AFRICAN 
STANDARD DARS
1376
First Edition 2023
 
 Reference No. ARS 1376:2023(E)
ICS 03.120.20; 43.180
© ARSO 2023
 
 
   
 
  
 
 
 
Vehicle Standards – Specification  for African Vehicle Identific ation 
Systems – AfriVIN  
 
  
 
  
 
   
 
   
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
 
 
  
 
  
 
 
  
 
 
 DARS 1376:2023  
ii © ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved Table of contents 
 
0 Introduction ................................................ ............................................................... ...................... v 
1 Scope ....................................................... ............................................................... ....................... 1 
2 Normative references ........................................ ............................................................... .............. 1 
3 Terms and definitions ....................................... ............................................................... ............... 1 
3.1 Definitions ............................................... ............................................................... ................ 1 
3.2 Abbreviations ............................................. ............................................................... ............. 1 
4 General requirements for identification systems ............. ...............................................................  2  
4.1 Specified identification systems .......................... ............................................................... .... 2 
4.2 Identification systems out of scope ....................... ............................................................... .. 2 
4.3 Requirements for vehicles ................................. ............................................................... ..... 2 
5 Specific requirements for the vehicle identification systems in 4.1 a) and b) ................................. 3 
5.1 VIN Location .............................................. ............................................................... ............. 3 
5.2 VIN Attachment ............................................ ............................................................... ........... 3 
5.3 Details of the characters in the VIN ...................... ............................................................... .. 3 
5.4 Content and structure of the ISO VIN ...................... .............................................................. 3 
6 Content and structure of t he African VIN in 4.1 c) ............................................................... ........... 4 
6.1 Valid Letters and Numerals in African VIN ................. ........................................................... 4 
6.1.1 Letters ................................................. ............................................................... ........... 4 
6.1.2 Numerals ................................................ ............................................................... ........ 4 
6.2 WMI ............................................................... ............................................................... .......... 4 
6.3 VDS ............................................................... ............................................................... .......... 4 
6.4 VIS ....................................................... ............................................................... ................... 7 
6.5 Example of composition of African VIN ..................... ............................................................ 7 
7 Actions Required by the Na tional Authority .................. ............................................................... ... 8 
7.1 Action to be taken if the ve hicle carries t he ISO VIN or th e North American version of the 
ISO VIN ....................................................... ............................................................... ......................... 8 
7.2 Action to be taken if the ve hicle does not carry the ISO VI N or the North American version 
of the ISO VIN ................................................ ............................................................... ...................... 8 
7.3 Application of the Af rican VIN to the vehicle ............................................................... ........... 9 
8 Assessment of compliance .................................... ............................................................... .......... 9 
8.1 Visual Examination ........................................ ............................................................... ......... 9 
8.2 Computerised Vehicle Register ............................. ............................................................... . 9 
Annex A (Informative)  Examples  of locations of V IN markings .. ......................................................... 10 
Annex B (Informative)  Examples of the meaning of the character s from 2 different manufacturers 
which follow the ISO VIN ............................................................... ........................................................ 11 
Annex C (Informative)  Examples of the Asian Manufacturers’ veh icle identification markings ........... 12 
Annex D (Informative)  Example s of ISO VIN Markings ........... ............................................................ 13  
Annex E (Informative)  Examples  of additional ISO VIN Markings:  labels & locations ......................... 14 
Bibliography .................................................. ............................................................... ......................... 16 
 
  DARS 1376:2023  
© ARSO 2023 — All ri ghts reserved iii Foreword 
 
The African Organization for St andardization (ARSO) is an Afric an intergovernmental organization 
established by the United Nations  Economic Commission for Afric a (UNECA) and the Organization of 
African Unity (AU) in 1977. O ne of the fundamental mandates of ARSO is to develop and harmonize 
African Standards (ARS) for the purpose of enhancing Africa’s i nternal trading capacity, increase 
Africa’s product and service competitiveness globally and uplif t the welfare of African communities. The 
work of preparing African Standar ds is normally carried out thr ough ARSO technical committees. Each 
Member State interested in a subject for which a technical comm ittee has been established has the 
right to be represent ed on that committee.  International organi zations, Regional Economic Communities 
(RECs), governmental and non-gove rnmental organizations, in lia ison with ARSO, also take part in the 
work.   
ARSO Standards are drafted in acco rdance with the rules given i n the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.  
 
