vehicles 0.6.1 → 0.8.0

data/data/plates/ca-qc.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,1036 @@
+# plates/ca-qc.yml — Québec, Canada (PRD-PLATES gate L2/L3, Canada east wave).
+#
+# QUÉBEC IS THE BEST-LEGISLATED PLATE JURISDICTION IN CANADA AND ONE OF THE BEST
+# IN THIS DATASET. Where Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick leave the whole
+# serial system to administrative discretion, Québec puts the CLASS PREFIX TABLE
+# IN A REGULATION and the SERIAL ALPHABET IN THE CODE ITSELF. Everything below
+# that carries a prefix — F, L, R, A, C, V, X, M, CC, CD, VA2, VE2 — is quoted
+# from the Règlement sur l'immatriculation des véhicules routiers, article by
+# article. That is a closed, primary, statutory decode table, and it is why this
+# file has more `enabling-instrument` grades than any other Canadian file.
+#
+# ALL LEGAL SOURCES HERE ARE FRENCH-ONLY IN PRACTICE AND ARE QUOTED IN FRENCH.
+# LégisQuébec serves an English version of the Code de la sécurité routière, but
+# the Règlement sur l'immatriculation is consulted and quoted here in its French
+# text, which is the version LégisQuébec marks "Ce document a valeur officielle."
+# Every quotation is followed by a translation note in English; the translations
+# are ours and are labelled as such, never presented as the instrument's words.
+#
+# FIVE STRUCTURAL FACTS THAT SHAPE THIS FILE
+#
+# 1. THE SERIAL ALPHABET IS STATUTORY, WHICH IS RARE. CSR art. 32.1 al. 1,
+#    verbatim: « Tout numéro de plaque d'immatriculation se compose de lettres
+#    majuscules de l'alphabet latin, de chiffres arabes ou d'une combinaison des
+#    deux. Il doit être compatible avec le système de numérotation des plaques
+#    établi par la Société et doit être facile à lire. » (OUR TRANSLATION: every
+#    plate number is composed of uppercase letters of the Latin alphabet, Arabic
+#    numerals, or a combination of the two; it must be compatible with the
+#    numbering system established by the Société and must be easy to read.) That
+#    is the outer legal bound for every Québec serial, and it is exactly the
+#    dataset-wide serial alphabet from _meta/separators.yml — so no
+#    `serial_alphabet:` declaration is needed here, and its absence is a sourced
+#    finding rather than a default.
+#
+# 2. THE CLASS PREFIX IS THE DECODE, AND IT IS IN THE REGULATION. Règlement
+#    arts. 97-141 assign a prefix per vehicle class: no prefix for a private
+#    passenger vehicle (art. 97), M or none for a motorcycle or moped (art. 100),
+#    F or FZ for commercial (art. 102), L for trucks and farm vehicles over
+#    3 000 kg (art. 110), R or U for trailers (art. 113), A/AE/AP/AU for buses
+#    (art. 114), C for restricted-circulation vehicles (arts. 124, 136, 137), V
+#    for off-road (arts. 139-141), X for removable dealer plates (art. 159), CD
+#    for diplomatic (art. 98), CC for consular (art. 99), VA2/VE2 for licensed
+#    radio amateurs (art. 97 al. 2). THE PREFIXES ARE PRIMARY. The digit-and-
+#    letter arrangement that follows each prefix is NOT in any instrument and is
+#    graded `secondary-wikipedia` wherever it appears below.
+#
+# 3. THE GREEN-LETTERING PLATE HAS A DATE IN THE REGULATION — the single
+#    strongest period claim in the Canada east wave. Règlement art. 7.1,
+#    verbatim: « La Société délivre, pour un véhicule routier à propulsion
+#    électrique équipé d'une batterie rechargeable par branchement au réseau
+#    électrique ou alimenté par une pile à hydrogène, une plaque d'immatriculation
+#    avec lettrage vert. Cette plaque est délivrée pour tout véhicule routier visé
+#    au premier alinéa immatriculé à compter du 26 octobre 2017 ou, si le véhicule
+#    n'en est pas déjà muni, lors du remplacement de la plaque. » Inserted by
+#    décret 968-2017, art. 1. A DAY, IN THE INSTRUMENT, FOR A DESIGN. See
+#    ca-qc-electric-2017 for the disagreement this creates with the secondary
+#    record, which is recorded and not averaged (PRD-PLATES §5.3).
+#
+# 4. QUÉBEC IS A ONE-PLATE PROVINCE, REAR, WITH ONE STATUTORY INVERSION.
+#    CSR art. 30 al. 1, verbatim: « Le propriétaire d'un véhicule routier doit
+#    fixer solidement la plaque d'immatriculation qui lui a été délivrée à
+#    l'arrière du véhicule ou à tout autre endroit déterminé par règlement. »
+#    Al. 2 contemplates two copies where a regulation prescribes them. The
+#    inversion is Règlement art. 8: the plate of a tractor unit built to draw a
+#    trailer « doit être fixée à l'AVANT de ce véhicule » — front-only, the same
+#    outlier shape as Florida's truck-tractor rule and Prince Edward Island's.
+#
+# 5. THE SAAQ WEBSITE COULD NOT BE READ FROM THIS LOCATION, AND THAT IS RECORDED
+#    RATHER THAN WORKED AROUND. Every saaq.gouv.qc.ca URL attempted on 2026-08-02
+#    (French and English, direct, and through WebFetch) 303-redirected to
+#    messages.saaq.gouv.qc.ca and served: « ACCÈS REFUSÉ (ERREUR 403) — Nous
+#    sommes désolés. Nous ne pouvons pas vous donner accès à cette page pour le
+#    moment. Cela peut être dû à un problème de connexion ou à des restrictions
+#    spécifiques appliquées dans certains pays. » The SAAQ is GEO-BLOCKED. No
+#    SAAQ page is quoted anywhere in this file; the agency's own plate-category
+#    page is cited as a known, unread source on the series it would corroborate.
+#
+# SEPARATOR NOTE (PRD-PLATES §2.6): Québec prints a GAP between groups, not a
+# glyph — the plates read "H32 KGA" with white space. Every `pattern` spells the
+# emitted SPACE and every regex accepts it as optional. Règlement art. 139 al. 2
+# and art. 141 al. 2 are the one place a Québec instrument mentions a printed
+# separator at all: a personalized plate on an all-terrain vehicle or a snowmobile
+# « porte le préfixe “V” suivi d'un trait d'union » (bears the prefix V followed
+# by a HYPHEN). That hyphen is an emitted separator under §2.6 and is spelled as
+# one on ca-qc-personalized's off-road variant.
+jurisdiction: ca-qc
+authority:
+  name: Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ)
+  url: "https://saaq.gouv.qc.ca/en/vehicle-registration/categories-licence-plates/"
+  url_note: "CITED, NOT READ — saaq.gouv.qc.ca is geo-blocked from this location (see header fact 5). Every claim in this file comes from LégisQuébec or is tagged secondary."
+binding: vehicle
+binding_note: >-
+  A Québec plate is ASSOCIATED with a vehicle and the association is what makes
+  it valid: Règlement art. 5, verbatim: « Une plaque d'immatriculation, autre
+  qu'une plaque d'immatriculation amovible, est valide tant qu'elle est associée
+  à un véhicule routier. » (OUR TRANSLATION: a registration plate, other than a
+  removable plate, is valid as long as it is associated with a road vehicle.)
