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International Certificate for Motor Vehicles (ICMV)

ICMV

What to do if you're told you need one

The International Certificate for Motor Vehicles (ICMV) is an official, multilingual translation of your vehicle registration document (V5c), and it may be required by some countries outside of the European Economic Area (EEA).  It's the vehicle equivalent of an IDP which is an official translation of your driving licence.

An ICMV can only be issued for UK-registered vehicles, and is valid for 12 months.

How to get one

Since the UK ratified the 1969 Vienna convention on 28 March 2019, you now only need to apply for and carry an ICMV if you are taking your vehicle to any of the following three countries:

  • Liechtenstein
  • Mexico
  • Somalia

If you are taking your vehicle to one of these three countries then you will have to apply for an ICMV from DVLA (more details on gov.uk)

We used to be able to issue ICMVs but changes made in preparation for Brexit mean that we are no longer authorised by the government to issue international driver (IDP) or vehicle (ICMV) licensing documents. 

 

Related links

  • Driving in Europe
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  • Blue-badge parking in Europe
  • European low emission zones

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