The main task of technical commi ttees is to prepare ARSO Standa rds. Draft ARSO Standards adopted 
by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies  for voting. Publication as an ARSO 
Standard requires approval by at  least 75 % of the member bodie s casting a vote. 
 Attention is drawn to the possibi lity that some of the elements  of this document may be the subject of 
patent rights. ARSO shall not be held responsible for identifyi ng any or all such patent rights. 
 This African Standard was prepared by the ARSO Technical (Harmo nization) Committee Number 08-
4/59 on Automotive Technology and Engineering (ARSO/THC 08-4/AR SO/TC 59). 
  
 
© African Organisati on for Standardisation 2023 — All rights re served* 
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P. O. Box 57363 — 00200 City Square 
NAIROBI, KENYA  
Tel. +254-20-2224561, +254- 20-3311641, +254-20-3311608 
 E-mail: arso@arso-oran.org  
Web: www.arso-oran.org  
  
 
* © 2023 ARSO — All rights of exploitation reserved worldwide fo r African Member States’ NSBs. DARS 1376:2023  
iv © ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved  
Copyright notice  
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by participants in the ARSO standards development process is pe rmitted without prior permission 
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© African Organisation for St andardisation 2023 — All rights re served 
 ARSO Central Secretariat 
International House 3rd Floor 
P.O. Box 57363 — 00200 City Square NAIROBI, KENYA 
 
Tel: +254-20-2224561, +254-20-3311641, +254-20-3311608  
 
E-mail: arso@arso-oran.org Web: www.arso-oran.org 
 
Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payme nts or a licensing agreement. 
Violators may be prosecuted.  
 
 
  DARS 1376:2023  
© ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved v 0 Introduction 
0.1 Purpose 
 This specification has been prepared to require 17-character ve hicle identification systems to be present 
in vehicles before they are firs t registered for operation in A frican countries. 
 0.2 Principles and background information 
 
The principles incorporated in  this specification are as follow s:  
 Vehicles manufactured for sale  into Europe and into several oth er countries but which find their way 
into Africa will already be marked with the unique identificati on of what is commonly referred to as the 
ISO VIN, being a 17 character unique identifier complying with ISO 3779, Road vehicles – Vehicle 
Identification Number (VIN) – C ontent and structure and ISO 378 0, Road vehicles – World manufacturer 
identifier (WMI) code and ISO 4030, Road vehicles – Vehicle ide ntification number (VIN) – Location 
and attachment. Only the first 3 of the 17 characters have a ma ndated function and t hat is to identify 
the world manufacturer.   
Similarly vehicles manufactured for sale into the USA and Canad a and which find their way into Africa 
will already be marked with the 17 character VIN, but in this c ase not only do the first 3 characters have 
the mandated function to identif y the world manufacturer, but s ome of the other characters in the VIN 
have other mandated functions to ide ntify specified characteris tics of the vehicle.  
 Thus it is not possible for dup lication of vehicle identificati on to occur between manufacturers unless 
errors are made, and usually legislation prescribes that manufa cturers must ensure that duplication 
does not occur between vehicles p roduced by a given manufacture r. 
 
On the other hand some vehicles manufactured for sale into the domestic markets of the country of 
manufacture do not use the 17 char acter VIN but use a 9 to 12 c haracter Frame Number identification 
system (eg Japan) which may or may  not result in identifiers wh ich are unique and so duplication can 
and does result. Another example is trailers manufactured in Ch ina which because of Chinese 
legislation are not permi tted to carry a VIN.  
 Legislation in many countries and regions requires the VIN to b e unique. 
 
Note that the ISO standards are v oluntary standards and it requ ires national or regi onal legislation to 
make such vehicle i dentifiers mandatory. 
 