+  BUT THE HOLDER MAY MOVE IT: Règlement art. 7 al. 2 §2 lets an owner ask the
+  Société « d'associer au véhicule une plaque d'immatriculation dont il est
+  titulaire » (to associate with the vehicle a plate of which he is the holder),
+  and CSR art. 43 says that on selling to a dealer and buying another vehicle
+  « le cédant ... doit conserver la plaque d'immatriculation » — the seller KEEPS
+  the plate. So `binding: vehicle` is right for the CURRENT state (one plate, one
+  vehicle, recorded in the register) while the plate itself is portable within
+  the holder's fleet, subject to Règlement art. 7 al. 3: the plate must be of a
+  category matching the declared use. Contrast plates/ca-on.yml, where the Act
+  makes the plate the registrant's outright (`binding: owner`). CSR art. 10.3:
+  « Toute plaque d'immatriculation délivrée par la Société demeure sa propriété. »
+instrument:
+  code: "Code de la sécurité routière, RLRQ chapitre C-24.2 (CSR) — arts. 10.1, 10.3, 10.4, 28, 30, 31, 32, 32.1-32.4, 33, 34, 37-39, 42, 43, 50, 54, 54.1, 54.2, 57"
+  regulation: "Règlement sur l'immatriculation des véhicules routiers, RLRQ chapitre C-24.2, r. 29, made under CSR arts. 618, 619.1, 619.3 and 621 al. 1 §§1, 28, 29"
+  regulation_base: "D. 1420-91 (décret 1420-91); D. 1876-92, a. 1"
+  regulation_currency: "« À jour au 1er avril 2026. Ce document a valeur officielle. » — LégisQuébec's own currency and authority statement on the regulation, read 2026-08-02"
+  key_amendments:
+    - "D. 968-2017, a. 1 — inserted art. 7.1 (green-lettering plate for plug-in electric and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles)"
+    - "L.Q. 2018, c. 18, a. 35 — inserted arts. 7.2 to 7.7 (the personalized-plate regime: eligibility, activation, validity, number reuse, management fees)"
+    - "D. 997-2022 — inserted art. 7.1.1 (paper « provisoire » plate) and art. 9.1 (where it is displayed); amended arts. 7, 7.1, 7.7"
+  sources:
+    - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # Règlement sur l'immatriculation des véhicules routiers, full French text, accessed 2026-08-02"
+    - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/lc/C-24.2  # Code de la sécurité routière, full French text, accessed 2026-08-02"
+  licence: >-
+    LégisQuébec is published by the Éditeur officiel du Québec / Les Publications
+    du Québec. Statutes and regulations are EDICTS OF GOVERNMENT and their text is
+    uncopyrightable (PRD-PLATES §4); every verbatim quotation in this file is from
+    that class of material. Translations into English are OURS and are marked.
+
+artwork_risk:
+  posture: crown-copyright-asserted
+  basis: >-
+    Québec asserts Crown copyright (« © Gouvernement du Québec ») across its
+    sites, and the SAAQ additionally geo-blocks access, so no assessment of the
+    plate ARTWORK's licence was possible. The instrument TEXT is free as an edict
+    of government and is quoted freely here. Nothing else is assumed.
+  emblem_rule: >-
+    PRD-PLATES §3 placeholder default applies without exception. The fleur-de-lys
+    and the « Je me souviens » wordmark are rendered `placeholder`. The fleur-de-
+    lys as used on Québec plates is an element of the provincial flag and arms and
+    carries protection independent of copyright; unresearched, flagged.
+
+common:
+  serial_alphabet_statutory:
+    text: >-
+      CSR art. 32.1 al. 1, verbatim: « Tout numéro de plaque d'immatriculation se
+      compose de lettres majuscules de l'alphabet latin, de chiffres arabes ou
+      d'une combinaison des deux. Il doit être compatible avec le système de
+      numérotation des plaques établi par la Société et doit être facile à lire. »
+    translation_note: "OUR TRANSLATION: every plate number consists of uppercase Latin letters, Arabic numerals, or a combination of the two; it must be compatible with the numbering system established by the Société and must be easy to read."
+    consequence: >-
+      This is the `regex_statutory` bound for the whole jurisdiction. It is stated
+      once here and referenced rather than repeated on every series, because it is
+      the SAME bound everywhere: uppercase A-Z and 0-9, any length, subject only
+      to SAAQ's own numbering system and to legibility.
+    source: "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/lc/C-24.2  # CSR art. 32.1 al. 1"
+  inscriptions:
+    text: "CSR art. 32 al. 1, verbatim: « Une plaque d'immatriculation ne peut porter une inscription autre que celles déterminées par la Société. »"
+    translation_note: "OUR TRANSLATION: a registration plate may not bear any inscription other than those determined by the Société."
+    consequence: "The legends, slogan and graphics on a Québec plate are SAAQ's administrative choice, not law — which is why every colour and legend claim below is `hex_basis: observed` or tagged secondary."
+    source: "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/lc/C-24.2  # CSR art. 32 al. 1-2"
+  display:
+    rear_default:
+      text: "CSR art. 30, verbatim: « Le propriétaire d'un véhicule routier doit fixer solidement la plaque d'immatriculation qui lui a été délivrée à l'arrière du véhicule ou à tout autre endroit déterminé par règlement. Toutefois, si un règlement prescrit la délivrance de deux exemplaires de la plaque d'immatriculation, ceux-ci doivent être fixés l'un à l'avant et l'autre à l'arrière du véhicule. »"
+      translation_note: "OUR TRANSLATION: the owner must securely fix the plate issued to him to the REAR of the vehicle or at any other place determined by regulation; where a regulation prescribes two copies, one goes at the front and the other at the rear."
+    tractor_unit_front:
+      text: "Règlement art. 8, verbatim: « La plaque d'immatriculation d'un véhicule automobile composant un ensemble de véhicules routiers, lorsque ce véhicule a été essentiellement conçu pour tirer une remorque doit être fixée à l'avant de ce véhicule. »"
+      translation_note: "OUR TRANSLATION: the plate of a motor vehicle forming part of a road-train, where that vehicle was essentially designed to draw a trailer, must be fixed to the FRONT of that vehicle."
+      note: "The Florida / Prince Edward Island truck-tractor inversion, in Québec law. A front-only plate on a tractor unit is correct, not a fault."
+    snowmobile: "Règlement art. 9: a snowmobile's plate goes at the rear or on the outer left vertical surface of the track tunnel, as close to the rear as possible."
+    legibility:
+      text: "CSR art. 32 al. 2, verbatim: « La plaque d'immatriculation doit être libre de tout objet ou de toute matière pouvant en empêcher la lecture. Elle doit, en outre, lorsqu'elle est apposée à l'arrière du véhicule, être suffisamment éclairée. » CSR art. 33 lets a peace officer require the driver to CLEAN the plate."
+    confusable_plates: "CSR art. 34 forbids fixing any plate or sticker that could be confused with a SAAQ plate or control sticker."
+    source: "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/lc/C-24.2  # CSR arts. 30, 32, 33, 34"
+    source_regulation: "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # Règlement arts. 8, 9, 9.1, 10"
+  class_prefixes:
+    note: >-
+      THE CLOSED, PRIMARY, STATUTORY PREFIX TABLE. Inline rather than in a
+      _decode file because it is small (thirteen rows) and because it decodes
+      VEHICLE CLASS rather than geography — a Québec plate encodes NO region and
+      NO date, and a parse API must not infer either.
