UK Monster Owners Club Forum - View Single Post

SunEye · 14-12-2010, 05:00 PM

For example if you import a UK bike to France you take your EU certificate of conformity to the Prefecture for the Department you are living in and register your bike for a small fee. If you were to try this without a certificate of conformity your bike would have to be checked to see if it complied with the French regulations. This can be costly and could require modifications if your bike is over the French 100bhp limit. I am aware of some people having to pay about 1000 Euros to be able to register their bike in France.

One interesting thing to note for France is that the process involving the certificate of conformity potentially allows you to import into France a bike that develops over 100bhp without having to modify it. This is because the EU certificate of conformity has a number on it which is unique for that make and model of bike. It is this number which is entered onto the system by the Prefecture to register your bike. If the system recognises the number (it will if someone else in the department has registered that make and model of bike before you) you'll be able to register your bike. The staff at the Prefecture probably won't look at the rest of the certificate of conformity (which is in English for a UK bike) and see that your bike develops more than 100bhp. The only potential problem with this is insurance if you have an accident. If it is ever established following an accident that your bike developed more than 100bhp your insurance will be invalid and you could face a criminal charge which could result in a very hefty fine or even prison (I think prison is reserved for those found to be modifying/derestricting bikes to develop more than 100bhp). Which is why a lot of UK bikes remain UK registered when they live in France. This is possible because some French insurance companies are happy to insure bikes on UK plates in France even though you're supposed to register your vehicle after 6 months.

This is one reason why I now ride an M1100 instead of a ZRX1200. So that I can import it into France easily and stay legal. I plan to move there next year if the girlfriend (French) will have me.

14-12-2010, 05:00 PM	#3
SunEye Registered User Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Bognor Regis Bike: Other Ducati Posts: 589	For example if you import a UK bike to France you take your EU certificate of conformity to the Prefecture for the Department you are living in and register your bike for a small fee. If you were to try this without a certificate of conformity your bike would have to be checked to see if it complied with the French regulations. This can be costly and could require modifications if your bike is over the French 100bhp limit. I am aware of some people having to pay about 1000 Euros to be able to register their bike in France. One interesting thing to note for France is that the process involving the certificate of conformity potentially allows you to import into France a bike that develops over 100bhp without having to modify it. This is because the EU certificate of conformity has a number on it which is unique for that make and model of bike. It is this number which is entered onto the system by the Prefecture to register your bike. If the system recognises the number (it will if someone else in the department has registered that make and model of bike before you) you'll be able to register your bike. The staff at the Prefecture probably won't look at the rest of the certificate of conformity (which is in English for a UK bike) and see that your bike develops more than 100bhp. The only potential problem with this is insurance if you have an accident. If it is ever established following an accident that your bike developed more than 100bhp your insurance will be invalid and you could face a criminal charge which could result in a very hefty fine or even prison (I think prison is reserved for those found to be modifying/derestricting bikes to develop more than 100bhp). Which is why a lot of UK bikes remain UK registered when they live in France. This is possible because some French insurance companies are happy to insure bikes on UK plates in France even though you're supposed to register your vehicle after 6 months. This is one reason why I now ride an M1100 instead of a ZRX1200. So that I can import it into France easily and stay legal. I plan to move there next year if the girlfriend (French) will have me. Last edited by SunEye; 14-12-2010 at 05:19 PM..