 DARS 1376:2023  
© ARSO 2023 — All ri ghts reserved  1  
Vehicle Standards – Specification for African Vehicle Identific ation Systems – 
AfriVIN 
1 Scope 
This standard supports national o r regional legi slation in the technical requirements for: 
 a) vehicles entering into service  after a legislated date to be  marked with one of the specified 17 
character identification systems  complying with this specificat ion, and 
b) vehicles already in service and which are not marked with on e of the specified identification 
systems, to be marked in compliance with the requirements of th is specification on or before a 
legislated date. 
2 Normative references 
ISO 3166-1: ISO 3 letter country code 
ISO 3779:  Road vehicles – Vehicle Identificati on Number (VIN) – Content and structure 
ISO 3780:  Road vehicles – World manufa cturer identifier (WMI) code 
ISO 4030:  Road vehicles – Vehicle identification number (VIN) – Location and attachment 
FMVSS 115: Federal VIN Requirements (Title  49, Chapter V, Part 565) 
3 Terms and definitions 
For the purposes of this docum ent, the following terms and defi nitions apply: 
 
3.1 Definitions 
3.1.1 
national authority 
authority which is enabled by nat ional legislation to administe r the selection and app lication of a vehicle 
identification system in cases w here the vehicle identification  is missing, inadequate, has been 
tampered with, or is not in accordance with any of the 17 chara cter identification systems specified in 
4.1. 
 
3.2 Abbreviations 
For the purpose of this standard , the following abbreviations a pply. 
 
SAE Society of Automotive Engineers 
VDS Vehicle Descriptor Section 
VIN Vehicle Identification Number 
VIS Vehicle Identification System 
WMI World Manufactur er Identifier 
 