+    rows:
+      - { prefix: "(none)", meaning: "véhicule de promenade / motorized home ≤ 3 000 kg owned by a natural person and used mainly for personal purposes", article: "art. 97 al. 1" }
+      - { prefix: "VA2, VE2", meaning: "passenger vehicle of a licensed radio amateur", article: "art. 97 al. 2" }
+      - { prefix: "CD", meaning: "diplomatic corps — official vehicle of a foreign state with a permanent mission to an intergovernmental international organization established in Québec, and related categories", article: "art. 98" }
+      - { prefix: "CC", meaning: "consular corps — official vehicle of a foreign state with a consular post in Québec headed by a career consular officer, and related categories", article: "art. 99" }
+      - { prefix: "M or none", meaning: "cyclomoteur (moped) and motocyclette (motorcycle)", article: "art. 100" }
+      - { prefix: "F, FZ", meaning: "commercial vehicle, farm vehicle, driving-school vehicle, school-transport vehicle, snow blower, ambulance, hearse, tool-vehicle, tow truck, motorized home > 3 000 kg (excluding mopeds and motorcycles)", article: "art. 102" }
+      - { prefix: "L", meaning: "camion (truck) and farm vehicle over 3 000 kg net mass", article: "art. 110" }
+      - { prefix: "PRP (sticker)", meaning: "vignette bearing the letters PRP for vehicles admitted to proportional (IRP) registration and used in Québec plus at least one other jurisdiction", article: "art. 112.1" }
+      - { prefix: "R, U", meaning: "remorque (trailer); U is the retired form for farm trailers registered before 1 January 1989", article: "art. 113" }
+      - { prefix: "A, AE, AP, AU", meaning: "autobus or minibus", article: "art. 114" }
+      - { prefix: "C", meaning: "restricted circulation — vehicles used in a locality not linked to the general Québec road network (art. 124), farm tractors on a public road (art. 136), artisan-built vehicles and the like (art. 137)", article: "arts. 124, 136, 137" }
+      - { prefix: "V", meaning: "vehicles used exclusively on private land or roads including metal-tracked vehicles (art. 139), vehicles used exclusively in stations, ports and airports (art. 140), snowmobiles of 450 kg or less (art. 141)", article: "arts. 139, 140, 141" }
+      - { prefix: "X", meaning: "plaque d'immatriculation amovible — the removable plate issued to a dealer, manufacturer or body-builder under arts. 143 and 149", article: "art. 159" }
+    verbatim_samples:
+      - "art. 100: « La plaque d'immatriculation d'un cyclomoteur et d'une motocyclette porte le préfixe “M” ou aucun préfixe. »"
+      - "art. 110: « La plaque d'immatriculation d'un camion et d'un véhicule de ferme dont la masse nette est de plus de 3 000 kg porte le préfixe “L”. »"
+      - "art. 113: « La plaque d'immatriculation d'une remorque porte le préfixe “R” ou “U”. »"
+      - "art. 114: « La plaque d'immatriculation d'un autobus ou d'un minibus porte le préfixe “A”, “AE”, “AP” ou “AU”. »"
+      - "art. 159: « Au moment de l'immatriculation des catégories de véhicules routiers mentionnées à l'un des articles 143 et 149, la Société délivre un certificat d'immatriculation et une plaque d'immatriculation amovible portant le préfixe “X” à la personne au nom de laquelle est effectuée l'immatriculation de ces catégories. »"
+    retired_prefixes_note: >-
+      SECONDARY, TAGGED, AND USEFUL FOR OLD PLATES: the en.wikipedia Québec article
+      lists retired prefixes — U (farm trailers before 1989) -> R; GQ (Government
+      of Québec), GP (Sûreté du Québec), G (Government of Canada), CO and H
+      (hearse), AM and H (ambulance), ZZ (short-term rental), Z and FZ (long-term
+      commercial lease) — all folded into F. The FZ survival in art. 102 is
+      confirmed by the regulation; the rest are the article's and are not asserted.
+      The T (taxi) prefix was withdrawn when Québec deregulated the taxi industry;
+      the article dates the end of issuance to 10 October 2020 and the phase-out to
+      13 October 2020 and 31 March 2021, citing Transports Québec, and this file
+      does not author a taxi series because no grammar and no primary date were
+      obtained.
+    source: "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # Règlement arts. 97-114, 124, 136, 137, 139-141, 159 — every prefix above quoted from its own article"
+    source_secondary: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Quebec  # TAGGED SECONDARY (PRD-PLATES §4, owner override 2026-08-02), read 2026-08-02: the retired-prefix list, the XA motorcycle-dealer form, and every digit-and-letter arrangement in this file"
+  dimensions:
+    note: >-
+      NO QUÉBEC INSTRUMENT PRESCRIBES A PLATE SIZE. The Règlement and the CSR were
+      both searched: neither states a dimension, a character height or a colour.
+      The 30 x 15 cm standard plate and the 20 x 10 cm small (motorcycle, moped,
+      off-road) plate are the article's and are recorded on the series below as
+      `plate_basis: secondary-wikipedia`, never as a Québec legal claim.
+    source_secondary: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Quebec  # 30 cm x 15 cm standard and 20 cm x 10 cm small, blue-on-white standard and green-on-white electric"
+
+classes_not_modelled:
+  temporary:
+    exists: true
+    mechanism: >-
+      Règlement art. 7.1.1, verbatim: « Lorsqu'une plaque d'immatriculation ne peut
+      être délivrée sur support métallique au moment de l'immatriculation, la
+      Société délivre, en attendant, une plaque d'immatriculation portant la
+      mention "provisoire" et, le cas échéant, les mentions suivantes: 1° "plaque
+      verte", s'il s'agit d'un véhicule routier à propulsion électrique ...;
+      2° "PRP", s'il s'agit d'un véhicule routier qui satisfait aux conditions pour
+      l'immatriculation proportionnelle. » Art. 9.1: it is affixed « dans la partie
+      supérieure gauche de la lunette arrière du véhicule ou, si elle ne peut
+      l'être, dans la partie supérieure gauche du pare-brise » — inside the rear
+      window, or the windscreen. Inserted by D. 997-2022.
+    translation_note: "OUR TRANSLATION: where a metal plate cannot be issued at registration, the Société issues in the meantime a plate bearing the word « provisoire » and, where applicable, « plaque verte » or « PRP »."
+    why_not_modelled: >-
+      The instrument prescribes the LEGENDS and the POSITION and never the serial.
+      A « provisoire » plate carries the registration number the vehicle is being
+      given, so its grammar is whichever series applies — modelling it would mean
+      authoring a union with no independent content. Recorded as a gap.
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # Règlement arts. 7.1.1, 9.1, 13 §14 (the validity dates that must be recorded for a provisoire plate)"
+  proportional_irp:
+    exists: true
+    mechanism: >-
+      Règlement art. 112.1: trucks, tractor vehicles, buses and certain others
+      admitted to proportional registration and operating in Québec plus at least
+      one other jurisdiction carry « une vignette portant les lettres “PRP” ».
+      Art. 2.2 treats a vehicle as registered in conformity with the CSR where its
+      plate « porte le préfixe “PRP”, le mot "APPORTIONNED" ou est muni d'une
+      vignette portant le préfixe "PRP" ».
+    why_not_modelled: >-
+      PRP is a STICKER ON an existing plate, not a plate series: the underlying
+      serial is the F or L series serial. Authoring it would double-count.
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # Règlement arts. 2.2, 112.1, 60.38"
+  taxi:
+    exists: false
+    mechanism: >-
+      The T prefix was withdrawn with the modernization of the Québec taxi
+      industry; taxis now carry ordinary or F plates. The regulation as consulted
+      on 2026-08-02 contains NO T prefix — the negative is checked, not assumed —
+      and directs the reader to arts. 18 and 19 of the Règlement sur le transport
+      rémunéré de personnes par automobile (chapitre T-11.2, r. 4).
+    why_not_modelled: "Class no longer issued; no primary dating the withdrawal was obtained (the article's 2020-2021 dates cite Transports Québec pages not fetched). Recorded as a gap for L4."
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # the regulation's own cross-reference to chapitre T-11.2, r. 4; no T prefix appears anywhere in arts. 97-141"
+
+series:
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # CURRENT PASSENGER — ABC 12D, since about 15 September 2023.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-qc-passenger-2023
+    class: standard
+    categories: [car, van, motorhome]
+    period: { start: 2023 }
+    period_evidence: secondary-wikipedia
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "LLL 99L"
+      regex: '\A[A-Z]{3} ?\d{2}[A-Z]\z'
+      regex_strict: '\A[ACEFGHJKLMNPRTVWXYZ][ABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRSTVWXYZ]{2} ?\d{2}[ABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRSTVWXYZ]\z'
+      regex_statutory: '\A[A-Z0-9](?: ?[A-Z0-9])*\z'
+      charset:
+        excluded_everywhere: [I, O, U]
+        excluded_first_letter: [B, D, I, O, Q, S, U]
+        notes: >-
+          TAGGED SECONDARY. The article states that I, O and U have been unused in
+          Québec serials since 1996 and that B, D, Q and S are not used as first
+          letters in this format. No SAAQ page could be read to corroborate it
+          (geo-block) and CSR art. 32.1 imposes only the Latin-uppercase-plus-
+          Arabic-numerals rule. Encoded ONLY in `regex_strict`.
+      statutory_note: >-
+        `regex_statutory` is CSR art. 32.1 al. 1 and nothing more: uppercase Latin
+        letters, Arabic numerals, or a combination, of unbounded length, printed
+        with the ordinary Québec group gap. It is the honest outer bound for a
+        Québec plate of unknown class and vintage — deliberately very wide, because
+        the statute really is that wide.
