I’m buying used: do I need an eCOC?

The short answer

No, and for a simple reason: the eCOC does not exist for your vehicle. The transmission of conformity data in electronic format applies to new vehicles produced from 5 July 2026. The text provides for no retroactivity on the fleet in circulation.

If your car was already on the road before that date — which is true of every used car on the market today — no eCOC file was ever generated for it. There is therefore nothing to retrieve, with us or anywhere else.

What you will actually be asked for

To register a used vehicle imported from another Member State, the item expected is the ordinary certificate of conformity, issued by the manufacturer and identified by the chassis number.

Two checks determine whether we can obtain it:

• Was the vehicle sold new in the European Union? If not, it has no European approval and no certificate exists.
• Is it less than ten years old since manufacture? Beyond that, issuing is no longer an obligation for the manufacturer.

Both answers can be read from the chassis number and the foreign registration document. We check them free of charge before any quote.

And if I am selling?

You have no new obligation. If you have the original certificate of conformity, pass it to the buyer: it follows the vehicle and will save them time and money. If you do not — the most common case — simply say so, without concern: the buyer can request it from the manufacturer.

What to avoid is claiming the vehicle “has an eCOC”. On a used vehicle the statement is untrue, and it will leave the buyer stuck at the counter.

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