10.11.98 Official Journal of the European Communities L 299/1 (Acts whose publication is obligatory) COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2411/98 of 3 November 1998 on the recognition in intra-Community traffic of the distinguishing sign of the Member State in which motor vehicles and their trailers are registered THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 75(1)(d) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Atrticle 189c¢ of the Treaty (%), (1) Whereas the Community has adopted a certain number of measures that are intended to ensure the smooth functioning of an internal market comprising an area without frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty; (2) Whereas several Member States are contracting parties to the Vienna Convention of 1968 on road traffic (*), hereinafter referred to as the ‘Conven- tion’, Article 37 of which provides that every motor vehicle in international traffic shall display at the rear, in addition to its registration number, a distin- guishing sign of the State in which it is registered; (3) Whereas the Community is not a contracting party to the convention and whereas some of its Member States which are parties to it have recourse to the provisions of Article 37 of the Convention; whereas those Member States thus require vehicles from other Member States to display the distinguishing sign provided for by Annex 3 to the Convention; () OJ C 290, 24. 9. 1997, p. 25 and OJ C 159, 26. 5. 1998, p. 16. (3 OJ C 95, 30. 3. 1998, p. 32. () Opinion of the European Parliament of 19 February 1998 (O] C 80, 16. 3. 1998, p. 210), Council Common Position of 5 June 1998 (O] C 227, 20. 7. 1998, p. 31) and Decision of the European Parliament of 7 October 1998 (not yet published in the Official Journal). (Y) Vienna Convention of 8 November 1968, concluded under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. whereas some of those Member States do not recognise other distinguishing signs such as those displayed on registration plates which, while indi- cating the Member State in which the vehicle is registered, do not conform to Annex 3 to the Convention; (4) Whereas several Member States have introduced a model registration plate which, on the extreme left, displays a blue zone containing the 12 yellow stars representing the European flag plus the distin- guishing sign of the Member State of registration; whereas for the purpose of intra-Community trans- port this distinguishing sign meets the objective of identifying the State of registration as provided for in Article 37 of the Convention; (5) Whereas Member States requiring vehicles from other Member States to display the distinguishing sign of the State of registration should also recog- nise the sign as provided for in the Annex to this Regulation, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 This Regulation shall apply to vehicles registered in the Member States that are driven within the Community. Article 2 For the purposes of this Regulation: 1. ‘distinguishing sign of the Member State of registra- tion’ shall mean a set composed of one to three letters in Latin capitals indicating the Member State in which the vehicle is registered;