vehicles 0.4.1 → 0.8.0

data/data/plates/cy.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,688 @@
+# plates/cy.yml — Republic of Cyprus (PRD-PLATES gate L1, wave 2).
+#
+# ============================================================================
+# WHAT THIS FILE COVERS, AND WHAT IT DOES NOT — READ FIRST
+# ============================================================================
+# This file records the vehicle registration system of the REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS:
+# the system administered by the Έφορος Μηχανοκινήτων Οχημάτων (Registrar of
+# Motor Vehicles) under the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Law, Ν. 86/1972,
+# and the Regulations made under it.
+#
+# The northern part of the island is administered separately and its vehicles
+# are registered under a separate system, by authorities whose sovereignty is
+# recognised only by Türkiye. THAT SYSTEM IS NOT COVERED HERE. No primary
+# source for it was consulted in this pass and no claim about its formats,
+# colours or periods is made anywhere in this file — including by implication.
+# A consumer must not read the absence of those plates as a statement that they
+# do not exist or are not encountered; it is a statement about this file's
+# sourcing, nothing more. Covering it would require its own sourced pass and,
+# on the evidence below, its own jurisdiction key, because it is not
+# administered under the instruments cited here.
+#
+# The division is not an editorial gloss added by this dataset — it is visible
+# inside the Republic's own primary text. Ν. 86/1972 as consolidated carries
+# provisos referring to «τις περιοχές της Δημοκρατίας που ελέγχονται από τα
+# Τουρκικά στρατεύματα κατοχής» ("the areas of the Republic controlled by the
+# Turkish occupation troops") and to a «Τουρκοκύπριο που δεν κυκλοφορεί στις
+# περιοχές που ελέγχονται από τη Δημοκρατία". So the enabling statute itself
+# records that the Registrar's writ does not run across the whole island, which
+# is the sourced reason this file's scope is what it is.
+#
+# ALSO NOT COVERED: the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, which
+# are a British Overseas Territory with their own Ordinances published in the
+# SBA Gazette rather than on CyLaw. Ν. 86/1972's regulations mention the
+# British Ministry of Defence only as a SOURCE of second-hand vehicles whose
+# age limits apply on registration in the Republic (Κ.Δ.Π. 66/1984 Καν. 4(2)(α),
+# 4(3)) — nothing about SBA plates. Recorded gap.
+#
+# ============================================================================
+# THE PERMITTED LETTER SET — TWELVE LETTERS, AND IT IS IN LAW
+# ============================================================================
+# Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010, Δεύτερο Παράρτημα, Μέρος Ι, παρ. 1 (Ε.Ε. Παρ. III(1) Αρ.
+# 4437, gazette page 1721), verbatim:
+#
+#   «1. Τα γράμματα και οι αριθμοί που θα περιέχονται στις πινακίδες εγγραφής
+#    είναι τα ακόλουθα:
+#        A B E H K M N P T X Y Z,
+#    και
+#        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0.»
+#
+#   ("The letters and the numbers that shall be contained in registration
+#    plates are the following: A B E H K M N P T X Y Z, and 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0.")
+#
+# Twelve letters. In force 3 June 2013. This was read off the gazette page
+# image directly (the PDF has no text layer), not taken from a secondary.
+#
+# WHICH SCRIPT IS THAT LIST IN? It matters, it is not answerable from the
+# glyphs — every one of those twelve is drawn identically in both alphabets,
+# which is the entire point of the set — and this file answers it from the
+# ORDERING, which is the one signal a scan preserves:
+#
+#   * The gazette prints them A B E H K M N P T X Y Z. That is exactly LATIN
+#     alphabetical order.
+#   * Read as Greek capitals the same twelve are Α Β Ε Η Κ Μ Ν Ρ Τ Χ Υ Ζ, and
+#     that is NOT Greek alphabetical order — Greek order would put Ζ fourth
+#     (Α Β Ε Ζ Η Κ Μ Ν Ρ Τ Υ Χ) and Χ after Υ.
+#
+# So a Greek-language instrument enumerates the plate letters in LATIN
+# collation, which is the expected result for a Republic whose plates are
+# Latin-script, and this file records them as LATIN codepoints:
+#   A U+0041  B U+0042  E U+0045  H U+0048  K U+004B  M U+004D
+#   N U+004E  P U+0050  T U+0054  X U+0058  Y U+0059  Z U+005A
+#
+# THE CONTRAST WITH GREECE IS EXACT AND IS WORTH STATING, because the two
+# files look superficially identical and are not:
+#   * GREECE (plates/gr.yml) prints GREEK capitals — Α U+0391 … Χ U+03A7 —
+#     restricted to the fourteen that have a Latin twin, and ΥΑ οικ.
+#     4700/330/2004 lists them in GREEK alphabetical order.
+#   * CYPRUS prints LATIN capitals restricted to the twelve that have a Greek
+#     twin, listed in LATIN alphabetical order.
+# Same intersection of two alphabets, approached from opposite sides. The
+# Cypriot set is the Greek set MINUS I and O — that is, Cyprus additionally
+# drops the two letters confusable with the digits 1 and 0, which Greece keeps.
+# Cyprus therefore has the stricter, more machine-legible alphabet of the two.
+#
+# ============================================================================
+# THE INSTRUMENT CHAIN
+# ============================================================================
+#   * Ν. 86/1972, Ο περί Μηχανοκινήτων Οχημάτων και Τροχαίας Κινήσεως Νόμος
+#     (Ε.Ε. Παρ. Ι, Αρ. 976, 1-12-1972) — the ENABLING statute. It prescribes
+#     NO plate format; s.5(1)(α) empowers the Council of Ministers to make
+#     Regulations on classification, registration and licensing.
+#   * Κ.Δ.Π. 159/1973 (Ε.Ε. Παρ. III(1) Αρ. 1023, 13-7-1973) — first
+#     Regulations under the Law.
+#   * Κ.Δ.Π. 66/1984 (Ε.Ε. Παρ. III(1) Αρ. 1937, 8-3-1984) — the «βασικοί
+#     κανονισμοί», the base Regulations, still the frame today.
+#   * Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010 (Ε.Ε. Παρ. III(1) Αρ. 4437, pages 1703-1738, 9-7-2010) —
+#     THE SUBSTANTIVE MODERN INSTRUMENT: it replaces the Second Schedule
+#     wholesale with Parts I (letters and numbers), II (dimensions, mounting,
+#     construction, colours) and III (the EU band), and inserts Καν. 6(21) (the
+#     government plates). Most of this file comes from it.
