What is the certificate of conformity

What is the certificate of conformity?

The certificate of conformity is a compulsory and necessary document to identify and register in France or in a European country a vehicle bought abroad .  

With a view to simplifying administrative procedures and to streamline intra-Community trade in new or second-hand vehicles and to simplify administrative procedures, European countries have introduced rules and directives making the COC certificate of conformity essential and valid in all countries of the European Union. The certificate of conformity is eligible for vehicles weighing less than 3.5 tonnes, type M1 (maximum 9 people seated including the driver) and whose year of first registration is 1996 and over.

Vehicles before 1996 and / or over 3.5 tonnes do not have a certificate of conformity but a certificate of identification to a national type.

The certificate of conformity is a harmonized and standardized document at European level, containing all the technical and fiscal information of the vehicle when it leaves the factory and certifies its conformity to European standards. Thus, it contains the chassis number of the vehicle, the Community type-approval number, the different weights, the color of the vehicle, the power and other technical data of the vehicle allowing the establishment of the gray card or registration certificate.

Despite this harmonization of the administrative procedures for registering a vehicle from abroad, the certificate of conformity remains an obstacle for people who have acquired a vehicle outside France. Indeed, it can be difficult to obtain the certificate of conformity for your vehicle, not to mention that it is not free and therefore you have to buy it. The period for obtaining the certificate of conformity can be very long, while the maximum legal period for registering an imported vehicle is 1 month.  

However, to be valid, the European certificate of conformity must have been issued before or on the same date as the sales certificate or the first entry into service of the vehicle, and it must indicate in paragraph II a type in the series identical to that which is engraved on the vehicle manufacturer's plate.  

However, it should be noted that for vehicles which do not have a European certificate of conformity (vehicles before 1996 and commercial vehicles of type N1), identification certificates (or certificate of conformity) are issued, which replaces the certificate of conformity by prefecture.  

For any second-hand vehicle bought abroad, you must ask the owner to provide you with a certificate of compliance.

If he no longer has it, the Euro compliance website www.euro-conformite.com allows you to order online the certificate of compliance for your imported vehicle.