AFRICAN STANDARD DARS 1376:2023  
2 © ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved 4 General requirements for identification systems 
4.1 Specified identi fication systems  
One of the following vehicle i dentification syst ems shall be us ed for vehicles enter ing into service: 
a) The ISO System specified in  three ISO Standards being:- 
1) ISO 3779: Road Vehicles – Vehi cle Identification Number (VIN ) – Content and structure; 
2) ISO 3780: Road Vehicles – Wor ld Manufacturer Id entifier (WMI ) Code, and  
3) ISO 4030: Road Vehicles – Vehi cle Identification Number (VIN ) – Location and attachment. 
b) The North American System applied in the USA and Canada and in certain other countries 
specified in: 
4) FMVSS 115: Federal VIN Requir ements (Title 49, Chapter V, Pa rt 565). 
c) The African VIN System comprising 17 character to be applied  by a national authority to vehicles 
which have none of the abov e systems and which the 4th to 6th characters denote the country into 
which the vehicle, irrespective o f previous use, is to be regis tered for the first ti me in Africa before 
entering into service and the re maining characters denote the v ehicle brand, the year and whether 
it is a light vehicle or heavy v ehicle followed by the serial n umbers of the units of that vehicle model 
specified in 6. 
4.2 Identification syst ems out of scope 
The following vehicle identificat ion systems shall not be used for vehicles entering in to service in Africa: 
a) The Japanese or similar system which uses a 8 to 12 characte r identification system and which 
does not ensure uniqueness of the identification number across vehicle brands nor across the 
serial number s of units. 
b) Any national 17 character syst em for which explanatory docum entation has not been lodged and 
accepted by the national author ity and which system could be co nfused with any of the systems 
covered in 4.1. 
4.3 Requirements for vehicles 
a) All vehicles entering into service shall be marked with a 17 -character identification system 
according to one of the s ystems specified in 4.1. 
b) Vehicles which are not already  marked with an identification  system complying with 4.1 and which 
are about to be registered for ent ry into service shall be mark ed by the national authority according 
to the African VIN Syst em in 4.1 c) above before they can be re gistered for entry into service. 
c) This marking must be additional  to any existing marking(s) a lready in place on the vehicle and 
existing markings shall not be ta mpered with in any way nor rem oved, obliterated o r covered since 
they must be recorded onto the national and regi onal computeris ed vehicle registers. 
d) Vehicles already in service and which were first registered by the national authori ty on or before a 
specified date and recorded on the national register and which vehicles are marked with a simple 
alpha numeric identification may  continue in service without th e addition of furt her identification 
until the national autho rity requires them to be marked in acco rdance with 4.1 or when a change in 
ownership of the vehicle takes place. 
e) Vehicles already in service and which were first registered by the national authori ty on or before a 
specified date and recorded on t he national register but which are not marked with any simple 
alpha numeric identificat ion must be marked by the national aut hority according to the African VIN 
System in in 4.1 c) on or befo re a date to be specified.  DARS 1376:2023  
© ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved  3 5 Specific requirements for the  vehicle identification systems in 4.1 a) and b) 
5.1 VIN Location 
a) In the case of a left-hand drive vehicle, the VIN location m ust preferably be on the right side, and 
if possible in the front half, and in the case of a right-hand drive vehicle preferab ly on the left side 
and if possible in  the front half. 
b) The VIN must be applied to the vehicle in an easily visible position and in a manner which makes 
obliteration or alt eration difficult. 
c) The vehicle Owners Manual mus t describe where the VIN is pos itioned and such information may 
be inserted into the manual on a page added to the manual. 
5.2 VIN Attachment 
a) The VIN must be directly mark ed on an integral part of the v ehicle, either on the frame or for integral 
framebody units, on a part of t he body that is not easily remov ed or replaced, or may be marked 
on a separate plate or by an adhesive label which will self-des truct upon removal and which is 
attached to an integral part of the vehicle, eit her on the fram e or for integral fr amebody units, on a 
part of the body that is not easily removed or replaced. 
b) The African VIN must be applied to an integral part of the v ehicle, either on the frame or for integral 
framebody units, on a part of the body that is not easily remov ed or replaced and must be marked 
on an adhesive label which will self-destruct upon removal.  Th e addition of a plate showing the 
African VIN is not permitted unles s the plate self-destructs up on removal. 
5.3 Details of the ch aracters in the VIN 
a) The characters must be of capital roman letters and Arabic n umerals and be legible, durable and 
not easily altered. 
b) The height of the characters m arked on the frame or the inte gral frame body or on the adhesive 
label must be at least 7mm except in the case of motorcycles an d mopeds and must be at least 
4mm in all other cases such as f or the “visible VIN” or for any  additional VIN markings. 
c) The letters I, O and Q sha ll not be used in the VIN. 
d) There shall be no blank spaces between characters. 
e) An asterisk should be used to mark the beginning and the end  of the VIN to assist in avoiding 
tampering. 
5.4 Content and structure of the ISO VIN 
a) WMI – The first 3 characters of the VIN must be used for the  identification of the manufacturer and 
are known as the WMI being the wo rld manufacturer identifier an d are allocated by the Society of 
Automotive Engineers (SAE) to manu facturers upon application to  the SAE1 by the national 
organisation of that c ountry in which the manufacturer has his headquarters. 
b) VDS – The second section of the VIN comprising 6 characters selected by the manufacturer to 
provide information describing the general attributes of the ve hicle. If they are not all used for this 
purpose then the manufacturer mu st fill the unused spaces with characters of his own choice. 
c) VIS – The third and final section of the VIN comprising 8 ch aracters which constitutes a combination 
of characters assigned by the manufacturer to distinguish one v ehicle from another to obviate 
duplication.  Of these 8 characte rs the last 4 must be numerica l.  
If the manufacturer chooses to designate year and/or plant in t he VIS section, it is recommended 
that the year be indicated by the first character of the VIS, a nd the manufacturing plant by the 
second character of the VIS. The recommended code to be used wh en designating year is 
indicated in Table 1.  
1) A WMI code assigned to a manuf acturer must not be assigned t o another manufacturer for 
at least 30 years after the last y ear in which the code was use d. 
 