+#   * Κ.Δ.Π. 71/2013 (Αρ. 4629, pages 594-617, 1-3-2013) — the Registrar's
+#     Γνωστοποίηση under Καν. 6(10)(β) fixing the LETTERFORMS, as 23 pages of
+#     drawn specimens. Repeals Κ.Δ.Π. 503/2011.
+#   * Κ.Δ.Π. 72/2013 (Αρ. 4629, page 618, 1-3-2013) — THE COMMENCEMENT
+#     INSTRUMENT, one sentence, fixing 3 JUNE 2013.
+#   * Κ.Δ.Π. 325/2012 (Αρ. 4590, pages 2211-2213, 7-9-2012) — sale of
+#     registration marks.
+#
+# A CORRECTION TO THE SECONDARY RECORD, worth stating because it is the kind of
+# thing that propagates: the commonly cited "Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic
+# Regulations 2013 (Identification Marks and Registration Plates) (Commencement)
+# Order 2013" DOES NOT EXIST under that name. The substantive instrument is
+# Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010 and the commencement instrument is Κ.Δ.Π. 72/2013.
+#
+# THE INSTRUMENT-DATE RULE, AND CYPRUS IS THE CLEANEST CASE IN THIS WAVE: the
+# substantive instrument is dated 9 JULY 2010 and the series begins on
+# 3 JUNE 2013, nearly three years later, because Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010 Καν. 4(β)(i)
+# deferred the operative paragraphs to a date to be fixed by the Registrar, and
+# Κ.Δ.Π. 72/2013 then fixed it. Shipping 2010 as the period would have been
+# precisely the Spanish error. Neither date is the gazette date of the
+# commencement instrument either (1 March 2013) — THREE plausible dates, and
+# only one of them is the series.
+#
+# AND THE ROLLOUT HAS THREE LIMBS, all in Καν. 4(β):
+#   (i)   3 June 2013 — vehicles registered for the first time;
+#   (ii)  3 June 2013 — any vehicle whose plates are REPLACED for any reason,
+#         including at the owner's election, or on loss, damage or destruction;
+#   (iii) 3 December 2013 (six months later) — already-registered taxis, goods
+#         vehicles, and L-category vehicles (L1e-L7e).
+# Καν. 4(δ) then keeps the repealed Second Schedule alive for those vehicles
+# «μέχρι την εγκατάσταση σε αυτά πινακίδων εγγραφής» — until new plates are
+# fitted. THERE IS NO END DATE FOR THE PRE-2013 STOCK: a 1990-era plate was
+# never invalidated and remains lawful indefinitely. That is why the pre-2013
+# series below carry no hard end and overlap the current one.
+#
+# ============================================================================
+# THE BIG SOURCED NEGATIVE: BEFORE 2013 THERE WAS NO PLATE FORMAT IN LAW
+# ============================================================================
+# This is the most important structural fact about Cypriot plate history and it
+# is a NEGATIVE, established by reading the instruments rather than by failing
+# to find one. Κ.Δ.Π. 66/1984, Δεύτερον Παράρτημα, παρ. 2 is the ENTIRE
+# specification of a mark's content from 1984 to 2013, verbatim:
+#
+#   «2. Εκάστη πινακίς δέον όπως είναι σχήματος ορθογωνίου και φέρη επ' αυτής
+#    τα παραχωρηθέντα υπό του Εφόρου γράμματα και αριθμούς.»
+#   ("Each plate shall be rectangular and shall bear on it the letters and
+#    numbers granted by the Registrar.")
+#
+# That is all of it. No letter set, no letter count, no digit count, no series,
+# and no overall plate dimensions. Κ.Δ.Π. 159/1973's Second Schedule is
+# verbatim identical on the point. Καν. 6(2) simply has the Registrar
+# «παραχωρεί εις αυτό διακριτικά σημεία ταυτότητος».
+#
+# CONSEQUENCE, and it governs how the historic series below are modelled: the
+# AB123 / AB 123 / ABC123 lineage consists of ADMINISTRATIVE SERIES OF THE
+# REGISTRAR, not creatures of any published instrument. There is no instrument
+# to date them from, and their boundaries are therefore secondary. Every
+# pre-2013 series in this file is `matching: recall-only` for that reason: the
+# authority published no grammar for them, so no regex can be a well-formedness
+# claim. (All 67 CyLaw Κ.Δ.Π. year indexes 1960-2026 were swept for
+# «Μηχανοκινήτων Οχημάτων» and «πινακίδ» instruments to reach this conclusion.)
+#
+# COLOUR POLICY: Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010 Μέρος ΙΙ παρ. 5 names colours in words only —
+# άσπρου, κίτρινου, κόκκινου, πορτοκαλί, μαύρου, κυανού, αργυρού — with NO
+# chromaticity coordinates. Construction quality is delegated to ISO 7591-1982
+# ("Road Vehicles — Retro-reflective registration plates for motor vehicles and
+# trailers — Specification"), which is a retroreflectivity standard, not a
+# colour gamut for these purposes and not fetched here. So every hex below is
+# `hex_basis: observed` and carries no `color_spec`.
+jurisdiction: cy
+authority:
+  name: Έφορος Μηχανοκινήτων Οχημάτων / Τμήμα Οδικών Μεταφορών (Registrar of Motor Vehicles, Road Transport Department) — Ν. 86/1972 and Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010
+  url: "https://www.cylaw.org/nomoi/enop/non-ind/1972_1_86/full.html"
+binding: vehicle
+
+charset_defaults:
+  letters: [A, B, E, H, K, M, N, P, T, X, Y, Z]
+  letters_codepoints: ["U+0041", "U+0042", "U+0045", "U+0048", "U+004B", "U+004D", "U+004E", "U+0050", "U+0054", "U+0058", "U+0059", "U+005A"]
+  script: latin
+  script_evidence: >-
+    Determined by COLLATION, not by glyph, because the glyphs are identical in
+    both alphabets. The gazette prints the twelve in Latin alphabetical order
+    (A B E H K M N P T X Y Z); read as Greek capitals they would be out of
+    Greek alphabetical order. See the file header.
+  excluded_letters: [C, D, F, G, I, J, L, O, Q, R, S, U, V, W]
+  excluded_letters_note: >-
+    Fourteen Latin capitals are never issued. Twelve of them (C D F G J L Q R S
+    U V W) have no Greek capital twin; the remaining two, I and O, DO have
+    twins (Ι U+0399, Ο U+039F) and are nonetheless excluded — which is the one
+    place the Cypriot rule goes beyond the shared-alphabet principle and
+    excludes for DIGIT CONFUSABILITY (1 and 0) as well. Greece, working from
+    the same intersection, keeps I and O.
