundland and Labrador packs into a
+      skeleton that carries no region and no date. Entirely secondary; the E block
+      (emergency vehicles, including provincially and municipally owned fire and
+      police) is recorded in `common.class_letters` but not authored, because its
+      relationship to G is not explained by the source.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # AMATEUR RADIO — a federal callsign on a provincial plate.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-nl-amateur-radio-vo
+    class: personalized
+    categories: [car, van]
+    period: { start: 1982 }
+    period_evidence: secondary-wikipedia
+    matching: recall-only
+    format:
+      pattern: "VO1LLL"
+      regex: '\AVO[12] ?[A-Z0-9]{2,3}\z'
+      charset:
+        notes: >-
+          The pattern spells the VO1 (island) form as the canonical printed example; `regex` admits VO2 (Labrador) equally. VO1 is the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada amateur
+          callsign prefix for the island of Newfoundland and VO2 for Labrador, so
+          this plate reproduces a FEDERAL identifier on a provincial plate — the same
+          structure as Québec's VA2/VE2 series (plates/ca-qc.yml
+          ca-qc-amateur-radio), which is no coincidence: both provinces simply print
+          the callsign. The article states plates "may vary between 5 and 6
+          characters, as operators may conditionally be issued a shorter callsign",
+          citing ISED's RIC-9 call-sign policy, and that these plates are NOT issued
+          sequentially because callsigns are chosen.
+      recall_reason: >-
+        `matching: recall-only` because the suffix alphabet is not stated anywhere:
+        RIC-9 governs callsign suffixes and was not read in this pass, so `regex`
+        accepts any two or three serial characters after the prefix, which is
+        certainly wider than what ISED assigns. A match is a shape hit and nothing
+        more (PRD-PLATES §2.7).
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 12, h: 6, unit: in, plate_basis: convention }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+    sources:
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Newfoundland_and_Labrador  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the VO1 (Newfoundland) and VO2 (Labrador) blocks, the callsign-matching rule, the non-sequential issuance and the 5-to-6-character range"
+      - "https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/spectrum-management-telecommunications/en/licences-and-certificates/radiocom-information-circulars-ric/ric-9-call-sign-policy-and-special-event-prefixes  # ISED Canada, RIC-9 'Call Sign Policy and Special Event Prefixes' — the federal instrument that actually allocates these strings, cited by the article. NOT FETCHED in this pass; cited as the known primary, unread. A verifier who reads it can promote this series to `matching: strict` with a real suffix alphabet."
+    notes: >-
+      THE ONLY SERIES IN THE CANADA EAST WAVE WHOSE SERIAL IS ALLOCATED BY A
+      DIFFERENT LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT — Innovation, Science and Economic Development
+      Canada assigns the callsign and the province merely prints it, exactly as in
+      Québec. The VO1/VO2 split is also the only GEOGRAPHIC decode anywhere in this
+      file: VO1 is the island, VO2 is Labrador, and that distinction survives on the
+      plate because it survives in the federal callsign. `class: personalized` is the
+      least-wrong vocabulary member — the holder does not choose the string freely,
+      but it is theirs rather than the registrar's — and the choice is flagged for a
+      verifier, as it is on the Québec twin.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # VETERAN — the V block's second, numeric meaning.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-nl-veteran-v
+    class: specialty
+    categories: [car, van, truck]
+    period: { start: 2007 }
+    period_evidence: secondary-wikipedia
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "V9999"
+      regex: '\AV ?\d{4}\z'
+      charset:
+        notes: >-
+          THE V LETTER MEANS TWO THINGS IN THIS PROVINCE AND ONLY THE SHAPE
+          SEPARATES THEM: V followed by two letters and three numerals is an
+          OFF-ROAD plate (quads and UTVs, the VBC-123 form); V followed by four
+          numerals is a VETERAN plate. That is the sharpest ambiguity in
+          `common.class_letters` and the reason the veteran series is authored with
+          an all-numeric body while the off-road form is left in the class table.
+    variants:
+      - name: "veteran motorcycle"
+        format: { pattern: "VA999", regex: '\AVA ?\d{3}\z' }
+        note: "the article records VA as the veteran MOTORCYCLE block, in the VA123 shape — a third meaning for a V-initial string, and a fourth if the Québec VA2 amateur block is in the consumer's candidate set"
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 12, h: 6, unit: in, plate_basis: convention }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+    sources:
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Newfoundland_and_Labrador  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the V (V1234) veteran block and the VA (VA123) veteran motorcycle block, with current issues V3223 and VA644"
+    notes: >-
+      AUTHORED FOR THE AMBIGUITY, WHICH IS THE POINT. A parse API handed "V1234"
+      must return a Newfoundland and Labrador VETERAN candidate; handed "VBC 123" it
+      must return an OFF-ROAD candidate; handed "VA644" a veteran-motorcycle
+      candidate; and handed "VA2 AB" a QUÉBEC amateur-radio candidate. Four readings
+      of a V-initial Canadian string, three of them in this province. period.start
+      2007 is a FLOOR rather than a start: no source dates the veteran programme, and
+      2007 is the earliest base on which the article records it. `class: specialty`
+      for the usual vocabulary reason. Entirely secondary.