EU Pushes the eCoC Deadline to 29 November 2026: What Manufacturers Should Know
A transitional arrangement for the eCoC rollout
In the wake of the 168th meeting of the European Commission's Working Group "Motor Vehicles" (MVWG) on 6 May 2026, EU Member States have settled on a transitional arrangement that takes the edge off the 5 July 2026 eCoC obligation for jurisdictions whose national infrastructure will not be ready by then.
Under that arrangement, EU manufacturers may keep using paper Certificates of Conformity, or print-outs of the eCoC, up to 29 November 2026 at the latest. The intent is to give national access points (NAPs) and manufacturers enough room to test and run the new electronic registration process without jeopardising vehicle registrations.
The essentials at a glance
- Original deadline: 5 July 2026 — Member States must accept the eCoC as structured electronic data
- New cut-off: 29 November 2026 — the final date paper CoCs and eCoC print-outs may be used
- Legal basis: Article 37(10) of Regulation (EU) 2018/858
- Scope: Member States with no NAP yet, or one that went live less than four months before 5 July 2026
- Valid duplicate: a signed and stamped print-out of the structured data, without the measures set out in Annex VIII of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/683
Why the extension was given
The European Commission opened proceedings at the 168th MVWG meeting by reminding Member States of their legal duty to have data networks ready to receive eCoCs as structured electronic data from 5 July 2026. Yet, on the strength of information gathered from Member States, the EC acknowledged that at least a handful of Member States will not have a fully working national access point, data retrieval or processing capability in place by the deadline — placing the entire vehicle registration process at risk in those jurisdictions.
The minutes pointed to three technical causes:
NAP design delays
The complete design decisions for the National Access Point, supplied by Eucaris, were locked down too late for every party to integrate, test and deploy in time.
Incomplete IVI services
The full suite of Initial Vehicle Information (IVI) services within Eucaris was not ready in time to support a harmonised rollout.
A late eCoC format
The definitive eCoC 2.0 format and its accompanying requirements were settled with little time left for manufacturers to validate their mass data uploads.
What the transitional arrangement genuinely permits
The arrangement is tighter than it looks at first glance. Under Article 37(10) of Regulation (EU) 2018/858, Member States agreed to permit, exceptionally and for a strictly limited time, the ongoing use of paper CoCs and the national procedures already in place, national eCoC procedures included, until 29 November 2026 at the latest.
Critically, the relief is available only where the national infrastructure is missing, or was introduced less than four months before 5 July 2026, leaving manufacturers without a fair window to test mass data uploads. In Member States whose NAP is fully operational on schedule, the 5 July obligation still applies.
A signed and stamped print-out of the structured data is enough to count as a valid duplicate, without the extra measures laid down in Annex VIII to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/683.
What it means for EU manufacturers
For manufacturers active across several Member States, this is breathing space rather than a let-off. For the first time, the obligations diverge: where the NAP is ready, eCoC submission is compulsory from 5 July; where it is not, paper CoCs and print-outs stay valid until 29 November. Internal processes therefore have to handle both routes in parallel throughout the transition.
The five-month window also shuts sooner than it appears. Most manufacturers need three to four months for system integration, signature testing and operator training, which puts the realistic point to begin a rollout at July, not November.
Don't read this as a reset
The November 2026 date is a safety net for jurisdictions where the infrastructure really is not ready. It does not reset the rollout timeline. In Member States whose NAP is operational on 5 July, eCoC submission is compulsory from that date, and stalling your project on the assumption of an EU-wide extension carries genuine regulatory risk.
Six months to the November deadline: what to do now
Whether your jurisdiction runs on the original 5 July date or the new 29 November cut-off, the practical preparation is the same. Put the window to use and:
- Establish which NAPs your business has to file with, and whether each is live on 5 July or leaning on the transitional arrangement
- Produce and validate test IVI XML files against the eCoC 2.0 schema for every relevant Member State
- Carry out end-to-end XAdES digital signature integration tests against each NAP API
- Set up a fallback process for issuing signed and stamped print-outs while the transitional arrangement still applies
- Train your operations and homologation staff on both the digital submission and the paper-duplicate workflow
eCoC EU² covers both routes
The eCoC EU² software runs the complete eCoC lifecycle and the paper-duplicate fallback side by side, so you stay compliant whichever route is in force in each jurisdiction:
With six months left before the November backstop, now is the moment to move. Get in touch and we'll help you scope a deployment sized to your production volumes and Member State coverage.
Ready for the EU eCoC rollout?
Book a free demo and see how eCoC EU² can have your eCoC process production-ready across every EU Member State.