+  digits: "0-9, all ten, expressly enumerated by the same paragraph"
+  zero_padding: >-
+    Μέρος Ι παρ. 2 makes the three-digit numeric block mandatory rather than
+    incidental, verbatim: «Όταν τα διακριτικά σημεία ταυτότητας που
+    παραχωρούνται από τον Έφορο περιέχουν αριθμό που έπεται γράμματος και που
+    αποτελείται από — (α) ένα μόνο ψηφίο, αναγράφεται πριν από αυτόν ο αριθμός
+    «0» δύο φορές και, (β) δύο ψηφία, αναγράφεται πριν από αυτόν ο αριθμός «0»
+    μία φορά». One digit is padded with two zeros, two digits with one — so the
+    numeric group is ALWAYS three characters, 001-999. This is the actual
+    source of the familiar "ABC 123" shape.
+  source: "https://www.cylaw.org/KDP/data/2010_1_291.pdf  # Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010, Δεύτερο Παράρτημα Μέρος Ι παρ. 1 and 2, gazette page 1721 (PDF page 19). The page has NO TEXT LAYER; it was rendered and read as an image. In force 3-6-2013 per Κ.Δ.Π. 72/2013"
+
+sic_notes:
+  letter_i_exception: >-
+    A DEFECT IN THE INSTRUMENT, recorded rather than smoothed. Μέρος Ι παρ. 3,
+    setting minimum character dimensions for the reduced L-category plates,
+    excepts "the letter I" from the minimum-width rule («εκτός από το γράμμα
+    I»). But I is NOT among the twelve letters paragraph 1 permits. The
+    exception is inoperative as drafted — almost certainly carried over from a
+    template written before the letter set was closed. It is preserved here
+    because a reader comparing this dataset to the gazette would otherwise
+    think the dataset had dropped a letter.
+
+government_ministry_codes:
+  note: >-
+    PRIMARY DATA, DELIBERATELY NOT LATINISED, AND NOT AUTHORED AS A SERIES.
+    Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010 Καν. 6(21)(β) gives Ministry vehicles an orange plate
+    bearing the θυρεός (coat of arms), then «τα ψηφία «ΚΔ»», then Registrar-
+    assigned numbers, then a two-letter Ministry code from Μέρος V. The prefix
+    ΚΔ is Greek Kappa + Delta, and Δ (U+0394) HAS NO LATIN GLYPH TWIN — so
+    neither the prefix nor half of the Ministry codes can be written in this
+    dataset's Latin serial alphabet without inventing characters. Of the twelve
+    codes, six have exact Latin glyph twins (ΑΜ ΒΑ ΕΜ ΕΡ ΥΟ ΥΥ) and six do not
+    (ΓΦ ΔΔ ΕΞ ΕΣ ΠΠ ΥΣ, using Γ Δ Ξ Σ Π). A PARTIAL Latin column would be worse
+    than none — it would silently decode half the fleet and mangle the rest —
+    so the codes are recorded in their printed Greek only, per the rule that a
+    fact whose identity is its form is copied exactly. See the file-level
+    not_representable block.
+  source: "https://www.cylaw.org/KDP/data/2010_1_291.pdf  # Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010, Καν. 6(21) (gazette pages 1710-1711) and Δεύτερο Παράρτημα Μέρος V (gazette page 1738)"
+  commencement_caveat: >-
+    ENACTED BUT OF UNVERIFIED COMMENCEMENT. Καν. 4(γ) of Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010 defers
+    Καν. 6(21) to a date "που θα καθοριστεί με γνωστοποίηση του Εφόρου" — a
+    further notification by the Registrar, SEPARATE from the Κ.Δ.Π. 72/2013 that
+    commenced Καν. 4(β). That notification was not located in the CyLaw Κ.Δ.Π.
+    indexes 2010-2026. So the orange ΚΔ plate is law on paper with no
+    established start date, and is not authored as a series here for that reason
+    as well as the script one.
+  codes:
+    - { printed: "ΑΜ", body: "Υπουργείο Άμυνας", body_en: "Ministry of Defence", latin_representable: true }
+    - { printed: "ΒΑ", body: "Βουλή των Αντιπροσώπων", body_en: "House of Representatives", latin_representable: true }
+    - { printed: "ΓΦ", body: "Υπουργείο Γεωργίας, Φυσικών Πόρων και Περιβάλλοντος", body_en: "Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment", latin_representable: false }
+    - { printed: "ΔΔ", body: "Υπουργείο Δικαιοσύνης και Δημοσίας Τάξεως", body_en: "Ministry of Justice and Public Order", latin_representable: false }
+    - { printed: "ΕΜ", body: "Υπουργείο Εμπορίου, Βιομηχανίας και Τουρισμού", body_en: "Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism", latin_representable: true }
+    - { printed: "ΕΞ", body: "Υπουργείο Εξωτερικών", body_en: "Ministry of Foreign Affairs", latin_representable: false }
+    - { printed: "ΕΡ", body: "Υπουργείο Εργασίας και Κοινωνικών Ασφαλίσεων", body_en: "Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance", latin_representable: true }
+    - { printed: "ΕΣ", body: "Υπουργείο Εσωτερικών", body_en: "Ministry of the Interior", latin_representable: false }
+    - { printed: "ΠΠ", body: "Υπουργείο Παιδείας και Πολιτισμού", body_en: "Ministry of Education and Culture", latin_representable: false }
+    - { printed: "ΥΟ", body: "Υπουργείο Οικονομικών", body_en: "Ministry of Finance", latin_representable: true }
+    - { printed: "ΥΣ", body: "Υπουργείο Συγκοινωνιών και Έργων", body_en: "Ministry of Communications and Works", latin_representable: false }
+    - { printed: "ΥΥ", body: "Υπουργείο Υγείας", body_en: "Ministry of Health", latin_representable: true }
+  president_note: >-
+    Καν. 6(21)(α): vehicles used by the President of the Republic carry «μόνο
+    το θυρεό, έμβλημα της Κυπριακής Δημοκρατίας» — ONLY the coat of arms, with
+    no registration mark at all. A plate with no serial cannot be given a
+    pattern and is therefore not a series in this schema; recorded here as the
+    fact it is. Καν. 6(21)(β) expressly EXCLUDES the Police and the National
+    Guard from the ΚΔ scheme, so both must have separate regimes — neither was
+    located in this legislation. Recorded gap.
