To begin the validation procedure for vehicles in categories M, N and O, you must contact the Conformity Department of one of the technical inspection centres in the Brussels Region. On the day of the inspection, you must present the registration certificate of the Member State from which the vehicle originates.
Presentation of any other official document proving that the vehicle, its components, systems and technical elements comply with Belgian or European regulations is recommended but not compulsory.
Documents from foreign Technical Services (test laboratories) are of no value in absolute terms, unless these Technical Services are approved in Belgium. Consequently, the information contained in these documents is never used for certification purposes, but can be used as a guide when reviewing your file.
During the inspection at the technical inspection centre, your vehicle will be inspected on the following points:
- Inspection of the vehicle's conformity with current regulations
- Weight: for this purpose, all liquid (except grey water) and fuel tanks must be filled beforehand, and the vehicle must be presented empty of all personal belongings
- Checking the data present on the vehicle compared with the registration certificate and related documents
At the end of the inspection, if the Conformity Department of the technical inspection centre considers your request to be admissible, it forwards a complete file to the Brussels Mobility Vehicle Expertise Department for review. You will then be required to pay the vehicle inspection fee, as well as the processing fee at the inspection centre.
Your file is analysed based on the findings about the vehicle and its documents regarding the Royal Decree of 15 March 1968, pursuant to the Law of 21 December 1985.
If it considers it necessary, the Brussels Mobility Vehicle Expertise Department may request additional documents in order to review your request further. Payment of the fee to the inspection centre does not guarantee that a certificate will be issued. Consequently, a request for validation can always be refused for non-compliance of all or part of the vehicle, its components, systems or technical entities with Belgian or European regulations.
Certification, refusal, notification and processing times
If the validation is refused, you will be notified of the reason(s) for refusal by post as soon as possible. You will then have time to put the non-compliant elements back in order, and have the vehicle re-inspected at the technical inspection centre where the request was originally submitted. If necessary, you can be redirected to a full Individual Approval or an Authorised Technical Service to carry out the tests required to continue the review of your request. In the event of a definitive refusal and closure of your file, the fees incurred remain payable.
If your file is complete and the vehicle complies with current regulations, the Brussels Mobility Vehicle Expertise Department sends the validation certificate to the technical inspection centre where the request was originally submitted. The Conformity Department of the inspection centre will then call you back to affix a new identification sticker to the vehicle and send you the validation certificate and the documents required for registration.
A validation file is definitively closed when the validation certificate has been issued, when the vehicle's re-presentation deadline has passed or when certification has been definitively refused. There is no extra charge for administration fees in the event of the vehicle's re-presentation following a finding of non-compliance.
Once you have obtained the validation certificate, you can either go to your insurer or directly to the Vehicle Registration Service (DIV) to apply for registration.
Important to know:
- Depending on the weighing carried out at the station and the weights indicated on the documents and identification plate, the competent regional authority may decide to adapt the number of seats in the vehicle to allow certification. If this is the case, you may be asked to disable seats or seatbelts, or to affix a sticker on the dashboard indicating the number of authorised seats.
- In accordance with Directive 1999/37/EC on the harmonisation of registration certificate data within the European Economic Area (excluding Switzerland), certain information is not required to be included, but is nevertheless necessary in view of the different taxes and low-emission zones in Belgium. For example, the power must appear on the validation certificate before the Vehicle Registration Service (DIV) can register your vehicle. If this information is not included on the foreign vehicle registration certificate, you must present a power certificate issued exclusively by the manufacturer, through its mandatory or importer, at the time of the technical inspection. For other technical information, if this is not included on the foreign registration certificate, it will not be included on the validation certificate or on the Belgian registration certificate. If we take the example of the Euro Norm and CO2 level, the absence of this information does not prevent the validation and registration of the vehicle in Belgium, but it may result in additional taxation and a ban on driving in low-emission zones. Another example is if your vehicle is equipped with a towing device, but no towable weights are available, a validation certificate can be issued without towable weights. So, administratively speaking, the vehicle cannot tow a trailer.
- Vehicles originating from a market outside the European Economic Area must meet the Euro Norms applicable at the time of their first registration in order to be admitted onto the European territory. The competent regional authority may still refuse a vehicle on its territory if compliance with the applicable Euro Norm cannot be proven or approved by an Authorised Technical Service in Belgium.
- For vehicles originating from the North American market (Canada, USA and Mexico) whose compliance with an applicable Euro Norm or the California Air Resources Board standards (California Level) is not proven at the time of first registration, validation is accepted without a Euro Norm, with the consequences that this implies. For these same vehicles fitted with a non-EC-approved towing device, the maximum technical weight of the braked trailer will be limited to 1,500 kg. The replacement of a non-EC towing device with an EC-approved towing device (marked R55 or 94/20/EC) with an increase in towable mass is subject to Individual Approval if the request is made after the validation certificate has been issued.
- No changes will be made to the validation certificate after an approved request has been closed, unless it is accepted that the competent regional authority has made an error. Requests for modifications of technical information must be subject to Individual Approval.