In 1998, the EU Council adopted Council Regulation (EC) No 2411/98 of 3rd 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 purpose of the regulation was primarily to reflect a situation when several EU Member States had introduced a model registration plate which, on the extreme left, was displaying a blue zone containing the twelve yellow stars representing the European flag plus the distinguishing sign of the Member State of registration. The future of European license plates will be connected with European integration even if individual Member States maintain their national features.