+
+not_representable:
+  note: >-
+    THE SAME SCHEMA GAP THIS WAVE FOUND IN GREECE, INDEPENDENTLY, IN A SECOND
+    JURISDICTION — which is what makes it a schema problem rather than a Greek
+    quirk. These Cypriot marks are printed in Greek capitals that have NO Latin
+    glyph twin, so plates/_meta/separators.yml's Latin-only serial alphabet
+    cannot spell them and no honest pattern can be written:
+      * «ΚΔ» government prefix and six of the twelve Ministry codes (above) —
+        Δ U+0394, Γ U+0393, Ξ U+039E, Σ U+03A3, Π U+03A0.
+      * «ΕΦ» National Guard — Φ U+03A6. Reported by secondary sources as
+        following an old-form Greek flag; no instrument located.
+      * «ΔΟΚΙΜΗ» dealer legend — Δ U+0394. See dealer_plates below, where the
+        larger finding is that this legend is not in the instrument at all.
+    Per PRD-PLATES §2.6 a jurisdiction printing a glyph the serial alphabet
+    lacks is a SCHEMA AMENDMENT, not a data entry. Transliterating ΚΔ to "KD"
+    would fabricate a string no Cypriot plate shows. Reported, not authored.
+
+dealer_plates:
+  note: >-
+    SOURCED COLOUR, UNSOURCED FORMAT — so recorded here rather than as a series,
+    because the lint quite rightly requires a pattern and this dataset has no
+    honest one to give. Κ.Δ.Π. 66/1984 Καν. 11(3), verbatim: the dealer must
+    supply the plate at his own expense and it «δέον όπως είναι του εγκεκριμένου
+    υπό του Εφόρου μεγέθους, λευκής επιφανείας, τα δε επ' αυτής τοποθετούμενα
+    γράμματα και αριθμοί ερυθρού χρώματος» — of a size APPROVED BY THE
+    REGISTRAR, white surface, with the letters and numbers on it in RED. The
+    size and the composition are both left to the Registrar, so there is no
+    published grammar. Καν. 11(2): the dealer licence runs six months.
+  correction: >-
+    A SECONDARY CLAIM REFUTED BY THE PRIMARY. Secondary sources state that
+    Cypriot dealer plates read «ΔΟΚΙΜΗ» ("TEST"). The word ΔΟΚΙΜΗ does not
+    appear anywhere in Κ.Δ.Π. 66/1984 — the full text was searched. Whatever is
+    printed on those plates in practice, it is not prescribed by this
+    instrument. Recorded as a refuted claim rather than repeated.
+  source: "https://www.cylaw.org/KDP/data/1984_1_66.pdf  # Κ.Δ.Π. 66/1984 Καν. 11(2)-(3), gazette page 248"
+
+sale_of_marks:
+  note: >-
+    Κ.Δ.Π. 325/2012 Παράρτημα Μέρος 1 παρ. 3 governs the sale of registration
+    marks and contains an unusually specific exclusion, verbatim: «Οι
+    προσφερόμενοι αριθμοί καθορίζονται ως οι αριθμοί από το ένα (1) μέχρι το
+    εννιακόσια ενενήντα εννιά (999) κάθε προσφερόμενης γραμματοσειράς, με
+    εξαίρεση τους αριθμούς δεκατρία (13), εξήντα εννιά (69) και εξακόσια εξήντα
+    έξι (666).» — the numbers offered are 1 to 999 of each offered letter
+    series, EXCEPT 13, 69 and 666. Those three are withheld from sale by name.
+    They are not excluded from ordinary sequential allocation by this
+    paragraph, which is a distinction a parse API should not blur: a Cypriot
+    plate ending 666 is perfectly possible, it just was not auctioned.
+  source: "https://www.cylaw.org/KDP/data/2012_1_325.pdf  # Κ.Δ.Π. 325/2012 (Ε.Ε. Παρ. III(1) Αρ. 4590, 7-9-2012), Παράρτημα Μέρος 1 παρ. 3, gazette page 2212. Repeals Κ.Δ.Π. 73/2009"
+
+series:
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # THE CURRENT SERIES — three letters, a printed gap, three digits.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: cy-standard-2013
+    class: standard
+    categories: [car, van, truck, bus]
+    period: { start: 2013 }
+    period_evidence: enacted-commencement
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "LLL 999"
+      regex: '\A[A-Z]{3} \d{3}\z'
+      regex_strict: '\A[ABEHKMNPTXYZ]{3} (?!000)\d{3}\z'
+      charset:
+        letters: [A, B, E, H, K, M, N, P, T, X, Y, Z]
+        notes: "the twelve letters of Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010 Μέρος Ι παρ. 1; see charset_defaults. regex cannot carry the restriction because the lint's generator emits all 26 letters for an L"
+        digits: "001-999, always three characters by the Μέρος Ι παρ. 2 zero-padding rule; 000 is excluded, which regex_strict spells"
+      progression: >-
+        Sequential within a letter triple: the numbers run 001-999 and then the
+        third letter advances (MAA 999 -> MAB 001), which is why the triple is a
+        rough age signal and the digits are not. The first combination issued
+        under this series was MAA 001 on 3 June 2013 — that is a
+        secondary-wikipedia claim, NOT from the instrument, and it is the only
+        thing in this entry that is not primary. An applicant may choose an
+        available number within the current letter series.
+      separator_note: >-
+        NO SEPARATOR GLYPH IS PRESCRIBED. Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010 Μέρος Ι παρ. 3 fixes
+        "τις αποστάσεις που πρέπει να τηρούνται μεταξύ τους" — the distances to
+        be kept between the characters — by reference to drawn specimens, and
+        names no hyphen, dot or other mark. The SPACE in the pattern is
+        therefore the printed gap and not a glyph, exactly as in Spain's Anexo
+        XVIII (plates/es.yml). A separator-stripping consumer collapsing
+        "MAA 001" to "MAA001" loses nothing.