1 Society of Automotive Engineers, SAE International, www.sae.org   DARS 1376:2023  
4 © ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved 2) When used in conjunction with the VDS, the VIS ensures a uni que designation of all vehicles 
produced by each manufacturer  for a period of  30 years. 
3) The combination of the WMI, VDS and VIS ensures the uniquene ss of the VIN for all vehicles 
manufactured in the world  for the 30 year period. 
4) A diagram showing a typical allocation of characters is incl uded in Annex B. 
Table 1— Characters used  for designating the year  
Year Code Year Code Year Code Year Code Year Code 
1991 M 2001 1 2011 B 2021 M 2031 1 
1992 N 2002 2 2102 C 2023 N 2032 2 
1993 O 2003 3 2013 D 2023 P 2033 3 
1994 P 2004 4 2014 E 2024 R 2034 4 
1995 R 2005 5 2015 F 2025 S 2035 5 
1996 S 2006 6 2016 G 2026 T 2036 6 
1997 T 2007 7 2017 H 2027 V 2037 7 
1998 V 2008 8 2018 J 2028 W 2038 8 
1999 X 2009 9 2019 K 2029 X 2039 9 
2000 Y 2010 A 2020 L 2030 Y 2040 A 
 
6 Content and structure of  the African VIN in 4.1 c) 
6.1 Valid Letters and Nu merals in African VIN 
6.1.1 Letters 
Only capital Latin letters sha ll be used, excl uding I, O and Q as specified for the ISO VIN in ISO 3779.  
In addition, the following letters should be avoided due to eas e of substitution with Arabic numerals 
(shown in brackets): 
 B (8), S (5) and Z (2) 
6.1.2 Numerals 
Only Arabic numerals shall be used.  Due to the ease of substit ution with capital Latin letters (shown in 
brackets), the following numeral s should be avoided in the VIN other than characters 12 to 17 of the 
VIN containing the seq uential serial number: 
 1 (I), 2 (Z), 5 (S) and 8 (B) 
6.2 WMI 
The first 3 characters: Characters 1 to 3 must show the Latin l etters "A00" to enable immediate 
identification of the WMI2 of an African VIN rela tive to an ISO VIN. 
6.3 VDS 
a) The next 3 characters: Chara cters 4 to 6 must utilise either  the: 
 
2 SAE has been approached on the assignment of a WMI for the Afri can VIN to be applied to imported vehicles in 
Africa which do not have the full set of 17 character identific ation of the ISO VIN or North American equivalent 
thereof.  Final details will be included in the approved versio n of this standard. DARS 1376:2023  
© ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved  5 1) ISO 3 letter country code as  specified in ISO 3166-1, or  
2) Country code notified to the S ecretary General of United Nat ions for jurisdictions not listed 
in ISO 3166-1, noting that 1 and 2 letter country codes must be  extended to 3 letters by 
repeating the last letter. 
The letters comprising the count ry code in 1) and 2) shall comp ly with the permitted letters specified 
in ISO 3779.  For country codes that include the letters “I, O or Q”, the letter “I” shall be substituted 
by the numeral “1”, the letter “ O” shall be substituted by the numeral “0” and the letter Q shall be 
substituted by the numeral “0”.  
 
These codes for a number of count ries in Africa are specified i n Table 2. 
 
Table 2 – 3 Letter Country Code s for countries receiving the ve hicle for first registration in 
that country 
Country Code Country Code 
Algeria DZA Malawi MW1 
Angola AG0 Mali ML1 
Benin BEN Mauritania MRT 
Botswana BWA Mauritius MUS 
Burkina Faso BFA Mayotte MYT 
Burundi BD1 Morocco MAR 
Cameroon CMR Mozambique M0Z 
Cape Verde CPV Namibia NAM 
Central African Republic CAF Niger NER 
Chad TCD Nigeria NGA 
Comoros C0M Reunion Island REU 
Congo C0G Rwanda RWA 
Congo, Democratic Republic C 0D Sao Tome & Principe STP 
Côte d’Ivoire C1V Senegal SEN 
Djibouti DJ1 Seychelles SYC 
Egypt EGY Sierra Leone SLE 
Equatorial Guinea GN0 Somalia S0M 
Eritrea ERI South Africa ZAF 
Eswatini SWZ South Sudan SSD 
Ethiopia ETH Sudan SDN 
Gabon GAB Tanzania, United Republic TZA 
Gambia GMB Zanzibar EAZ 
Ghana GHA Togo TG0 
Guinea Bissau GNB Tunisia TUN 
Kenya KEN Uganda UGA 
Lesotho LS0 Western Sahara ESH 
Liberia LBR Zambia ZMB 
Libya LBY Zimbabwe ZWE DARS 1376:2023  
6 © ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved Country Code Country Code 
Madagascar MDG   
 
