No, I didn’t mean " Owner must be resident in the country in which the car is Registered…” Stella, I’m not sure that’s relevant. A quick Google gave me the Belgian rules…
" You live in Belgium
If you live in Belgium and you intend to drive a vehicle registered abroad, this is basically not allowed. (I think that is true for all EU countries) There are a number of exceptions.
Anyone living in Belgium who wishes to drive on the public road in Belgium must register the vehicle in Belgium, even if it has already been registered abroad. There are a number of exceptions to this rule:
If you live in Belgium and you borrow a vehicle which is registered abroad, you are allowed to drive it for a period of one month at the most. In that case, you must keep a written authorisation of the foreign owner in the car. The owner must state in this document that he has lent the car free of charge, for an agreed period, with end date.
If you are a student living abroad, but temporarily staying in Belgium for your studies at a Belgian school or university, you must keep the valid certificate of registration as a student in the car for the actual duration of your studies
What I meant Kirstea was that one can have all the stuff the police care about, insurance, CT equivalent, license, road tax, etc. and still fall foul of the customs. So to be legal one must have ticked all both enforcement agencies boxes The customs man doesn’t care if you have a CT no more than the policeman cares if you have a quitus fiscal.
One evening back in 1976 I had been out for a few pints with my pals in my little French registered Autobianchi A112. We were trolling home down Portobello Road, perhaps a little quicker than one should, when a policeman jumped out to stop us. Possibly the yellow headlamps had attracted his attention. Anyway, he was far too late for me to see him and as we only lived around the corner in Ladbrook Grove a couple on minutes later I stopped outside our house.
Within seconds we were boxed in by two police cars. Once they established, we hadn’t actually done anything wrong all the policemen were very pleasant and chatty. Except for one, who I later learnt was the one who had leaped out after us - instead of the traditional method of before us. He was a nasty piece of work, though he had to accept that the only people in the car that had seen him leaping around were the backseat passengers, not me, the driver.
He was doubly disappointed when my breathalyser test was negative, but his last roll of the dice was to call HM Revenue & Customs and report my little car. I told him I had all the paperwork etc. but to no avail. So, we had wait around for an hour or so until the customs man arrived. I’ll always remember that he was wearing an overcoat over his pyjamas. So, Mr Grumpy Policeman and Mr. Sleepy Customs officer accompanied me to my bedroom where I showed then them the purchase receipt, the HMRC import duty receipt and the VAT receipt.
I could hear the customs officer berating the grumpy policeman as they went down the stairs.
but… what about the Customs… surely Customs must be involved ??? only kidding…
I’ve given you the lowdown on France (which sounds similar to Belgium)… quite possibly there is a time-limit for France… I did not ask that… but the basic for France is YES… provided the car is legal in the foreign country in which it is Registered, it can be driven in France by a French Resident, with written permission of the Owner and with a copy of the appropriate Insurance… and a copy of the logbook of course… and the driver must have a valid license.
Seems this subject is going round and around… and quotes are coming re all sorts of other countries… nothing to do with France.
I asked a highly knowledgeable French person, the question re France and was given the answer… if you wish me to check if there is a timelimit involved… I will ask that next time I see my French pal.
Of course Stella. There are car/driver related laws which the police enforce and there are fiscal laws which the customs enforce. To be able to drive a foreign registered car here one must be compliant with both. As a rule of thumb, French residents are only entitled to drive French registered cars. If one is French resident and driving a foreign registered car, albeit that you and the car are “street legal”, the car could still be seized by customs.
BTW, these are EU rules not French ones, I’m not sure what latitude individual countries have to deviate or to what degree they enforce the law. That was my point about Ireland and Denmark, they have punitive vehicle registration taxes so they enforce heavily. I’m not sure to what degree it is enforced in France but it is the law.
Here’s another quick Google I did… " But how to drive a foreign car in the UK? If you are not a resident of the United Kingdom, you can drive a foreign car without registering it in the UK for up to 6 months. If you are a resident of the UK, you are not allowed to drive any car that is not registered in the UK with only a few exceptions .”"
John… I can borrow a UK Reg car here in France, provided I follow the guidelines given me by my pal.
I am quite happy that he does know what he is talking about.
I can see no point in Googling about stuff in UK… other than to say that the few UK “exceptions” might well be, Owner’s permission to driver, insurance etc etc… as per France.