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 520, h: 110, unit: mm, tolerance: 1, note: "Μέρος ΙΙ παρ. 1(α); «Οι ολικές εξωτερικές διαστάσεις των πινακίδων δύναται να έχουν ανοχή ± 1 χιλιοστόμετρο»" }
+      plate_variants:
+        - { w: 340, h: 200, unit: mm, note: "two-row plate, Μέρος ΙΙ παρ. 1(β)" }
+        - { w: [240, 280], h: 200, unit: mm, note: "Μέρος ΙΙ παρ. 1(γ): L1e and L3e vehicles (motorcycles) — width 240 to 280 mm, height 200 mm" }
+        - { w: [240, 280], h: 110, unit: mm, note: "Μέρος ΙΙ παρ. 1(γ): FRONT plates of L2e, L4e, L5e, L6e and L7e vehicles are 110 mm high; their REAR plates take the 200 mm height above" }
+      characters: { h: 75, w_letter: 47.5, w_digit: 44.5, stroke: 11, unit: mm, tolerance: 0.5, note: "from the ΔΕΙΓΜΑ (specimen) sheets, gazette pages 1722-1724. Note letters and digits have DIFFERENT widths — 47.5 vs 44.5 mm" }
+      characters_reduced: { h_min: 45, w_min: 30, stroke_min: 9, unit: mm, note: "Μέρος Ι παρ. 3: on the reduced L-category plates the dimensions may be scaled down, but never below 45 mm height, 30 mm total width per character, 9 mm stroke. See sic_notes.letter_i_exception" }
+      relief: { max: 1.6, unit: mm, note: "Μέρος ΙΙ παρ. 2(α): characters are ΑΝΑΓΛΥΦΑ (embossed), relief not exceeding 1.6 mm, edges struck at 45 degrees" }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#000000"
+      border: { color: "#000000", width: 4, tolerance: 0.5, outer_lip: 1, unit: mm, note: "Μέρος ΙΙ παρ. 5.7" }
+      date_mark:
+        present: true
+        position: center
+        layout: "MM stacked over YY, small, in the gap between the letter triple and the digit triple"
+        content_note: >-
+          OBSERVED ON ISSUED PLATES, ABSENT FROM EVERY INSTRUMENT READ: two
+          independent Commons photographs agree (NBE 049 with 07/15,
+          motorcycle; PEM 499 with 04/22, yellow goods colourway), and a black
+          historic plate (ET 145, 05/70) shows the same convention — there
+          plausibly the vehicle's original qualifying date, which is an
+          inference, not a confirmed reading. A secondary source (a Cyprus
+          insurance-broker blog) calls it the registration month/year. Neither
+          Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010 Μέρος Ι/ΙΙ nor the read pages of Κ.Δ.Π. 71/2013
+          mention a date field — it may sit in the unread 23-page letterform
+          annexe, or be Road Transport Department practice outside the plate
+          instruments. Recorded with the same observed-not-prescribed posture
+          this file already takes on the typeface.
+        evidence: photographic-observed
+        sources:
+          - "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2013_Cyprus_motorcycle_plate.jpg  # NBE 049, 07/15"
+          - "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2013_Cyprus_license_plate_for_commercial_vehicles_(truck).jpg  # PEM 499, 04/22"
+          - "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cyprus_antique_vehicle_license_plate.jpg  # ET 145, 05/70 — the inference case"
+          - "https://digicare-insurance.com/blog/cyprus-number-plates-regulations-2026  # secondary, semantics only"
+      band:
+        side: left
+        color: "#003399"
+        hex_basis: observed
+        content: eu-stars+CY
+        note: >-
+          Μέρος ΙΙΙ: the distinguishing sign of the Republic goes on the LEFT of
+          every plate, to the specification in the Annex to Council Regulation
+          (EC) No 2411/98 of 3 November 1998 (OJ L 299, 10-11-1998, p. 1), with
+          the letters CY below the twelve stars, retroreflective. Καν. 6(23)
+          makes it mandatory. COLOUR RULE, and it is the same design logic
+          Greece uses for its GR: the CY takes THE SAME COLOUR AS THE PLATE
+          GROUND, except where that ground is neither white nor yellow, in which
+          case the CY is white — so CY is white on the orange government plate
+          and on the black historic plate, and takes the ground colour on the
+          ordinary white and the taxi yellow.
+      construction_standard: "ISO 7591-1982, Road Vehicles — Retro-reflective registration plates for motor vehicles and trailers — Specification (Μέρος ΙΙ παρ. 4.16). Not fetched; named here, not quoted"
+      font:
+        name: "not named by any instrument"
+        note: >-
+          A CORRECTION TO THE SECONDARY RECORD. Secondary sources state that
+          Cyprus mandates FE-Schrift. NO CYPRIOT INSTRUMENT NAMES A TYPEFACE.
+          Καν. 6(10)(β) delegates "τα ιδιαίτερα χαρακτηριστικά των γραμμάτων και
+          αριθμών" to a Γνωστοποίηση of the Registrar, and the operative one,
+          Κ.Δ.Π. 71/2013, defines the letterforms as 23 PAGES OF DRAWN
+          SPECIMENS — by drawing, never by name. The drawn digits are visually
+          consistent with FE-Schrift (the long-footed 1, the open-topped 4, the
+          squarish 8), so the secondary claim is substantively defensible, but
+          the citable fact is "the letterforms reproduced in the Annex to
+          Κ.Δ.Π. 71/2013", not a typeface name. This is the same posture
+          PRD-PLATES §6 records for the UK, Germany and Spain: statutory
+          drawing, not licensable font.
+        license: "statutory drawing — PRD-PLATES §6: derive glyphs from the specimens, never from a third-party TTF"
+      mounting: { note: "Μέρος ΙΙ παρ. 3: vertical, tilt not exceeding 5 degrees (30/15 degree tolerances in specified cases), lower edge at least 0.30 m above the ground" }
+      rear_differs: false
+      rear_differs_note: >-
+        A REAL CHANGE AT 3-6-2013 THAT SECONDARY SOURCES GET RIGHT AND THAT IS
+        WORTH PINNING: before this series, Cypriot plates were WHITE AT THE
+        FRONT AND YELLOW AT THE REAR (Κ.Δ.Π. 66/1984 Δεύτερον Παράρτημα παρ.
+        3(γ)). Μέρος ΙΙ παρ. 5.1 abolishes that: every plate is white unless it
+        falls in one of the special colour classes. So `rear_differs: false`
+        here is a substantive claim about this series, and `true` on the
+        pre-2013 series is a substantive claim about those.
+    region_encoding: none
+    region_encoding_note: >-
+      NONE, AND THIS IS A WELL-EVIDENCED SOURCED NEGATIVE RATHER THAN AN
+      ABSENCE OF EVIDENCE. There is no district code — for Nicosia, Limassol,
+      Larnaca, Famagusta, Paphos or Kyrenia — in Κ.Δ.Π. 159/1973, Κ.Δ.Π.
