Doubtless, some did exist… but such centres have been given the bum’s rush in recent years… The Law is there to protect the car owner and the road user… not necessarily the same person…
It depends on the make/model of car.
We imported a couple of BMWs. Used the lever on the headlights to change the dipping and that was all needed to get a CT.
Some cars you have to change the headlight units, don’t forget to put the old UK ones on Ebay or similar.
Both of them had a EU compliant V5 and BMW UK supplied an EU compliant Certificate of Conformity free of charge.
Went to the Prefecture with the various bits of paper and a chequebook et voila!
I hope I can help save you about 1300 Euros!! The law changed in January and you do NOT need to change the headlights ! You can buy the AA dipper kit on line and follow the instructions to apply the stickers to the headlights and that is legal and passes the control Technique-I have just done this. We have a Peugeot and the Peugeot Garage was happy to see us new lamps at 1500 Euros but did not mention we actually did not need them-the guy at the control technique told us. Not sure about your other question-but go to the Control Technique and ask there.
Hope this helps you.
Questionable which way, do you mean passing cars that shouldn’t pass, or not passing cars that should pass?
Either way it’s hard to see it. A lot of the test is computerized and if the computer readings for emissions, brake effectiveness etc are outside the margins then there’s no way they can pass the vehicle, computer will say NON . And if they get a reputation for being over zealous on the elements that are checked by a human such as corrosion, nobody will go to that CT station and they’ll be out of business.
But in practice, CT testers tend to be very committed to safety. They attend so many courses and are so knowledgeable about what they do, the reasons for it and the implications and possible consequences, that it’s hard to imagine them conducting a test incorrectly. And as Jacqueline says, they are a sound impartial source of advice on what’s safe and what isn’t, what’s legal and what isn’t, and what options you have for resolving CT-related problems with your car.
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Both, naturally.
I agree that some of the test is computerised and either the number is OK or it is not - the same is trur for the MOT.
The rest is subjective.
It does not surprise me that there is a lot of training for testers - that is the French way after all (and in a lot of cases I wish the UK was better at that sort of thing), and I can see the value of separate testers (up to a point).
How much does a CT cost?
Locally 67€ but I think it varies.
Not that different to the official MOT fee then (£54.85) but a lot of places charge less (presumably because they assume that they will pick up remedial work) - I paid £29.95 for the last one I think.
So almost certainly more expensice in France, at least in practice.
Yes it’s more expensive but it’s every 2 years instead of every year.
True
Aren’t we the lucky ones … or so it seems… we get a discount… each time…
Perhaps it pays to be a “regular”… 
The HID (MB and VW) and LED (VW) lights I’ve had were switchable between RHD and LHD. It’s worth reading the manual.
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About ten years ago I imported a RHD MB R129 SL320 that I’d had from new. She was a sort of family pet. I brought her along for the pre registration CT which she failed because of the RHD dipping lights. The law had just changed to a fail for masking (and from the info above has obviously just changed back). I wasn’t too put out as I could get a CG with the failed cert but the CT tester’s innovative advice was that I smash the lamps and claim for new LHD ones on my insurance. Preferring not to comit fraud I trawled the net and and changed the lights with half price OEM units a few weeks later.
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For my own car(s) I have - several times - without finding any adjustment documented (or without finding the documented adjustment actually on the car) 
Agreed, not always easy to locate/manipulate… but, in my own experience, the book said it could be done… and our friendly French garagist agreed… we left it to him to locate and fidget with it… 
If you have a really good relationship with your local garagist… I find they are happy to do this sort of thing… mind you, it was the same in UK… friends in all walks of life… can be so useful/helpful…
As I said above the subject of CT’s in France and how they are carried out isn’t one which I have really thought about. As a non resident it doesn’t really affect me. However I think is is useful to know as much as possible about the whys wherefores and customs of a country which I like and visit often.
So, reflecting I can see that there are distinct advantages to separating testing from the run of the mill garagiste. Perhaps because the CT is only every two years the focus on safety is even more important than the annual check in the UK. I don’t find it at all surprising that there is a lot of training for the testers - although I think that is true to an extent for MOT testers in the UK.
Obviously there are some downsides - having to transport a vehicle which fails too badly to a mechanique for the repair being one of them - but I agree this allows the tester to be independent which is no bad thing (again, they are supposed to be so in the UK but much more closely tied to a service centre).
As David said - mostly different rather than much better or much worse but, having thought about it I think I prefer the French way of doing things on this one.
I look at the whole car thing in terms of annual costs. It is much cheaper to run my cars in France than it would cost me to run the same cars in the U.K. For one of them the running costs are amazingly cheap; no road tax, no CT costs, €43 a year insurance including breakdown cover and I maintain it and service it myself. My other vehicles are not quite that extreme but are still cheaper to run here.
I registered my RH Merc last year. The paperwork is critical. You do this in the local prefecture. You’ll need
1.The certificat d’origine for the vehicle (available from manufacturer)
2. French insurance
3 .UK logbook and passport
4. driving licence (IK was accepted, but this will change with Brexit perhaps )
5. CT. They’re fussy about tyres, and don’t accept warning lights if showing on dashboard. They don’t always ask for change of headlights. They let me get away with a beam adapter, but I was lucky. CT garages vary in their demands. Good idea to visit several. Never heard that odometer needs to be in KMs
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Your first sentences shows that you are out of date. All vehicle registrations are now done through ANTS not your local prefecture.
I started by pointing out it was last year, 2017. . One person’s experience at a given moment
in time…