+      progression: "AAA 01A upward per the article's issuance record"
+      separator_note: "printed as a gap, no glyph; `pattern` spells the emitted space and both regexes accept it as optional"
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 30, h: 15, unit: cm, plate_basis: secondary-wikipedia }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      colour_note: "blue on white. NO QUÉBEC INSTRUMENT STATES A COLOUR — CSR art. 32 leaves every inscription to SAAQ. Both hexes are observed."
+      legend_top: "Québec"
+      legend_bottom_options: ["Je me souviens"]
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder, description: "fleur-de-lys beside the province name" }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+      display: "REAR ONLY (CSR art. 30 al. 1)"
+    region_encoding: none
+    region_encoding_note: "A Québec plate encodes NO geography and NO date — only class, through the prefix table, and a private passenger plate has no prefix at all."
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # Règlement art. 97 al. 1: « la plaque d'immatriculation des véhicules routiers suivants appartenant à une personne physique et utilisés principalement à des fins personnelles ne porte aucun préfixe: 1° un véhicule de promenade; 2° une habitation motorisée qui a une masse nette de 3 000 kg ou moins » — the primary basis for the NO-PREFIX shape of this series"
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/lc/C-24.2  # CSR art. 32.1 al. 1 (the serial alphabet, hence regex_statutory); art. 30 (rear display); art. 10.3 (plates remain SAAQ property)"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Quebec  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the ABC 12D arrangement, its circa-15-September-2023 start, the B/D/Q/S first-letter exclusion and the I/O/U exclusion. The article's own citations for the change are two Le Soleil articles (15 and 25 September 2023), which were not fetched."
+    notes: >-
+      THE CURRENT QUÉBEC PASSENGER PLATE. The SHAPE of the series is primary — art.
+      97 says in terms that a private passenger plate carries no prefix, which is
+      why `regex` has no prefix and why that absence is a claim rather than an
+      omission. The ARRANGEMENT and the DATE are not: ABC 12D and its September
+      2023 start are the article's, sourced there to Le Soleil, and are graded
+      `secondary-wikipedia`. WHY 2023 AND NOT 2022 IS THE INTERESTING PART: Québec
+      ran the immediately preceding 12A BCD arrangement for roughly nine months
+      before withdrawing it, the article says, because too many offensive letter
+      combinations were reachable. That makes "one series back" ambiguous in
+      Québec, so this file authors TWO predecessors and says why (see
+      ca-qc-passenger-2022 and ca-qc-passenger-2009).
+
+  - id: ca-qc-passenger-2022
+    class: standard
+    categories: [car, van, motorhome]
+    period: { start: 2022, end: 2023 }
+    period_evidence: secondary-wikipedia
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "99L LLL"
+      regex: '\A\d{2}[A-Z] ?[A-Z]{3}\z'
+      regex_strict: '\A\d{2}[ACEFGHJKLMNPRTVWXYZ] ?[ABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRSTVWXYZ]{3}\z'
+      charset: { excluded_everywhere: [I, O, U], excluded_first_letter: [B, D, Q, S], notes: "as ca-qc-passenger-2023; the first LETTER is at position 3 in this arrangement" }
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 30, h: 15, unit: cm, plate_basis: secondary-wikipedia }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      legend_top: "Québec"
+      legend_bottom_options: ["Je me souviens"]
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+    sources:
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Quebec  # TAGGED SECONDARY: 12A BCD issued December 2022 to circa 15 September 2023, ranges 01A AAA to 99R AHH, discontinued 'due to the possibility of too many inappropriate combinations of letters'"
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/lc/C-24.2  # CSR art. 32.1 al. 2: the statutory power behind that withdrawal — a plate number must not, « y compris par la lecture en sens inverse », carry an expression or message falsely suggesting a public authority or otherwise prohibited"
+    notes: >-
+      THE NINE-MONTH ARRANGEMENT. Authored because it is genuinely in circulation
+      and because its withdrawal is the clearest illustration in this file of CSR
+      art. 32.1 al. 2, which polices plate numbers for offensive and misleading
+      readings INCLUDING READ BACKWARDS — a statutory rule that bites on ordinary
+      serials, not only on personalized ones. Both boundaries are the article's,
+      unfootnoted for the start and footnoted to Le Soleil for the end.
+
+  - id: ca-qc-passenger-2009
+    class: standard
+    categories: [car, van, motorhome]
+    period: { start: 2009, end: 2022 }
+    period_evidence: secondary-wikipedia
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "L99 LLL"
+      regex: '\A[A-Z]\d{2} ?[A-Z]{3}\z'
+      regex_strict: '\A[BDEGHJKMNPQSWXYZ]\d{2} ?[ABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRSTVWXYZ]{3}\z'
+      charset:
+        excluded_everywhere: [I, O, U]
+        excluded_first_letter: [A, C, F, I, L, O, R, T, U, V]
+        notes: >-
+          TAGGED SECONDARY: the article states A, C, F, L, R, T and V were not used
+          as first letters in this format — which is exactly the set of CLASS
+          PREFIXES the regulation reserves (arts. 102, 110, 113, 124, 139, 159 and
+          the A bus block), so the exclusion is corroborated by the primary prefix
+          table even though the article does not say so. That corroboration is the
+          strongest secondary-to-primary link in this file and is why this series'
+          strict twin is trustworthy.
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 30, h: 15, unit: cm, plate_basis: secondary-wikipedia }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      legend_top: "Québec"
+      legend_bottom_options: ["Je me souviens"]
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+    sources:
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Quebec  # TAGGED SECONDARY: B12 CDE issued September 2009 to December 2022, ranges B01 AAA to Z99 ZZZ, first letters A/C/F/L/R/T/V unused"
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # Règlement arts. 102, 110, 113, 114, 124, 139, 159 — the reserved class prefixes F, L, R, A, C, V and X, which independently explain the excluded first letters above"
+    notes: >-
+      THIRTEEN YEARS AND THE BULK OF THE QUÉBEC FLEET. Authored as a second
+      predecessor, against the ordinary one-back rule, because the 2022 series ran
+      only nine months: in practice the plate a consumer meets behind a Québec car
+      is far more likely to be B12 CDE than 12A BCD. The exclusion set is the one
+      place in this file where a secondary claim is independently corroborated by
+      the primary regulation, and that is recorded in `charset.notes` rather than
+      left for a verifier to notice.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # ELECTRIC — green lettering, with a DAY in the regulation.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-qc-electric-2017
+    class: electric
+    categories: [car, van, truck, bus]
+    period: { start: 2017 }
+    period_evidence: enabling-instrument
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "LLL 99L"
+      regex: '\A[A-Z]{3} ?\d{2}[A-Z]\z'
+      charset:
+        notes: >-
+          THE MARK IS THE ORDINARY MARK OF THE VEHICLE'S CLASS — art. 7.1 changes
+          the LETTERING COLOUR and nothing else. A green-lettered Québec plate on a
+          passenger car carries a passenger serial; on a commercial vehicle it
+          carries an F serial; on a bus an A serial. `regex` here encodes the
+          current PASSENGER arrangement because that is the overwhelmingly common
+          case; the other classes' arrangements are in their own series and a
+          green-lettered example of each is legal.
+      format_note: >-
+        CONTRAST plates/gb.yml `gb-green-zev-2020` (a green flash, mark unchanged,
+        powertrain UNPARSEABLE) and plates/ca-on.yml `ca-on-green-2010` (a GV/GW/VE
+        serial prefix, powertrain PARSEABLE). Québec sits between them: the serial
+        is unchanged, so a Québec EV is not identifiable from its plate STRING, but
+        it is identifiable from the plate IMAGE, because the lettering is green.
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 30, h: 15, unit: cm, plate_basis: secondary-wikipedia }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#008C45"
+      colour_note: >-
+        The regulation says « lettrage vert » — GREEN LETTERING — and gives no
+        coordinate, no shade and no background colour. The hex is observed; the
+        FACT of greenness is primary. That split is recorded deliberately.
+      legend_top: "Québec"
+      legend_bottom_options: ["Je me souviens"]
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+    eligibility:
+      text: >-
+        Règlement art. 7.1 al. 1, verbatim: « La Société délivre, pour un véhicule
+        routier à propulsion électrique équipé d'une batterie rechargeable par
+        branchement au réseau électrique ou alimenté par une pile à hydrogène, une
+        plaque d'immatriculation avec lettrage vert. »
+      translation_note: "OUR TRANSLATION: the Société issues, for a road vehicle with electric propulsion equipped with a battery rechargeable by connection to the electrical grid or powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, a registration plate with GREEN LETTERING."