+      66/1984 or Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010. Registration is centralised: Καν. 3(α)
+      provides for a single «Βιβλίον Εγγραφής Μηχανοκινήτων Οχημάτων» kept by
+      one Έφορος for the whole Republic. A Cypriot plate has never encoded
+      geography and a parse API must never attempt to decode it.
+    variants:
+      - class: taxi
+        design:
+          background: { color: "#F9B700", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+          foreground: "#000000"
+        note: >-
+          YELLOW GROUND for taxis AND for goods vehicles. Μέρος ΙΙ παρ. 5.4:
+          every front and rear plate of a ταξί and of a φορτηγό όχημα, in the
+          sense given by the περί της Πρόσβασης στο Επάγγελμα του Οδικού
+          Μεταφορέα Νόμο του 2001, must have a yellow ground. CLASS CAVEAT: the
+          controlled vocabulary has no class covering "taxi plus licensed
+          goods vehicle"; `taxi` is the closest member and understates the
+          category, exactly as it does for Greece's Δ.Χ. The same
+          `public-service` vocabulary gap is flagged from both files.
+          HISTORICAL NOTE: until 9-7-2010 the distinction was carried by a
+          LETTER, not a colour — see the file's charset history and
+          cy-standard-1990.
+        sources:
+          - "https://www.cylaw.org/KDP/data/2010_1_291.pdf  # Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010 Δεύτερο Παράρτημα Μέρος ΙΙ παρ. 5.4, gazette page 1734"
+      - class: temporary
+        design:
+          background: { color: "#CE1126", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+          foreground: "#000000"
+        note: >-
+          RED GROUND for self-drive hire vehicles — «οχήματος εκμισθουμένου άνευ
+          οδηγού», literally "vehicle hired out without a driver" (Μέρος ΙΙ παρ.
+          5.5). This is the rental-car plate. CLASS CAVEAT: recorded as
+          `temporary` because the controlled vocabulary has no `rental` or
+          `hire` class; the registration is not in fact temporary, and this is
+          the weakest class mapping in the file. A `rental` class is flagged as
+          a vocabulary gap. Until 9-7-2010 these vehicles carried a mandatory
+          «Ζ» prefix letter instead.
+        sources:
+          - "https://www.cylaw.org/KDP/data/2010_1_291.pdf  # Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010 Δεύτερο Παράρτημα Μέρος ΙΙ παρ. 5.5, gazette page 1734"
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.cylaw.org/KDP/data/2010_1_291.pdf  # Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010 (Ε.Ε. Παρ. III(1) Αρ. 4437, 9-7-2010): Δεύτερο Παράρτημα Μέρος Ι (letters, digits, zero-padding, reduced dimensions) page 1721; Μέρος ΙΙ παρ. 1 (plate sizes) page 1725, παρ. 2 (embossing), παρ. 3 (mounting), παρ. 4.16 (ISO 7591), παρ. 5 (colours) page 1734, παρ. 5.7 (border); Μέρος ΙΙΙ (EU band) page 1735; Καν. 4 (deferred commencement) page 1718-1720; Καν. 6(23) (band mandatory) page 1712. Page images read directly — the PDF has no text layer. Accessed 2026-08-02"
+      - "https://www.cylaw.org/KDP/data/2013_1_72.pdf  # Κ.Δ.Π. 72/2013 (Αρ. 4629 page 618, 1-3-2013) — THE COMMENCEMENT: the Registrar «καθορίζει την 3η Ιουνίου 2013 ως την ημερομηνία έναρξης της ισχύος των προνοιών της παραγράφου 4(β)». This is the period start"
+      - "https://www.cylaw.org/KDP/data/2013_1_71.pdf  # Κ.Δ.Π. 71/2013 (Αρ. 4629 pages 594-617) — the letterform specimens under Καν. 6(10)(β); dimensioned specimen page 595 gives height 75 mm, letter width 47.5 mm, digit width 44.5 mm. Repeals Κ.Δ.Π. 503/2011"
+      - "https://www.cylaw.org/nomoi/enop/non-ind/1972_1_86/full.html  # Ν. 86/1972 s.5(1)(α) — the enabling power; s.17 the offence of altering the marks"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Cyprus  # secondary-wikipedia, ONE claim only: that the first combination issued was MAA 001. Revision 1344966818 of 2026-03-23T15:33:51Z"
+    notes: >-
+      THE CURRENT CYPRIOT SERIES. Start 3 JUNE 2013, fixed by Κ.Δ.Π. 72/2013,
+      NOT the 9-7-2010 date of the substantive instrument and NOT the 1-3-2013
+      gazette date of the commencement instrument — three candidate dates, one
+      correct answer, and the instrument-date trap in its purest form. The
+      series applies from that date to first registrations and to any plate
+      REPLACEMENT for any reason including owner election; already-registered
+      taxis, goods vehicles and L-category vehicles had until 3 DECEMBER 2013
+      (Καν. 4(β)(iii)). This entry overlaps the pre-2013 series because Καν.
+      4(δ) keeps the old Second Schedule alive for unreplated vehicles with NO
+      END DATE — pre-2013 plates were never invalidated and remain lawful today.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # HISTORIC — a colour class over an unprescribed mark, hence recall-only.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: cy-historic-black-2013
+    class: historic
+    categories: [car, van, truck, bus, motorcycle]
+    period: { start: 2013 }
+    period_evidence: enacted-commencement
+    matching: recall-only
+    format:
+      pattern: "LLL 999"
+      regex: '\A[A-Z]{2,3} ?\d{1,5}\z'
+      pattern_note: >-
+        DELIBERATELY WIDE — a union, hence recall-only. This is not a series
+        with its own grammar at all: it is a COLOUR PERMISSION attaching to a
+        vehicle's EXISTING registration mark. An eligible vehicle keeps whatever
+        mark it already has, which for a vehicle registered on or before
+        31-12-1974 is a mark of the AB123 or AB 123 era, and the regex is
+        therefore the union of the shapes Cyprus is known to have issued. A
+        match here says "this string has a shape Cyprus has issued and the
+        vehicle MAY be eligible for a black plate" — it is emphatically not a
+        claim that the plate is black. This is the nl-export case in
+        PRD-PLATES §2.7, and it is why no regex_strict exists.
