Registration
Is the certificate of conformity mandatory to register an imported vehicle?
Not always. Registration authorities require the COC when the foreign registration certificate does not identify the EU type approval. If that document carries the EU type-approval number (field K) and the full type-variant-version (field D.2), the certificate is generally not requested — in France in particular. Check those two fields before ordering.
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The certificate of conformity proves that an imported vehicle matches a type approved in the Union. If that proof already appears on the foreign registration document, the authority can make do with it. So look at your original document:
- field K: EU type-approval number, of the form e1*2007/46*0123*05;
- field D.2: type, variant and version of the vehicle, in full.
If both fields are complete, the French ANTS file usually goes through without a COC: this is common with recent German (Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil I), Belgian and Dutch registration certificates. Germany’s FZV likewise lets the Zulassungsstelle rely on a harmonised foreign certificate, although many offices still ask for the COC or a manufacturer’s data confirmation in practice. We would rather tell you than sell you a useless document.
The certificate remains necessary in practice when:
- field K is empty, truncated or shows a national approval (no “e” prefix);
- field D.2 shows only the type without variant or version;
- the vehicle comes from outside the European Union (United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway);
- the vehicle is new or has never been registered;
- the authority explicitly asks for it as a missing document.
If in doubt, our VIN check is free, and the guide Registering an imported vehicle walks through the procedure document by document.