Shortcut for car imports?

I’ve imported many cars without any problems until my 1986 RHD Suzuki Jeep. This vehicle was built three years before they were available in France and as such had never been approved for use in France. The only way to import it was to pay €2,000 for a full examination in Paris or wait until it was 30 years old and import it as a véhicule de collection. This is what I am doing.

During my research into importing it, I came across EU directive 2007/C 68/04. The relevant section is 3.3.2. This deals with the procedures for obtaining approval on vehicles.
This section clearly states that the receiving EU state (in this case France) should write to the sending EU state (UK) and ask for the results of the original control tests. This means that a certificate of conformity should not be required and the importing process should be straight forward.

For later cars (after 1996, I believe) it should be easy for the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) to source the information required by the French authorities. Whether
they choose to adhere to the

EU directive is another matter.

Neil GOODALL, Drôme