+    design:
+      background: { color: "#000000", finish: non-retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#FFFFFF"
+      foreground_note: "«χρώματος άσπρου ή αργυρού» — WHITE OR SILVER, the instrument permits either; the hex records the white option and a render layer must know silver is equally lawful"
+      band: { side: left, color: "#003399", content: eu-stars+CY, note: "the CY is WHITE here, because Μέρος ΙΙΙ παρ. 3 makes it white wherever the ground is neither white nor yellow" }
+    region_encoding: none
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.cylaw.org/KDP/data/2010_1_291.pdf  # Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010 Δεύτερο Παράρτημα Μέρος ΙΙ παρ. 5.3 (gazette page 1734): «Η βάση πινακίδων παλαιών οχημάτων ή οχημάτων που ενεγράφησαν στη Δημοκρατία μέχρι την 31 Δεκεμβρίου 1974 είναι δυνατόν να είναι χρώματος μαύρου»; Μέρος ΙΙ παρ. 5.6(β) the white-or-silver characters; and the Καν. 4(β)(ii) proviso (page 1719) restating the same permission"
+    notes: >-
+      THE CYPRIOT HISTORIC PLATE IS A FIXED-DATE RULE, NOT A ROLLING AGE RULE,
+      AND THIS CORRECTS A WIDESPREAD SECONDARY CLAIM. Secondary sources say
+      "vehicles older than 30 years". The instrument says «παλαιών οχημάτων ή
+      οχημάτων που ενεγράφησαν στη Δημοκρατία μέχρι την 31 Δεκεμβρίου 1974» —
+      old vehicles, OR vehicles registered in the Republic ON OR BEFORE 31
+      DECEMBER 1974. A fixed calendar cutoff does not move: the eligible
+      population shrinks every year and can never grow, which is the opposite of
+      a rolling 30-year rule. NOTE THE DISJUNCTION, and it is the honest
+      residue: the phrase is "παλαιών οχημάτων Ή ...", so there are two limbs,
+      and «παλαιό όχημα» (old vehicle) is NOT DEFINED anywhere in the
+      instruments read. A rolling definition may well live in the vehicle-tax or
+      roadworthiness legislation, which was not fetched — recorded gap, and the
+      reason this note does not simply assert the 1974 date as the whole test.
+      The permission is expressed as «είναι δυνατόν» — MAY be — so the black
+      plate is optional, and an eligible vehicle on a white plate is not
+      irregular. Period start is 3-6-2013 because that is when this Schedule
+      commenced; black plates on old Cypriot cars long predate it in practice,
+      under arrangements not sourced here.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # THE PRE-2013 ADMINISTRATIVE SERIES. No published grammar — recall-only.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: cy-standard-1990
+    class: standard
+    categories: [car, van, truck, bus]
+    period: { start: 1990, end: 2013 }
+    period_evidence: secondary-dated
+    matching: recall-only
+    format:
+      pattern: "LLL999"
+      regex: '\A[A-Z]{3} ?\d{1,3}\z'
+      pattern_note: >-
+        recall-only because THE AUTHORITY PUBLISHED NO GRAMMAR. Κ.Δ.Π. 66/1984's
+        Second Schedule required only that the plate bear «τα παραχωρηθέντα υπό
+        του Εφόρου γράμματα και αριθμούς», so there is no instrument fixing
+        three letters, three digits, or any letter set for this era. The three-
+        letter/three-digit shape is a secondary description of the Registrar's
+        practice. The regex tolerates an optional gap and one to three digits
+        and makes no claim beyond shape.
+    design:
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#000000"
+      rear_differs: true
+      rear: { background: { color: "#F9B700", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }, foreground: "#000000" }
+      front: { background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }, foreground: "#000000" }
+      rear_differs_note: >-
+        WHITE FRONT, YELLOW REAR — and this one IS primary, from Κ.Δ.Π. 66/1984
+        Δεύτερον Παράρτημα παρ. 3(γ): black characters on a retroreflective
+        ground, «εν τη περιπτώσει απάντων των λοιπών οχημάτων, χρώματος λευκού
+        εις το πρόσθιον και χρώματος κιτρίνου εις το οπίσθιον μέρος του
+        οχήματος» — white at the front and yellow at the rear, for all vehicles
+        other than the diplomatic and self-drive-hire classes. Abolished by
+        Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010 Μέρος ΙΙ παρ. 5.1 with effect 3-6-2013. This is the
+        clearest single visual discriminator between a pre- and post-2013
+        Cypriot vehicle.
+      band: { side: none, note: "Cyprus acceded to the EU on 1-5-2004 and CY-band plates were in use before 2013 in practice, but the Cypriot instrument that MAKES the band mandatory is Καν. 6(23) of Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010, in force 3-6-2013. No earlier Cypriot band instrument was located. So `none` is the sourced position for this series and the practical reality was mixed — recorded, not smoothed" }
+    region_encoding: none
+    region_encoding_note: "none, on the same sourced negative as the current series — there has never been a district code in Cypriot law"
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.cylaw.org/KDP/data/1984_1_66.pdf  # Κ.Δ.Π. 66/1984 (Ε.Ε. Παρ. III(1) Αρ. 1937, 8-3-1984): Καν. 6(2) (the Registrar grants the marks); Δεύτερον Παράρτημα παρ. 2 (the ENTIRE content specification, gazette page 331); παρ. 3(γ) (white front / yellow rear). THE SOURCED NEGATIVE for this series' format"
+      - "https://www.cylaw.org/KDP/data/2010_1_291.pdf  # Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010 Καν. 3 repeals that Second Schedule and Καν. 4(δ) keeps it alive for unreplated vehicles indefinitely — this series' END, and the reason the end is soft"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Cyprus  # secondary-wikipedia: the 1990 start of the three-letter form and the ABC123 shape. Revision 1344966818 of 2026-03-23T15:33:51Z. NO primary exists for this boundary — see notes"
+    notes: >-
+      THE THREE-LETTER PRE-EU-BAND SERIES. `period_evidence: secondary-dated`
+      and `matching: recall-only` are both consequences of one finding: UNTIL
+      3-6-2013 NO CYPRIOT INSTRUMENT PRESCRIBED THE COMPOSITION OF A
+      REGISTRATION MARK AT ALL. The 1990 boundary is a secondary date with no
+      gazette reference; all 67 CyLaw Κ.Δ.Π. year indexes 1960-2026 were swept
+      and nothing in 1989-1991 is a series instrument by title. If the change
+      was published at all it would have been as a Γνωστοποίηση, and none was
+      found — so this is a well-evidenced gap rather than a search shortfall.
+      The END is likewise soft in a way that matters: 2013 is when the new
+      Schedule commenced, but Καν. 4(δ) leaves these plates lawful with no end
+      date, so they remain on the road and this series overlaps the current one
+      permanently. A LETTER-PREFIX FACT THAT BELONGS TO THIS ERA: Κ.Δ.Π. 66/1984
+      Καν. 6(5) required a «Τ» prefix on public-use vehicles and a «Ζ» prefix on
+      self-drive-hire vehicles, wording that goes back to Κ.Δ.Π. 159/1973 Καν.
