The VCA eCoC Portal is now open: a full walkthrough from the 16 June webinar

The portal has gone live

On 17 June 2026 the VCA switched on its eCoC submission portal. From now on, UK vehicle manufacturers are able to send signed IVI XML files either through the web portal or over the API — in both cases the data lands in the same VCA database.

If you need help or have queries, a dedicated team is available at ECOCdatainquiries@vca.gov.uk — note that this inbox is distinct from the type approval team.

The VCA intends to release an account-setup guide, a complete portal user manual, and a screen recording on its website. The webinar slides can also be obtained by asking that same inbox.

Deadline update: compulsory from 29 November

The mandate has moved. An eCoC submission is now only obligatory for vehicles built on or after 29 November 2026. Before that point, providing eCoCs remains voluntary — but if you choose not to, you must continue producing paper COCs. Nothing applies retrospectively to vehicles manufactured before 29 November.

Even with the later deadline, it pays to register an account and trial some uploads straight away — approval can take as long as 5 working days, and you really don't want to be stuck in the access queue come late November.

Setting up your registration

There is no automatic enrolment. One individual has to create the manufacturer account first and then invite colleagues. For registration you'll need your name, the exact email address you plan to log in with (it has to match precisely), your manufacturer name, and a verification code issued by the VCA. After submitting you'll see a "request received" message, and the VCA will then check the request — confirming you are a genuine manufacturer and that nobody else has already claimed that manufacturer name.

Two styles of invitation email

After approval you'll receive one of two emails, depending on whether you already use the type approval portal:

• First-time VCA portal user: the email carries a link together with a long temporary password. Copy that password before anything else, follow the link, sign in through Microsoft, then choose a new password.
• Already on the type approval portal: you simply receive a link. Sign in with your existing type approval email and password — the same credentials grant access to both portals automatically.

The user roles explained

Three roles are available, and whoever registers first is automatically made the primary user.

Fresh users may only be set up as upload or view; elevating someone to primary calls for a separate email to the VCA, authorised by an existing primary user. More than one primary user is permitted. Stripping out all of a person's roles removes their portal access completely (the login still functions but shows nothing). Shared group mailboxes for primary users are strongly advised against, owing to Microsoft authentication and data security concerns.

How to upload IVI XML files

Head to the "upload eCoC file" section and, for your first few attempts, read the guidance shown on the page. The main rules to keep in mind:

• Format: XML and nothing else. Each XML file represents a single vehicle.
• Batch size: up to 100 files in one go, each below 1 MB. Anything larger should go through the API.
• Source: pick files from local or network drives, or drag and drop them in from OneDrive, SharePoint or File Explorer. Any file that doesn't qualify is flagged on the spot.

The "send files for processing" button stays disabled until you tick both declarations — one confirming the data is complete and accurate, the other accepting the Terms and Conditions. Those ticks persist as long as you stay on the page (so you can correct and re-upload without ticking again), but they reset the moment you leave it.

Making sense of submission statuses

The submissions view lists every submission tied to your manufacturer account, not just the ones you made yourself. You can search on a full or partial VIN (wildcards work), filter to failed items, and check the created dates.

Missing from Phase 1 (arriving in August)

By design, the portal is deliberately pared back at launch. The following capabilities aren't there yet:

• Retrieving previous-stage IVI — neither the present portal nor the API offers this. It lands instead with a separate public-facing portal in August (Phase 2), which will let you look up and download previous-stage XML by VIN.
• ICM (Information Checking Module) checks — these are not performed at submission to begin with.
• Signature validation — on upload, the system only confirms that a digital signature is present, not that it is valid. Make sure your signing workflow is sound rather than treating a successful upload as proof of it.

One point about the August public portal: nothing stops you editing downloaded XML, which means stage 2 manufacturers can lift previous-stage data and use it to fill in their own IVI files.

Notes for multi-stage manufacturers

More than one eCoC can be lodged against the same VIN — that is exactly how multi-stage builds are handled. The portal spots duplicates using VIN + IVI version number + stage of completion/manufacture. A useful side effect is that a corrected version can be re-uploaded simply by bumping the version number.

Stage 2 and later manufacturers only have to fill in the sections covering what they actually altered, alongside the mandatory fields. You don't need to copy across unchanged previous-stage data — although you will want to pull it from the August public portal to confirm what was submitted upstream.

Portal limits: the work that stays upstream

At heart the VCA portal is an upload interface — it takes XML files and forwards them to the VCA database. Everything that has to happen before that upload falls entirely outside the portal, and for manufacturers working at volume those gaps stack up fast.

The portal makes sense if you submit only now and again and already have a signing workflow running. Once production is steady, though, juggling XML generation, signing, ICM corrections and previous-stage retrieval across several tools soon costs more than it saves compared with a system-to-system integration.

Where UK and EU XML diverge

The UK builds on the EU IVI XML template, layering extra options into the limited-option fields. The practical sticking point is that the EU template won't accept a G11 or N11 approval number (the UK scheme codes). You can't run one identical template across both — your UK IVI files have to use the UK-specific schema with the right scheme identifiers.

There is also no bridge between the UK and EU eCoC systems. As a non-EU country the UK has no EUCARIS access, so the VCA cannot serve as an EU national access point (NAP). If you sell in both markets you must submit to the VCA portal for UK registrations and, quite separately, to the relevant EU national access point — they are wholly independent systems.