+      note: "The Québec test is a PLUG OR A FUEL CELL — so a plug-in hybrid qualifies, as in Ontario, and unlike Britain's tailpipe test."
+    rollout:
+      text: >-
+        Règlement art. 7.1 al. 2, verbatim: « Cette plaque est délivrée pour tout
+        véhicule routier visé au premier alinéa immatriculé à compter du 26 octobre
+        2017 ou, si le véhicule n'en est pas déjà muni, lors du remplacement de la
+        plaque. »
+      translation_note: "OUR TRANSLATION: this plate is issued for every vehicle covered by the first paragraph registered ON OR AFTER 26 OCTOBER 2017 or, if the vehicle does not already carry one, when the plate is replaced."
+      first_issue: "2017-10-26"
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # Règlement art. 7.1, inserted by D. 968-2017, a. 1 and amended by D. 997-2022, a. 8 — the green-lettering rule and the 26 October 2017 date, both verbatim above"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Quebec  # TAGGED SECONDARY, AND IN DISAGREEMENT: the article dates a green Québec electric plate to 2011 with an 'E00 VEA' passenger form, an 'A00000' bus form and an 'FVE0000' commercial form, citing a dead SAAQ page. Recorded, not averaged — see notes."
+    notes: >-
+      THE STRONGEST PERIOD CLAIM IN THE CANADA EAST WAVE: a DAY, in the
+      instrument, for a design — « à compter du 26 octobre 2017 ». Hence
+      `period_evidence: enabling-instrument`. THE DISAGREEMENT IS RECORDED AND NOT
+      RESOLVED, per PRD-PLATES §5.3: the en.wikipedia article says Québec issued a
+      green electric plate from 2011, six years earlier, with distinct serial forms
+      (E00 VEA and so on), and cites a SAAQ page that no longer exists and could
+      not be reached from this location anyway. Two readings fit the evidence — a
+      voluntary 2011 SAAQ programme that D. 968-2017 later made regulatory, or an
+      article error — and nothing available here distinguishes them. This file
+      dates the series from the instrument, records the 2011 claim in the sources,
+      and does NOT author the 2011 forms. A verifier with SAAQ access should settle
+      it; if the 2011 programme is real it becomes its own predecessor series.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # MOTORCYCLE / MOPED — the M prefix is primary, the arrangement is not.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-qc-motorcycle-2008
+    class: motorcycle
+    categories: [motorcycle, moped, scooter]
+    period: { start: 2008 }
+    period_evidence: secondary-wikipedia
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "99999L"
+      regex: '\A\d{5}[A-Z]\z'
+      charset:
+        notes: >-
+          Note what the regulation does and does not give. Art. 100 is primary and
+          says the plate « porte le préfixe “M” ou aucun préfixe » — M OR NO PREFIX
+          — so a Québec motorcycle plate legally may carry an M and legally may
+          not. The current arrangement reported by the article carries none, which
+          is consistent with the article and with the regulation, and `regex`
+          encodes the no-prefix form. An M-prefixed Québec motorcycle plate
+          (MAA 001-era) is lawful and out of this series' regex; that is the
+          correct-but-incomplete case PRD-PLATES §2.7 calls `strict`.
+      progression: "10001A upward per the article's issuance record"
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 20, h: 10, unit: cm, plate_basis: secondary-wikipedia }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      legend_top: "Québec"
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+      display: "REAR ONLY (CSR art. 30 al. 1)"
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # Règlement art. 100 (the M-or-no-prefix rule, verbatim above) and art. 7.2 §2 (motorcycles, mopeds and motorized homes ≤ 3 000 kg are eligible for a personalized plate)"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Quebec  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the 12345A arrangement from 2008 and its issuance range; the shared motorcycle/moped series since 1989"
+    notes: >-
+      ONE SERIES FOR MOTORCYCLES AND MOPEDS, which is the regulation's own cut —
+      art. 100 names « un cyclomoteur et une motocyclette » in one breath and gives
+      them one prefix rule. The arrangement and the 2008 start are the article's.
+      Québec's older M-prefixed motorcycle plates (M-12345, M-B1234, MBC 123) are
+      still revalidated per the article and are deliberately NOT authored: no
+      primary dates them and L4 owns the pre-2000 world.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # COMMERCIAL — the F prefix, primary, art. 102.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-qc-commercial-f-2001
+    class: standard
+    categories: [truck, van, machine]
+    period: { start: 2001 }
+    period_evidence: secondary-wikipedia
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "FLL9999"
+      regex: '\AF[A-Z]{2}\d{4}\z'
+      charset:
+        notes: >-
+          The literal F is PRIMARY (art. 102). The two letters and four digits that
+          follow are the article's. Art. 102 also allows FZ, which the retired-
+          prefix note in `common.class_prefixes` says was the long-term commercial
+          lease form; an FZ plate matches this regex by construction because Z is a
+          letter, and that is a happy accident rather than a modelled fact.
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 30, h: 15, unit: cm, plate_basis: secondary-wikipedia }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      legend_top: "Québec"
+      legend_bottom_options: ["Je me souviens"]
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+    covered_classes:
+      text: >-
+        Règlement art. 102, opening verbatim: « À l'exception d'un cyclomoteur et
+        d'une motocyclette, la plaque d'immatriculation des véhicules routiers
+        suivants porte le préfixe "F" ou "FZ": 1° un véhicule commercial; ... »
+      translation_note: "OUR TRANSLATION: except for a moped and a motorcycle, the plate of the following road vehicles bears the prefix F or FZ: commercial vehicles, and (per the enumerated paragraphs) farm vehicles, driving-school vehicles, school-transport vehicles, snow blowers, ambulances, hearses, tool-vehicles, tow trucks and motorized homes over 3 000 kg."
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # Règlement art. 102 (the F/FZ prefix, verbatim above) and arts. 103-108.3 (the fee schedule that enumerates the covered classes)"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Quebec  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the FBC1234 arrangement from 2001 and its issuance range FAA1001 onward"
+    notes: >-
+      THE PREFIX IS LAW AND THE REST IS REPORTED — the split this file exists to
+      make legible. `class: standard` because _meta/classes.yml has no "commercial"
+      member and inventing one ad hoc is forbidden; the category list is what
+      narrows it. A consumer reading an F prefix off a Québec plate is reading a
+      REGULATED CLASS SIGNAL, which is more than any Ontario or Atlantic plate
+      offers.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # HEAVY TRUCK — the L prefix, primary, art. 110.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-qc-truck-l
+    class: standard
+    categories: [truck, tractor]
+    period: { start: 1991 }
+    period_evidence: enabling-instrument
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: '\L999999'
+      regex: '\AL\d{6}\z'
+      charset:
+        notes: >-
+          The literal L is PRIMARY (art. 110); the six digits are the article's.
+          NOTE THE PATTERN ESCAPE: `L` is the human-pattern DSL's own token for
+          "any letter", so a plate that PRINTS an L must write `\L` (PRD-PLATES
+          §2.2, owner ruling 2026-08-02). This is the only series in the Canada
+          east wave that needs it, and it needs it because Québec's heavy-truck
+          prefix happens to collide with the DSL. Written in single quotes so YAML
+          does not eat the backslash.