+      6(3). Both prefixes were DELETED by Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010 Καν. 2(α), which was
+      not among the deferred paragraphs and so took effect on publication,
+      9 JULY 2010 — three years before the new plates. From that date the taxi
+      and rental distinctions moved from a letter to a colour. CAVEAT recorded
+      by the researcher: the 1973 and 1984 texts of that proviso and the 2010
+      deletion were read, but the intervening amendments 1985-2009 were not
+      traced, so it is not strictly proven that the Τ/Ζ proviso was still the
+      FIRST proviso of Καν. 6(5) in 2010.
+
+  - id: cy-standard-1956
+    class: standard
+    categories: [car, van, truck, bus]
+    period: { start: 1956, end: 1990 }
+    period_evidence: secondary-dated
+    matching: recall-only
+    format:
+      pattern: "LL 999"
+      regex: '\A[A-Z]{2} ?\d{1,3}\z'
+      pattern_note: >-
+        One recall-only series for the whole two-letter era. Secondary sources
+        split it at 1973 into an unspaced AB123 form and a spaced AB 123 form;
+        that is a TYPOGRAPHIC distinction with no instrument behind it (Κ.Δ.Π.
+        159/1973's Second Schedule is verbatim identical to Κ.Δ.Π. 66/1984's on
+        plate content, i.e. it prescribes nothing), so the two are modelled as
+        one series with an optional gap rather than as two series divided by an
+        unsourced boundary. No letter set, no digit count and no dimensions were
+        prescribed in this era.
+    design:
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#000000"
+      rear_differs: true
+      rear: { background: { color: "#F9B700", hex_basis: observed }, foreground: "#000000" }
+      rear_differs_note: "white front / yellow rear from at least 1973, per Κ.Δ.Π. 159/1973 and Κ.Δ.Π. 66/1984 Δεύτερον Παράρτημα παρ. 3(γ); the position before 1973 was not sourced"
+      band: { side: none }
+    region_encoding: none
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.cylaw.org/KDP/data/1973_1_159.pdf  # Κ.Δ.Π. 159/1973 (Ε.Ε. Παρ. III(1) Αρ. 1023, 13-7-1973): Δεύτερον Παράρτημα, gazette pages 646-648 — plate content unprescribed; Καν. 6(3) the Τ/Ζ prefixes"
+      - "https://www.cylaw.org/KDP/data/1984_1_66.pdf  # Κ.Δ.Π. 66/1984 — same position restated; Δεύτερον Παράρτημα παρ. 3(γ) the front/rear colours"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Cyprus  # secondary-wikipedia: the two-letter era and its approximate boundaries (1956-1973 unspaced, 1973-1990 spaced). Revision 1344966818 of 2026-03-23T15:33:51Z"
+    notes: >-
+      THE TWO-LETTER ERA. Entirely administrative, like its successor: no
+      instrument fixed the mark's composition, so the boundaries are secondary
+      and the regex is a shape. 1956 is a secondary start date and predates the
+      Republic's independence (1960) and the enabling Law (1972) — the marks
+      were carried forward across both, which is itself the reason a
+      registration series can outlive the constitutional order that created it
+      and why this file dates the SERIES rather than the STATE. The 1990 end
+      overlaps cy-standard-1990's start for the ordinary reason that a
+      Registrar's change of practice is not a dated event. PRE-1956 CYPRUS IS
+      NOT MODELLED — colonial-era registration is L4 historical depth under
+      PRD-PLATES §7 and no source was consulted.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # DIPLOMATIC — green in law 1973-2013, then silently dropped.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: cy-diplomatic-green-1973
+    class: diplomatic
+    categories: [car, van, motorcycle]
+    period: { start: 1973, end: 2013 }
+    period_evidence: instrument-dated-both-ends
+    matching: recall-only
+    format:
+      pattern: "LLL 999"
+      regex: '\A[A-Z]{2,3} ?\d{1,3}\z'
+      pattern_note: >-
+        recall-only, and for the same reason as every pre-2013 Cypriot series:
+        the instrument prescribes the COLOUR of the diplomatic plate and nothing
+        else. No letter set, no prefix, no digit count. The regex is the union
+        of contemporaneous ordinary shapes.
+    design:
+      background: { color: "#007A33", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#000000"
+      band: { side: none }
+    region_encoding: none
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.cylaw.org/KDP/data/1984_1_66.pdf  # Κ.Δ.Π. 66/1984 Δεύτερον Παράρτημα παρ. 3(α), gazette page 331: black characters on a retroreflective ground «εν τη περιπτώσει οχημάτων ανηκόντων εις τα μέλη του Διπλωματικού Σώματος ή των Ξένων Αποστολών, χρώματος πρασίνου» — GREEN, for vehicles belonging to members of the Diplomatic Corps or of Foreign Missions. START: identical wording in Κ.Δ.Π. 159/1973 παρ. 3"
+      - "https://www.cylaw.org/KDP/data/2010_1_291.pdf  # END: Κ.Δ.Π. 291/2010 Καν. 3 repeals that Second Schedule, and the replacement Μέρος ΙΙ παρ. 5.1-5.7 enumerates white, orange, black, yellow and red and contains NO green and no diplomatic class. In force 3-6-2013"
+    notes: >-
+      THE GREEN DIPLOMATIC PLATE, AND ITS DISAPPEARANCE. Sourced at both ends,
+      which is why `period_evidence: instrument-dated-both-ends`: the green
+      ground is prescribed identically by the 1973 and 1984 Second Schedules,
+      and the 2010 replacement Schedule — which commenced 3-6-2013 — enumerates
+      the colour classes exhaustively and simply does not include it. The
+      diplomatic colour class was not amended or replaced; it was DROPPED. WHAT
+      REPLACED IT IS NOT SOURCED: secondary sources describe a current
+      diplomatic format of a two-digit country code plus CD, CC or AT plus up to
+      three digits on a white EU-band plate, and no instrument establishing that
+      was found — the whole colour paragraph was read, so this is a real gap and
+      not an incomplete search. That current diplomatic series is therefore NOT
+      AUTHORED here rather than authored from secondary description alone.
+      Note in passing that CD/CC/AT use C and D, which are outside the twelve
+      permitted ordinary letters — consistent with diplomatic marks sitting
+      outside the Μέρος Ι alphabet entirely, but that is an inference, not a
+      citation.