b) The next 3 characters: Characters 7 to 9 must be used to den ote the vehicle make by using the 
abbreviation as specified in Table 3. 
Table 3 – Abbreviations for Vehicle Make 
Vehicle Make Abbreviation Vehicle Make Abbreviation 
Alfa Romeo ALF   
Audi AUD   
Beijing Autoworks IC EAW   
Bell Equipment ELL   
BMW MWW   
Busmark USM   
Case CAE   
Caterpillar CAT   
Chrysler CHR   
Citroen CTR   
Dodge DDG   
Eicher ECH   
FAW FAW   
Ford FRD   
Foton FTN   
Fiat FAT   
Great Wall Motors GWM   
Haval HAV   
Hino HNN   
Honda HND   
Hyundai HYU   
Infiniti NFN   
Isuzu UUU   
IVECO VEC   
Jaguar/ Land Rover JLR   
John Deere JHN   
KIA KAA   
Lexus LEX   
MAN MAN   
Marco Polo MAR   
Massey Ferguson MAE   
MOTUS MTU   Commented [TTTFP1]: Add trailers, tractors & industrial 
equipment. 
Consideration to be given to mechanism to update when new a new  
vehicle make becomes available internationally.DARS 1376:2023  
© ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved  7 Vehicle Make Abbreviation Vehicle Make Abbreviation 
Mahindra MAH   
Maserati MAE   
Mazda MAD   
Mercedes Benz MER   
Mini MNN   
Mitsubishi MTS   
Nissan NSS   
Opel PEL   
Peugeot PEU   
Porsche PRS   
Powerstar PWE   
Renault REN   
Scania CAN   
Smart MAR   
Subaru UBA   
Suzuki UUK   
Tata TAT   
Toyota TYT   
UD Trucks UDU   
VDL Bus & Coach VDL   
Volkswagen VLK   
Volvo VLV   
 
c) Next character: Character 10 must be used to denote the year  in which the vehicle was introduced 
to the African country into whic h the vehicle will enter into s ervice and be registered for the first 
time in Africa for operation on a public road.  The ISO letters  designating the year as specified in 
Table 1 shall be used. 
d) Next character: Character 11 must be used to denote whether the vehicle is a light vehicle or a 
heavy vehicle where: 
i) "L" indicates a light vehicle with GVM not exceeding 3 500kg , and  
ii) "H" indicates a heavy vehicl e with GVM exceeding 3 500kg. 
6.4 VIS 
Final characters: Characters 12 to 17 must be used to distingui sh one vehicle from another ensuring 
no duplication, preferably sequent ially and of these 7 characte rs the last 4 must be numerical. 
6.5 Example of composition of African VIN 
A Mazda car is imported from Japan to Malawi and is presented t o the national author ity for entry into 
service on 19 November 2019.  Since the vehicle has been marked  with a non-ISO vehicle identification 
system, it must be marked with the African VIN as described bel ow. 
African VIN = *A00MW1MADKL123456* Commented [TTTFP1]: Add trailers, tractors & industrial 
equipment. 
Consideration to be given to mechanism to update when new a new  
vehicle make becomes available internationally.DARS 1376:2023  
8 © ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved Characters 1-3 Characters 4-6  C haracters 7-9  C haracter 10 Cha racter 11 Characters 12-17 
WMI Country Code Vehicle Make Year Vehicle Category VIS 
A00 MW1 MAD K L 123456 
 