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 30, h: 15, unit: cm, plate_basis: secondary-wikipedia }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      legend_top: "Québec"
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+      display: "REAR, unless the vehicle is a tractor unit built to draw a trailer, in which case the plate goes on the FRONT (Règlement art. 8)"
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # Règlement art. 110, verbatim: « La plaque d'immatriculation d'un camion et d'un véhicule de ferme dont la masse nette est de plus de 3 000 kg porte le préfixe “L”. » — the article carries the base citation D. 1420-91 with no later amendment to the prefix"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Quebec  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the L123456 arrangement"
+    notes: >-
+      period.start 1991 IS THE REGULATION'S OWN DATE AND IS GRADED HONESTLY:
+      D. 1420-91 is the décret that made the Règlement sur l'immatriculation des
+      véhicules routiers, and art. 110 carries that base citation with no amending
+      décret against it, so 1991 is the earliest date at which THIS PREFIX RULE was
+      in force. It is an `enabling-instrument` claim about the PREFIX, not about
+      the six-digit arrangement, which is the article's and is undated. Where the
+      two disagree — and here they cannot, because the article gives no date — the
+      instrument wins. The same reasoning fixes 1991 on the trailer, bus, restricted
+      and off-road series below.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # TRAILER — the R prefix, primary, art. 113.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-qc-trailer-r-2007
+    class: trailer
+    categories: [trailer, semitrailer]
+    period: { start: 2007 }
+    period_evidence: secondary-wikipedia
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "RL9999L"
+      regex: '\AR[A-Z]\d{4}[A-Z]\z'
+      charset: { notes: "the literal R is PRIMARY (art. 113); the letter-four digits-letter body is the article's. Art. 113 also allows U, which the article identifies as the retired farm-trailer form replaced by R — a U plate does NOT match this regex and that is deliberate." }
+      progression: "RA0001A upward per the article's issuance record"
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 30, h: 15, unit: cm, plate_basis: secondary-wikipedia }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      legend_top: "Québec"
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # Règlement art. 113, verbatim: « La plaque d'immatriculation d'une remorque porte le préfixe “R” ou “U”. »; art. 143 §1 (a trailer or trailer chassis may instead be registered under a removable X plate); art. 10 §1 (where a removable plate goes on a trailer)"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Quebec  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the RB1234C arrangement from 2007 and its issuance range"
+    notes: >-
+      TRAILERS HAVE TWO LAWFUL QUÉBEC REGIMES AND BOTH ARE IN THE REGULATION: an
+      R-prefixed plate of their own (art. 113), or a dealer's removable X plate
+      under art. 143 §1 for trailers held for sale. The second is modelled as
+      ca-qc-dealer-x. The 2007 start and the arrangement are the article's.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # BUS — the A prefix family, primary, art. 114.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-qc-bus-a
+    class: standard
+    categories: [bus, coach]
+    period: { start: 1991 }
+    period_evidence: enabling-instrument
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "A99999"
+      regex: '\AA\d{5}\z'
+      charset:
+        notes: >-
+          The A prefix is PRIMARY (art. 114), which also allows AE, AP and AU. The
+          article says the AE (school bus), AP and AU forms have been treated as A
+          plates since the 1980s but that AP appears on police buses and AU on buses
+          used as fire or emergency vehicles — an inconsistency in the secondary
+          that is recorded rather than resolved. `regex` covers the A form only;
+          AE/AP/AU plates do not match it, deliberately, because their arrangements
+          are unknown.
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 30, h: 15, unit: cm, plate_basis: secondary-wikipedia }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      legend_top: "Québec"
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # Règlement art. 114, verbatim: « La plaque d'immatriculation d'un autobus ou d'un minibus porte le préfixe “A”, “AE”, “AP” ou “AU”. »; arts. 115-121.1 (the fee schedule distinguishing school buses and private buses)"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Quebec  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the A 12345 arrangement, the AP police-bus and AU emergency-bus forms, and the claim that AE/AP/AU were folded into A in the 1980s"
+    notes: >-
+      period.start 1991 is D. 1420-91, the décret that made the regulation, for the
+      same reason as ca-qc-truck-l: art. 114 carries only the base citation. The
+      A-family prefixes are law; the five-digit body is reported.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # RESTRICTED CIRCULATION — the C prefix, primary, arts. 124 / 136 / 137.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-qc-restricted-c
+    class: standard
+    categories: [car, truck, tractor, machine]
+    period: { start: 1991 }
+    period_evidence: enabling-instrument
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "C999999"
+      regex: '\AC\d{6}\z'
+      charset: { notes: "the literal C is PRIMARY (arts. 124, 136, 137); the six digits are the article's" }
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 30, h: 15, unit: cm, plate_basis: secondary-wikipedia }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      legend_top: "Québec"
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+    restriction:
+      text: >-
+        Règlement art. 138, verbatim: « La circulation des véhicules routiers visés
+        à l'article 137 se limite aux chemins publics dans les zones où la vitesse
+        maximale n'est pas supérieure à 70 km/h, à la condition que ce chemin public
+        ne soit pas une autoroute ou un chemin à accès limité; toutefois, ces
+        véhicules routiers peuvent traverser à angle droit les routes où la vitesse
+        maximale est supérieure à 70 km/h autres que les autoroutes et les chemins à
+        accès limité. »
+      translation_note: "OUR TRANSLATION: vehicles under art. 137 are confined to public roads in zones where the speed limit is not more than 70 km/h and which are not motorways or limited-access roads; they may cross such roads at right angles."
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # Règlement art. 124 (remote-locality vehicles), art. 136 (« La plaque d'immatriculation d'un tracteur de ferme utilisé sur un chemin public porte le préfixe “C”. »), art. 137 (artisan-built vehicles and the like), art. 138 (the 70 km/h restriction, verbatim above)"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Quebec  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the C123456 arrangement and the C012345 tractor form"
+    notes: >-
+      A GENUINELY UNUSUAL CLASS, and the reason it is authored: the C plate is the
+      only Québec series whose LEGAL EFFECT is a road restriction rather than a fee
+      band. Art. 124 covers vehicles in localities not connected to the general
+      Québec road network — a real Québec geography problem — and arts. 136-137
+      cover farm tractors and artisan-built vehicles. The restriction text above is
+      primary. The arrangement is the article's.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # OFF-ROAD — the V prefix, primary, arts. 139-141.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-qc-offroad-v
+    class: standard
+    categories: [atv, snowmobile, machine]
+    period: { start: 1991 }
+    period_evidence: enabling-instrument
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "V99999L"
+      regex: '\AV\d{5}[A-Z]\z'
+      charset: { notes: "the literal V is PRIMARY (arts. 139, 140, 141); the body is the article's, which reports both V12345A and VA12345 forms — the second is carried as a variant" }
+    variants:
+      - name: "VA-block off-road form"
+        format: { pattern: "VL99999", regex: '\AV[A-Z]\d{5}\z' }
+        note: "the article's second reported off-road arrangement; same prefix, different body"
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 20, h: 10, unit: cm, plate_basis: secondary-wikipedia }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      legend_top: "Québec"
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+      display: "for a snowmobile: rear, or the outer left vertical surface of the track tunnel as close to the rear as possible (Règlement art. 9)"
+    legal_effect:
+      text: >-
+        CSR art. 421.1, verbatim: « Nul ne peut conduire sur un chemin public un
+        véhicule routier exempté de l'immatriculation en vertu de l'un des
+        paragraphes 6° à 8° de l'article 14 ou de l'article 15 ou muni d'une plaque
+        d'immatriculation de la catégorie prévue par règlement, délivrée pour un
+        véhicule routier en usage exclusivement sur un terrain ou un chemin privé et
+        non destiné à circuler sur les chemins publics. »
+      translation_note: "OUR TRANSLATION: nobody may drive on a public road a vehicle bearing a plate of the regulated category issued for a vehicle used exclusively on private land or roads and not intended for public roads."
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # Règlement art. 139 (private-land and metal-tracked vehicles), art. 140 (stations, ports and airports), art. 141 (snowmobiles of 450 kg or less), art. 9 (snowmobile plate position)"
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/lc/C-24.2  # CSR art. 421.1: driving a V-plated vehicle on a public road is an offence, verbatim above"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Quebec  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the V12345A and VA12345 arrangements"
+    notes: >-
+      THE V PLATE IS A PROHIBITION, NOT A PERMISSION — CSR art. 421.1 makes driving
+      one on a public road an offence in terms, which is the sharpest legal
+      consequence attached to any prefix in the Québec table and the reason this
+      series is authored rather than folded away. `class: standard` because the
+      vocabulary has no off-road member; the category list carries the meaning.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # DIPLOMATIC — CD, art. 98.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-qc-diplomatic-cd
+    class: diplomatic
+    categories: [car, van]
+    period: { start: 1991 }
+    period_evidence: enabling-instrument
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "CD 9999"
+      regex: '\ACD ?\d{4}\z'
+      charset: { notes: "the literal CD is PRIMARY (art. 98); the four digits are the article's" }
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 30, h: 15, unit: cm, plate_basis: secondary-wikipedia }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      legend_top: "Québec"
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+    eligibility:
+      text: >-
+        Règlement art. 98, opening verbatim: « Peut porter le préfixe “CD”, la
+        plaque d'immatriculation d'un véhicule de promenade: 1° qui est un véhicule
+        officiel appartenant à un État étranger qui a une représentation permanente
+        accréditée auprès d'une organisation internationale gouvernementale ayant
+        conclu une entente avec le gouvernement relative à son établissement au
+        Québec; ... »
+      translation_note: "OUR TRANSLATION: a passenger vehicle's plate MAY bear the CD prefix where the vehicle is an official vehicle belonging to a foreign state with a permanent mission accredited to an intergovernmental international organization that has an establishment agreement with the government of Québec, and in the further cases the article enumerates."
