Hi Pierre-Emmanuel, I went through the process of obtaining the European Certificate of Conformity for my 2008 Indian built 350 Bullet to be able to register it in France. Initially I contacted the UK's DVLA (Driver & Vehicle Licencing Agency) however they said they didn't hold the document and it was not provided by the manufacturer when the vehicle was first registered at the DVLA. I was told by a friend to contact the importers, Watsonian Squire. I did this by e-mail in 2013 but received no reply. I subsequently phoned them but also received no reply. I was told they are often very busy so I sort of gave up. Having taken my bike to France I decided to get it type approval tested with the Dreal - the French organisation that validates vehicles. I start the process and took the bike down to the appointment for it to be inspected (no charge at this stage) and although they were very helpful it would have meant that I needed specific information from the Indian manufacturer to proceed, which I didn't think would have been able to obtain. On the off chance I telephoned Watsonian Square again and magic Chris answered the phone. He was very helpful. On enquiring about the CoC for my bike he said yes, we may have it depending if the bike was imported through us, if India supplied a CoC (sometimes they were missing and couldn't be replaced) and if no-one had taken it before. Chris checked his computer system and confirmed they had imported the bike. Then he went through the process of checking stacks of CoC's and there it was! Chris put it in the post to me and I received it by first class post the following day.
I next obtained a Certificat D'Acquisition D'Un Vehicule Terrestre a Moteur from the Service Des Impots Des Enterprises to confirm whether there was any import tax - that depends on a mileage / age combination. I took this with my UK V5C (UK registration certificate) to the Prefecture where I initially offered a colour photocopy of the CoC to the nice lady behind the counter who looked at it for half a second and passed it back to me and said "original please". At that point I handed over the CoC and it disappeared - probably to be never seen again (I advise you take a good colour photocopy for your own records). I was then directed to the cashier who took my 70 euros and issued me with a Certificat Provisoire d'Immatriculation. This is valid for a month and enabled me to get the registration plate made to the number that the bike had been allocated. I got the registration plate from Feu Vert. The full Certificat d'Immatriculation arrived in the post the following day - even though this was over the Christmas / New Year period.
I understand now the registration process is all done on line so I don't know how the original document bit goes, anyway the bike now has its French plates and goes around the smooth curvy roads of the Dordogne quite happily.
Below are the contact details I had for Watsonian Squires:
Address: Unit 70, Northwick Business Centre, Blockley, Nr. Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, GL56 9RF, UK
Tel: 01386 701162
E-Mail:
[email protected]
Opening Hours: 9am-5pm Monday to Friday, 10am-4pm Saturday
Hope this helps and good luck and happy biking.
