To first license a heavy goods trailer (trailer with a Gross Vehicle Design Weight in excess of 3,500kg) from 29th October, 2012 onwards, you must ensure you have type approval certification where the trailer is a:
- Complete (single stage built) trailer manufactured on or after the 29th of October 2012
- Completed (multistage built) trailer manufactured on or after the 29th of October 2013
- Special purpose trailer manufactured on or after the 29th of October 2014
Type Approval Certificate Exemptions
Trailers which do not require approval include:
- trailers which were manufactured prior to the dates outlined above,
- trailers designed to be towed exclusively by agricultural tractors and
- trailers which were previously registered in another Member State of the European Union
- trailers which are designed and constructed exclusively for use by the Defence Forces, civil defence, Garda Síochána or fire services, regardless of their date of manufacture.
Acceptable Certificates of Approval
An application to first license a trailer which has been manufactured after the relevant approval dates must be accompanied by one of the following:
- An EC Certificate of Conformity (EC CoC). This certificate is issued in respect of a trailer that meets the European Communities Whole Vehicle Type Approval (ECWVTA) requirements. This certificate allows the trailer to enter into service in any Member State of the European Union and when a copy of this certificate is submitted to the motor tax officials, it must be in English or Irish.
- An Irish National Small Series Type Approval Certificate of Conformity (NSSTA CoC). This certificate is issued in respect of a trailer that meets Ireland’s National Small Series Type Approval requirements. Upon purchasing a trailer, the NSSTA CoC is issued by the manufacturer to the purchaser of a trailer and signifies that the trailer is of a type which has been approved by the NSAI. The number of trailers of which can be approved as part of a small series is limited to 250 per year.
- An Irish Individual Vehicle Approval Certificate (IVA Certificate). This certificate is issued in respect of a trailer that meets Ireland’s Individual Vehicle Approval requirements, a scheme suited for trailers imported or manufactured in very small numbers or as individual vehicles. Each trailer is examined individually and when the technical requirements are met, an IVA Certificate is issued by the NSAI to the owner or manufacturer.
If you import a new trailer and it has national approval certification from a Member State of the European Union other than Ireland, please contact the NSAI in order to have the certification and / or trailer examined in order to verify whether Ireland’s national approval requirements are met.
Should the NSAI consider that Ireland’s approval requirements are met, then the NSAI will issue you with an Irish IVA certificate for the trailer.