+      cap: "Art. 98 in fine caps at TWO the number of vehicles registrable on a CD plate by a person within its paragraphs 3 or 4."
+      permissive_note: "NOTE THE VERB: « PEUT porter » — MAY bear. Unlike arts. 100, 110, 113 and 114, which say « porte » (bears), the diplomatic and consular prefixes are permissive. A diplomatic vehicle in Québec may lawfully wear an ordinary plate."
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # Règlement art. 98, verbatim above, with the two-vehicle cap"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Quebec  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the CD 1234 arrangement and a CD 12VE electric form said to date from 2011"
+    notes: >-
+      THE PERMISSIVE VERB IS THE FINDING. Québec's diplomatic and consular prefixes
+      are the only two in the whole art. 97-159 table introduced by « Peut porter »
+      rather than « porte », so a CD plate is evidence of a diplomatic vehicle while
+      the absence of one is evidence of nothing. That is stated here because a parse
+      API that treats prefix rules as exhaustive will get exactly this pair wrong.
+      period.start 1991 is D. 1420-91.
+
+  - id: ca-qc-consular-cc
+    class: consular
+    categories: [car, van]
+    period: { start: 1991 }
+    period_evidence: enabling-instrument
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "CC 9999"
+      regex: '\ACC ?\d{4}\z'
+      charset: { notes: "the literal CC is PRIMARY (art. 99); the four digits are the article's" }
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 30, h: 15, unit: cm, plate_basis: secondary-wikipedia }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      legend_top: "Québec"
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+    eligibility:
+      text: >-
+        Règlement art. 99, opening verbatim: « Peut porter le préfixe “CC”, la
+        plaque d'immatriculation d'un véhicule de promenade: 1° qui est un véhicule
+        officiel appartenant à un État étranger qui a un poste consulaire établi au
+        Québec, dirigé par un fonctionnaire consulaire de carrière au sens de la
+        Convention de Vienne sur les relations consulaires conclue le 24 avril
+        1963; ... »
+      translation_note: "OUR TRANSLATION: a passenger vehicle's plate MAY bear the CC prefix where the vehicle is an official vehicle of a foreign state with a consular post established in Québec headed by a CAREER consular officer within the meaning of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 24 April 1963."
+      cap: "Art. 99 in fine: at most two vehicles for a person within paragraph 3, and one for a person within paragraph 4."
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # Règlement art. 99, verbatim above, with its caps"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Quebec  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the CC 1234 arrangement"
+    notes: >-
+      A REGULATION THAT CITES A TREATY BY DATE — art. 99 pins the career-consular-
+      officer test to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 24 April 1963,
+      which is the kind of precision this dataset exists to preserve. Separate from
+      ca-qc-diplomatic-cd because the regulation separates them, because the
+      eligibility tests differ, and because the vocabulary has distinct `diplomatic`
+      and `consular` members for exactly this. Same permissive verb, same
+      consequence. period.start 1991 is D. 1420-91.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # DEALER / REMOVABLE — the X prefix, art. 159.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-qc-dealer-x
+    class: dealer
+    categories: [car, van, truck, motorcycle, trailer]
+    period: { start: 1991 }
+    period_evidence: enabling-instrument
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "X 99999"
+      regex: '\AX ?\d{5}\z'
+      charset: { notes: "the literal X is PRIMARY (art. 159); the five digits are the article's, which also reports an X123456 six-digit form and an XA12345 form for motorcycles, mopeds and off-road vehicles — both carried as variants" }
+    variants:
+      - name: "six-digit removable plate"
+        format: { pattern: "X999999", regex: '\AX\d{6}\z' }
+        note: "the article's second reported removable-plate arrangement"
+      - name: "XA removable plate (motorcycle, moped, off-road)"
+        format: { pattern: "XL99999", regex: '\AX[A-Z]\d{5}\z' }
+        note: "the article states XA is used on the small motorcycle plate; the regulation names only the X prefix"
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 30, h: 15, unit: cm, plate_basis: secondary-wikipedia }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      legend_top: "Québec"
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+      display: "Règlement art. 10: a removable plate obtained under arts. 143 and 159 goes on the rear of the trailer or trailer chassis, or on the front of the vehicle carrying road vehicles piggyback, as the article prescribes per case"
+    binding: business
+    holder_rule:
+      text: >-
+        Règlement art. 150, verbatim: « La personne au nom de laquelle est effectuée
+        l'immatriculation des catégories de véhicules routiers visés à l'article 149
+        doit être un commerçant, un fabricant ou un carrossier. Si elle est un
+        commerçant, elle doit, pour obtenir cette immatriculation, fournir la preuve
+        qu'elle est titulaire d'un permis de commerçant de véhicules routiers délivré
+        en vertu de la Loi sur la protection du consommateur (chapitre P-40.1). »
+      translation_note: "OUR TRANSLATION: the person in whose name the art. 149 categories are registered must be a dealer, a manufacturer or a body-builder; a dealer must prove they hold a road-vehicle dealer's permit under the Consumer Protection Act."
+    use_restriction:
+      text: >-
+        Règlement art. 152, opening verbatim: « Un véhicule visé à l'un des
+        paragraphes 1 à 3 de l'article 149 prêté par le commerçant, le fabricant ou
+        le carrossier et sur lequel est fixée une plaque d'immatriculation amovible
+        doit être utilisé uniquement aux fins suivantes: 1° démontrer son état de
+        fonctionnement ou son état de performance dans le cadre d'un prêt de moins
+        de 6 jours; ... » Art. 153 requires the driver of a loaned vehicle to carry
+        a document naming the lender. Art. 145: a trailer on a removable plate may
+        only be towed within Québec and « sans porter de chargement » — unloaded.
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # Règlement arts. 143-148 (trailer/carrier removable registration), 149-158 (dealer, manufacturer and body-builder removable registration), 159-161 (the X prefix and multiple plates), 10 (display)"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Quebec  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the X 12345, X123456 and XA12345 arrangements"
+    notes: >-
+      THE BEST-DOCUMENTED DEALER REGIME IN THE CANADA EAST WAVE — and the contrast
+      with Ontario is the point: plates/ca-on.yml cannot author an Ontario dealer
+      series at all, because Reg. 628 prescribes eligibility and never appearance,
+      whereas Québec's art. 159 names the prefix in the instrument. `binding:
+      business` because the plate is registered to the trader, not to a vehicle:
+      art. 143 and art. 149 register CATEGORIES of vehicle against a person, and
+      art. 160 makes the trader buy one plate per vehicle to be put on the road at
+      once. period.start 1991 is D. 1420-91.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # AMATEUR RADIO — VA2 / VE2, art. 97 al. 2. A CALLSIGN ON A PLATE.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-qc-amateur-radio
+    class: personalized
+    categories: [car, van]
+    period: { start: 1991 }
+    period_evidence: enabling-instrument
+    matching: strict
+    format:
+      pattern: "VE2 LLL"
+      regex: '\A(?:VA|VE)2 ?[A-Z]{2,3}\z'
+      charset:
+        notes: >-
+          VA2 and VE2 are PRIMARY (art. 97 al. 2). They are also the Canadian
+          amateur-radio callsign prefixes for Québec, which is why the plate reads
+          as a callsign: the two or three letters that follow are the operator's own
+          suffix. The 2-or-3-letter body is the article's.
