What to do if your certificate of conformity is lost?
The certificate of conformity is not a one-off title like the registration certificate: the manufacturer can reissue a copy from the VIN, using the data of the type-approval and of the production of that individual vehicle. This is what is called a duplicate. It carries the same entries and the same value as the original.
We file the request with the manufacturer’s homologation department, then send you the digital copy as soon as we receive it and the paper original if you chose it. The price depends on the brand, from €159; the lead time is the one we actually observe for that manufacturer, shown before payment.
Is a crossed-out, altered or damaged certificate still valid?
A registration office may refuse a certificate that is crossed out, overwritten or illegible, because it can no longer guarantee that the data have not been tampered with. A certificate struck through with a “cancelled” note by a previous owner or a dealer is also rejected. In these cases the duplicate is the simplest solution: it starts again from the manufacturer’s data, with no trace of the alterations.
A certificate that is merely folded or slightly stained is generally still accepted, as long as every entry is legible.
The ten-year rule (art. 36 of regulation (EU) 2018/858)
Article 36 of regulation (EU) 2018/858 requires the manufacturer to issue, at the owner’s request, a duplicate of the certificate of conformity on paper for a period of ten years from the date of manufacture of the vehicle. This duplicate visibly bears the word “duplicate”.
Beyond ten years, the obligation ends. Many manufacturers keep issuing the document, sometimes at a higher price or more slowly; others refuse, or no longer hold the data. Our VIN check flags the vehicles likely to be concerned, and we confirm actual availability before charging you: if the manufacturer cannot issue the document, the order is refunded in full.
Since 5 July 2026, new vehicles are covered by an electronic certificate of conformity (eCoC), exchanged between the manufacturer and the approval and registration authorities. That flow cannot be ordered: an owner, even of a recent vehicle, receives a certificate of conformity, as a digital copy and then on paper if wished.
Do you really need a duplicate?
Not always. If you are registering an imported vehicle whose foreign registration certificate carries complete D.2 (type, variant, version) and K (approval number) entries, the registration authority can often issue the new document without a COC. If the vehicle is already registered in your country, the certificate is only useful after a significant modification, for an expert appraisal or to correct a technical entry.
The duplicate becomes indispensable when the foreign registration certificate is incomplete, when the vehicle is new or has never been registered, or when it comes from outside the European Union.
What does the duplicate contain?
Exactly what the original contained: identification of the manufacturer and the vehicle (make, type, variant, version, VIN), EU type-approval number (carried over to entry K of the registration certificate), masses (entry 13 and following), maximum net power (entry 27), WLTP CO₂ emissions (entry 49.4), number of seats, sound level. These are the values that fill entries P.2, V.7, G, F.1 or S.1 of the European registration certificate.