* = Start of African VIN Marking 
A00 = WMI designate African VIN 
MW1 = 3 Letter Country Code for  Malawi confirming introduction in Malawi for registration to enter 
into service for operation in M alawi as specified in ISO 3166-1  or notified to the Secretary 
General of United Nations for jur isdictions not listed in ISO 3 166-1 
MAD = 3 Letter Code for vehicle make – Mazda 
K = 1 Letter Code for Year of Introduction – entered in 2019 L = 1 Letter Code for vehicle ca tegory – Light Vehicle with GVM  not exceeding 3 500kg 
123456 = Serial number issued by th e national authority introdu cing the vehicle (Angola) 
* = End of African VIN Marking 
7 Actions Required by the National Authority 
7.1 Action to be taken if the veh icle carries the ISO VIN or th e North American version of the 
ISO VIN 
a) In cases where the vehicle has a VIN: 
i) that is in accordance with  the requirements of ISO, or  
ii) in accordance with the Nort h American version of ISO, and  
iii) it does not a ppear to have been tampered with,  
then no action is requ ired other than to ent er the details of s uch VIN on the national and regional 
computerised vehicle register and  to record whatever other info rmation is required by the 
national authority or by other ent ities in respect of the vehic le. 
b) The location, attachment and content of the VIN must be acco rding to the norms used by the 
vehicle manufacturer.  If doubt e xists as a result of apparent deviations from the system commonly 
used on similar vehicles from the same manufacturer, then steps  must be taken to have the 
authenticity checked by the appr opriate national authority. 
c) No additional mar king is required. 
7.2 Action to be taken if the vehicle does not carry the ISO VI N or the North American version 
of the ISO VIN 
a) In cases where:  
i) the vehicle has no i dentity markings, or  
ii) the number of ident ifying characters i s less than 17, or  
iii) the ISO VIN or t he North American vers ion of the ISO VIN i s not present, or  
iv) there are signs of tampering or doubt s as to the authentici ty of the any markings,  
then the national autho rity must apply the Af rican VIN as speci fied in 7.3 below. 
b) In all cases of doubt concer ning the authentic ity or possibl e tampering of a vehi cle identification 
marking the National Authority must advise the appropriate regu latory authority whether it be the 
police, Interpol or other organization responsible for vehicle theft investigation. DARS 1376:2023  
© ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved  9 7.3 Application of the African VIN to the vehicle 
a) Determine the details of the Af rican VIN which is relevant t o the vehicle being  inspected and have 
the approved sticker similar to the “self-destruct” ISO VIN mar kings in Annex E ordered from the 
authorised supplier. 
b) Upon delivery of the sticker c heck that the details are corr ect and that it is of the type that will self-
destruct in the event that it is removed or will show damage if  attempts are made to remove it after 
attachment to the vehicle. 
c) Apply the sticker to the B-P illar of the vehicle on the righ t-hand-side of an RHD vehicle or to the 
left-hand-side of a LHD vehicle. 
d) Ensure that a position is s elected that will not cover any p art of any existing markings. 
e) Ensure that any additional ident ification markings such as M icrodots or "Business  card" type labels 
or additional self-destruct adhes ive labels carrying the Africa n VIN are applied which are required 
by the national authority. 
8 Assessment of compliance 
8.1 Visual Examination 
a) Examine each vehicle for comp liance to the requirements of t his specification regarding the 
location, attachment and conten t of the vehicle identification system. 
b) In the event that the system is deficient in relation to the  requirements in 4.1, 5 and 6, the system 
prescribed in 6 must be authorised for appl ication by the natio nal authority. 
c) In the event there is evidenc e of tampering or replacement t he vehicle must be referred to the 
appropriate authority fo r further investigation to establish th e possibility of evasion of customs duty 
or it being a st olen vehicle. 
8.2 Computerised Vehicle Register 
a) Perform an enquiry on the v ehicle register of the National T ransport Information System using the 
range of vehicle identification particulars present on the vehi cle and verify the information retrieved 
from the computerised vehicle register relative to the characte ristics of the vehicle in question for 
compliance with this specification. 
b) In the event of duplicate reco rds or alteration of the vehic le identification particulars recorded on 
the computerised vehicle register , the vehicle must be referred  to the appropriate authority for 
further investigation to establis h the possibility of evasion o f customs duty or it being a stolen 
vehicle. 
   DARS 1376:2023  
10 © ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved Annex A 
(Informative) 
 