Really ? Oh c’mon ! Policeman are notorious for not knowing what the law actually is !! If you are happy to follow your ´pals’ advice, good on you ! But it is only half the story
The relevance of the UK stuff Stella is it’s still law as it was before Brexit, in other words the EU rules. I have no doubt your policeman friend knows the rules that the police enforce. He obviously does not know the rules the tax authorities enforce, I mean why should he? But anyway the risk is probably low and it’s your problem if the vehicle is seized, not mine.
Yes, I’ve had the police do that on occasion Karen, all good fun, but the customs, as this was, aren’t a bundle of laughs. Many people don’t realise that in many countries the customs have more powers that the police (not sure about the CRS though ) I’ve also been stopped by them when driving in a foreign registered van, once again on an autoroute but after a péage on that occasion. There is a significant customs presence that one doesn’t really notice until they notice you
Yes it’s the same in Italy. The Guardia Finanza (the black police cars) have lots of powers you really don’t want them to need to use on you. As I’ve noticed more and more over the years in France, as in Italy when I used to drive a lot there, one of their favourite hangouts is just after you come through the péage gates on the motorway then they pull you over.
Noticed them lurking at the obvious péages vehicles just off the ferry from UK would take South especially the last few years. Getting off the boat is not the end of it necessarily if you’re carrying goods.
I was driving back from delivering a dog in Luxembourg one day and was stopped by the Douanes. They asked where I’d been and why and I told them. They looked suspiciously at the cages in the back of the car, no seats, and said ‘are dogs all you carry?’
‘Oh no’ I said innocently, ‘occasionally I carry cats’. I genuinely didn’t realise that he was on about fags or drugs or something and I must have looked as innocent (or stupid) as I was, because after a moment’s puzzled expression, he waved me on.
I am a permanent French resident & have held a French permis de conduire for over 10 years. Every year I spend 3 weeks working at a major event in the UK, where we are provided with vehicles that are hired in by the event organisers. As part of my work there I regularly drive these vehicles on the public road. Anyone using these vehicles has to provide their licence details to the organisers. My non-UK licence has never been flagged as a problem, yet. The event is happening in 2022, but hasn’t run since 2019 due to Covid-19.
Could I fall foul of anything if I am stopped by the UK police or am involved in an RTC?
The answer is almost certainly no, because hired vehicles are exempt from the ones under discussion. Otherwise how would tourists get around in their holiday countries?
Same goes for HGVs which are also exempt from towing different registered trailers. There used to be many UK hauliers, maybe still are, who registered their lorries in Holland and other places. With UK drivers at the wheel they only set foot (wheel) in Holland sometimes purely for annual testing purposes.
It’s all to do with the duty and taxes applied to vehicle purchases within individual countries and to prevent nationals of one country evading those costs by importing from another, lower taxed, country.
In the UK
You do not pay VAT or duty on a vehicle if you temporarily import it and all of the following apply:
*it’s for your own private use*
you’re not a UK resident*
you do not sell, lend or hire it within the UK*
you re-export it from the UK within 6 months
France has the same requirements.
The UK police enforce by the fact that a driver, if resident in the UK, must re-register a foreign registered vehicle immediately and, by not doing so, is driving an untaxed and uninsured vehicle. Seizing the vehicle ensures that either re-registration takes place or the vehicle is claimed by a person not resident in the UK with appropriate paperwork. Penalty + recovery = £350 + 6 points on a ghost licence (yes, they do exist ).
It’s evident that over the years that ignorance exists and that many have got away with ignoring regulations in Europe albeit Brexit has caused some to review their situation.
I have a friend who is a French National, Resident in France, but he has a small flat in Helsinki, he keeps a car , plus a studded set of tyres and rims in the Garage allocated to his flat.
Absolutely…which is why friends of ours having had a year here and reg their car in France on returning to UK permanently cannot drive their car in UK until it has UK plates again…expected to take about three to four weeks.
The customs man doesn’t care if you have a CT no more than the policeman cares if you have a quitus fiscal.
only kidding… 
) I’ve also been stopped by them when driving in a foreign registered van, once again on an autoroute but after a péage on that occasion. There is a significant customs presence that one doesn’t really notice until they notice you 
