What are the four data generations of type approval?
Last verified: 2026-06-20
Every type-approved vehicle in Switzerland or Liechtenstein belongs to exactly one of four data generations. The generation is determined by the format of the type approval identifier and remains unchanged for a vehicle.
| Generation | Period | Identifier / format | Machine-readable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| G1 (Typenschein) | until approx. 1985 | 4-digit number; PDF scans only (DE/FR) | No |
| G2 (Typenscheine) | approx. 1985–1995 | 1 embedded letter (e.g. 1B3261); XLSX + PDF | Yes |
| G3 (type approvals, TARGA) | from approx. 1995 | 2 letters (e.g. 3MA023); structured TXT data | Yes |
| G4 (eCoC / IVI) | from approx. 2020 | no TG number; “IVI” in the document; EU eCoC data | Yes |
G1 and G2 are frozen archives (no new entries); G3 and G4 keep growing. For G3 and G4 ASTRA publishes no PDFs — the structured data are the record. The generation can be recognised from the format of the identifier alone, without looking up the data set.
The leading digit or leading letter of the TG number additionally encodes the vehicle group (see “Leading digit of the TG number”).
Sources
- Open data – ASTRA vehicle data (ivzod portal) — ASTRA / opendata.astra.admin.ch
- Vehicle type approval — ASTRA – Federal Roads Office
- Type approval under scrutiny (blog) — ASTRA – Federal Roads Office