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 30, h: 15, unit: cm, plate_basis: secondary-wikipedia }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      legend_top: "Québec"
+      legend_bottom_options: ["Je me souviens"]
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+    eligibility:
+      text: "Règlement art. 97 al. 2, verbatim: « Malgré le premier alinéa, une plaque portant le préfixe “VA2” ou “VE2” peut être délivrée au propriétaire d'un véhicule de promenade, titulaire d'une licence de radio-amateur. »"
+      translation_note: "OUR TRANSLATION: despite the first paragraph, a plate bearing the prefix VA2 or VE2 may be issued to the owner of a passenger vehicle who holds an amateur-radio licence."
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # Règlement art. 97 al. 2, verbatim above"
+      - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Quebec  # TAGGED SECONDARY: the VA2 AB / VA2 ABC / VE2 AB / VE2 ABC forms"
+    notes: >-
+      A CALLSIGN PLATE, AND THE ONLY QUÉBEC SERIES WHOSE SERIAL IS DETERMINED
+      OUTSIDE QUÉBEC — the suffix comes from the holder's federal amateur-radio
+      licence, so Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, not the SAAQ,
+      effectively allocates it. `class: personalized` is the least-wrong member of
+      the vocabulary: the holder does not choose the string freely, but the string
+      is theirs and not the Société's, which is what separates this from every
+      sequential series in the file. Recorded so a verifier can rule otherwise
+      knowingly. period.start 1991 is D. 1420-91.
+
+  # =========================================================================
+  # PERSONALIZED — a full statutory regime, and a deliberately over-broad regex.
+  # =========================================================================
+  - id: ca-qc-personalized-2018
+    class: personalized
+    categories: [car, van, motorcycle, moped, atv, snowmobile, motorhome]
+    period: { start: 2018 }
+    period_evidence: enabling-statute
+    matching: recall-only
+    format:
+      pattern: "LLLLLLL"
+      regex: '\A[A-Z0-9]+\z'
+      charset:
+        notes: >-
+          `regex` IS THE STATUTE AND NOTHING NARROWER, which is exactly why this
+          series is `recall-only`. CSR art. 32.1 al. 1 gives uppercase Latin letters
+          and Arabic numerals with NO LENGTH BOUND; SAAQ certainly imposes one in
+          practice, and the SAAQ page that would state it is geo-blocked from this
+          location (header fact 5). Rather than invent a maximum, this file ships
+          the statutory bound and labels the match as a shape hit. A match here says
+          "this string could be a Québec personalized plate", never "this is one".
+      prohibitions:
+        text: >-
+          CSR art. 32.1 al. 2, verbatim opening: « Le numéro d'une plaque
+          d'immatriculation ne doit pas porter à confusion avec celui d'une autre
+          plaque et, dans le cas d'un numéro personnalisé, comporter une expression
+          ou un message, y compris par la lecture en sens inverse: 1° qui laisse
+          faussement croire que le propriétaire du véhicule routier est une autorité
+          publique ou y est lié; ... »
+        translation_note: "OUR TRANSLATION: a plate number must not be confusable with another plate's and, for a personalized number, must not carry an expression or message — INCLUDING WHEN READ BACKWARDS — that falsely suggests the owner is or is linked to a public authority, and the further cases the article enumerates."
+        note: "The read-backwards rule is unusual enough to be worth stating: Québec polices the MIRROR of the string as well as the string."
+    design:
+      plate: { w: 30, h: 15, unit: cm, plate_basis: secondary-wikipedia }
+      background: { color: "#FFFFFF", finish: retroreflective, hex_basis: observed }
+      foreground: "#003DA5"
+      legend_top: "Québec"
+      legend_bottom_options: ["Je me souviens"]
+      emblem: { present: true, rendered: placeholder }
+      band: { side: none }
+      rear_differs: false
+    variants:
+      - name: "off-road personalized (ATV or snowmobile) — the ONE Québec plate with a printed hyphen"
+        format: { pattern: "V-LLLLL", regex: '\AV-[A-Z0-9]+\z' }
+        note: >-
+          Règlement art. 139 al. 2, verbatim: « Malgré le premier alinéa, une plaque
+          d'immatriculation personnalisée apposée sur un véhicule tout-terrain porte
+          le préfixe "V" suivi d'un trait d'union. » Art. 141 al. 2 says the same for
+          a snowmobile of 450 kg or less. OUR TRANSLATION: a personalized plate on an
+          all-terrain vehicle (or such a snowmobile) bears the prefix V FOLLOWED BY A
+          HYPHEN. That hyphen is an emitted separator under PRD-PLATES §2.6 and is
+          the only printed separator glyph any Québec instrument prescribes.
+    eligibility:
+      text: >-
+        Règlement art. 7.2, verbatim: « Seules les personnes qui ne sont pas des
+        personnes morales peuvent obtenir une plaque d'immatriculation personnalisée.
+        Une telle plaque ne peut être associée qu'aux véhicules routiers suivants,
+        sauf s'ils sont mis au rancart: 1° les véhicules de promenade, pour lesquels
+        le présent règlement ne prévoit pas que la plaque d'immatriculation porte un
+        préfixe; 2° les motocyclettes, les cyclomoteurs et les habitations motorisées
+        d'une masse nette de 3 000 kg ou moins; 3° les véhicules tout-terrain et les
+        motoneiges d'une masse nette de 450 kg ou moins. »
+      translation_note: "OUR TRANSLATION: only persons who are NOT legal persons (i.e. not corporations) may obtain a personalized plate, and it may only be associated with: passenger vehicles for which this regulation prescribes no prefix; motorcycles, mopeds and motorized homes of 3 000 kg or less; and all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles of 450 kg or less."
+      note: "No corporate vanity plates in Québec — a hard eligibility rule stated in the instrument, and one that distinguishes Québec from Ontario, where a business may hold one."
+    lifecycle:
+      activation: "Règlement art. 7.3: the plate must be ACTIVATED before it is fixed to a vehicle, within 48 months of receipt, failing which the number becomes available to somebody else the next day. CSR art. 54.1 makes driving on an unactivated personalized plate an offence ($100-$200)."
+      validity: "Règlement art. 7.4: a personalized plate loses validity 48 months after the holder tells the Société they no longer wish to associate it with the vehicle, after a prohibition on putting the vehicle on the road, or after the vehicle is transferred — unless the holder re-associates it in time."
+      reuse: "Règlement art. 7.5: invalidation frees the number for reuse; where invalidation follows non-payment of the management fee under CSR art. 32.3 the number is held for 48 months. Art. 7.6: a number declared lost or stolen is held for 60 months."
+      fees: "Règlement art. 7.7: management fees under CSR art. 32.3 are payable annually in the three-month window ending on the holder's BIRTHDAY."
+      non_transferable: "Règlement art. 7.3 al. 3: a personalized plate may neither be associated with a vehicle the applicant does not own nor transferred to another person. Contrast Ontario, where ServiceOntario permits exactly one pre-attachment transfer."
+    sources:
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/C-24.2,%20r.%2029  # Règlement arts. 7.2-7.7 (inserted by L.Q. 2018, c. 18, a. 35, with art. 7.7 amended by D. 997-2022, a. 10) and arts. 139 al. 2, 141 al. 2 (the V-hyphen off-road form)"
+      - "https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/lc/C-24.2  # CSR art. 10.4 (the power to issue a personalized plate), art. 32.1 (the alphabet and the prohibited-message rule, verbatim above), arts. 32.2-32.4 (activation, management fees, replacement on invalidation), arts. 54.1-54.2 (the offences)"
+    notes: >-
+      A COMPLETE STATUTORY VANITY REGIME — eligibility, activation, validity,
+      number reuse, fees and offences, all in the instrument, which is more than any
+      other jurisdiction in the Canada east wave publishes. period.start 2018 is
+      `enabling-statute`: L.Q. 2018, c. 18, a. 35 inserted arts. 7.2 to 7.7 and is
+      the enacting instrument for the regime AS IT NOW STANDS. It is NOT a claim
+      that Québec had no personalized plates before 2018 — CSR art. 10.4 predates
+      it — and the file says so rather than implying otherwise. `matching:
+      recall-only` is the deliberate consequence of the geo-block: with no readable
+      SAAQ length rule, the only defensible regex is the statutory alphabet, and a
+      regex that wide must not be sold as a validity claim (PRD-PLATES §2.7).