Examples of locations of VIN markings 
 
Goods vehicles and buses 
Usually on the chassis frame towards the fr ont of the vehicle i n the vicinity of th e front suspension and 
usually on the right-hand side, but occasionall y on the left-ha nd side of the vehicle. 
 Passenger cars and light goods  vehicles and minibuses 
Under the bonnet on the top of the suspension turret, or on the  floor of the driver’s compartment almost 
under the driver’s seat, or next to the driver’s seat, or on a cross beam at the front of the vehicle readable 
by a person facing rearward, or on a cross beam in the boot of the vehicle readable by a person facing 
forward. 
 Additional Locations 
The above are examples of the pos ition of the VIN markings on s ome right-hand dr ive vehicles.  
There are many more variations  of positions and they are requir ed to be explained in the Owner’s 
Manual.  Examples of VIN positions  in cars are on the B-Pillar,  on the firewall, on the floor under the 
driver’s seat, even in the boot at the front “cross member” and  on LDV’s with a chassis then on the 
chassis in the vicinity  of the driver’s door. 
 
  DARS 1376:2023  
© ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved  11 Annex B 
(Informative) 
 
Examples of the meaning of the c haracters from 2  different manu facturers which 
follow the ISO VIN 
 
Characters Manufacturer 1 Characters Manufacturer 2 
1,2,3 Defines Country of 
Headquarters 1,2,3 Defines Country of 
Headquarters 
4,5 Vehicle Model 4 Vehicle Model 
  5 Whether sedan or station 
wagon 
6 Trim level 6-7 Engine 
7 Body style   
8 Engine 8 Tyres 
9 Transmission & steering 9 Gearbox & FWD, AWD 
10 Model year 10 Model year 
11 Factory code 11 Factory code 
12-17 Sequential serial numbers 12-17 Sequential serial numbers  
 
  DARS 1376:2023  
12 © ARSO 2023 — A ll rights reserved Annex C 
(Informative) 
 
Examples of the Asian Manufactu rers’ vehicle iden tification mar kings 
 
Japanese vehicle identi fication markings usi ng Japanese System (out of scope) 
       
 
      
 
Korean vehicle identification ma rkings using ISO VIN System (sp ecified) 
          
 
  
DARS 1376:2023  
© ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved  13 Annex D 
(Informative) 
 
Examples of ISO VIN Markings 
 
Chinese Vehicle Model 
Using the ISO VIN where LZY denotes China manufacturer Yutong. 
*LZYTxxxxxx0123456*   (Shown as a generic example)  
Japanese Vehicle Model  
Using the ISO VIN whereMM6 denot es manufacturing plant in Thail and. 
*MM6DJ2HA6FW100401*  UK vehicle model  
Using the ISO VIN where SAL denotes UK manufacturer Land Rover.  
*SALYA2AKXJA700561* 
 
  DARS 1376:2023  
14 © ARSO 2023 — A ll rights reserved Annex E 
(Informative) 
 
Examples of additional ISO VIN  Markings: labels & locations 
 
Under bonnet 
 
 
Close-up view 
DARS 1376:2023  
© ARSO 2023 — All ri ghts reserved  15 Door/ door panel 
 
 
  
DARS 1376:2023  
16 © ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved Bibliography 
 
 
General Information on VIN incl uding the structure of the conte nt and details of which countries are 
denoted by the WMI are available from Wikipedia 
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V ehicle_identification_number#Lis t_of_common_WMI  
 
Information on the Japanese vehi cle identification is also avai lable from Wikipedia 
 https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Japanese_domestic_market  
 DARS 1376:2023  
© ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved