Certificates of conformity France
When importing a car into France you will need a European certificate of conformity to enable you to register your vehicle a European certificate of conformity shows the French authorities that the vehicle that your are importing meets the European road safety and environmental standards.
To obtain a European certificate of conformity you should first check your vehicles documentation as in some countries a type approval number is printed on the registration certificate or title for the vehicle (although in some cases further proof will be required) if a European type approval number is not on your registration certificate or title or your are required to show further proof of type approval you have two options first go to your local Direction Regionale de l'Industrie et de la Recherche (DRIRE) in France with your vehicle and all of the paper work as at the DRIRE they have a computerized database of model reports from many manufacturers throughout Europe and can enter your vehicles vehicle identification number (VIN) and check to see whether your vehicle conforms to French road safety and environmental standards (there will normally be a charge for this) if they are unable to find your particular vehicle on there computer system you can try the second option which is to contact the manufacturer of your imported vehicle and in some cases they will issue you with a certificate of conformity for a fee that can be presented to the DRIRE to enable you to register your vehicle.
If your vehicle has been imported from outside of the EU it is unlikely that you will be able to obtain a certificate of conformity as the vehicle was not made for the European market and in some cases older vehicles imported from within in the EU you will not be to obtain a certificate of conformity so you have a third option which is to apply to the DRIRE to have your vehicle inspected as a one off case and it is likely that your will need to make some modifications to the vehicle to pass this inspection.
