Applying for a permit to operate individual vehicles

If your vehicle does not have EC type approval, you must apply for type approval before the vehicle can be admitted to road traffic.

The operating license, together with the registration plate, is part of the registration procedure for motor vehicles on public roads. An operating license is a confirmation that your vehicle complies with the relevant regulations.

It is issued for type-approved vehicles by the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) or comparable institutions in other countries of the European Union. For vehicles without type approval, it is issued by the registration authority as an individual approval.

You need the general type approval if you want to manufacture vehicles in series. In this case, you will be issued with a general type approval following an inspection carried out at your expense.

You require an individual type approval (EBE) if

• you manufacture a vehicle individually or in small series production,
• it is a vehicle that you have designed yourself
• you have imported it from abroad without EC type approval or
• It is a decommissioned vehicle that has been deregistered after 7 years and is to receive a new registration.

The individual type approval is issued by the local licensing authority for a single vehicle and is only valid for this vehicle.

Upon application, the competent licensing authority issues

• an individual approval for new vehicles on the basis of an expert opinion from an officially recognized expert from a technical inspection authority.
• for all other vehicles, an operating permit on the basis of an expert opinion from an officially recognized expert or a technical service.

You can apply for an individual approval for new vehicles if it is the first registration of a new vehicle of category

• M, for example passenger cars, motorhomes,
• N, including trucks or tractor units and
• O, i.e. trailers

for which you do not have an EC type approval including COC certificate.

For the registration of all other new or used vehicles for which you do not have an EC type approval including COC certificate, you must apply for an operating permit on the basis of an expert opinion from an officially recognized expert or a technical service. This also applies in the event that you have received an expert opinion from an officially recognized expert due to modifications to the vehicle - for example by installing a gas system or changing the suspension - as the type approval for your vehicle has also expired in this case and must therefore be reissued.

Unless it is expressly limited in time or withdrawn, the operating license remains valid until the vehicle is finally taken out of service. The operating license expires if

• you have made changes to the vehicle which result in
  • the vehicle type is changed,
  • technical defects are likely to endanger road users or
    • the exhaust or noise behavior is worsened.
• a component is subject to mandatory approval, but you have not complied with this requirement.
• you have not complied with installation regulations, restrictions or requirements for technical modifications.

If you drive without an operating license or with an expired operating license, you are committing an administrative offence. The licensing authority can then prohibit you from continuing to use the vehicle. The registration authority will then cancel the license plate.

You must carry the operating license with you if changes have been made that are not on the vehicle registration document.

Lower administrative authorities (licensing authorities)

Issue of an individual approval

• Expert opinion from an officially recognized expert or a technical service designated to test complete vehicles of the respective vehicle category.
• Identity card or passport of the applicant. The applicant and the subsequent owner of the vehicle do not necessarily have to be one and the same person.
• For legal entities: Copy of the extract from the trade register
• Proof of authorization to dispose of the vehicle, if applicable

Issue of an operating license

• Expert opinion from an officially recognized expert or a technical service appointed to test complete vehicles of the respective vehicle class.
• Any existing registration certificate or vehicle registration document, also from abroad
• Identity card or passport of the applicant. The applicant and the subsequent owner of the vehicle do not necessarily have to be one and the same person.
• For legal entities: Copy of the extract from the trade register
• Proof of authorization to dispose of the vehicle, if applicable
  

You need an operating license for

• A vehicle that you have designed yourself
• A vehicle imported from a country outside the European Economic Area
• A vehicle that does not have EC type approval
• A vehicle that was deregistered more than 7 years ago

As the applicant, you are authorized to dispose of the vehicle or have been commissioned by the person authorized to dispose of the vehicle.

• Contradiction

• You apply for an expert opinion from an officially recognized expert or a technical service designated to test complete vehicles of the respective vehicle class
• You submit the certificate together with the other documents to your local registration authority.
• The authority then issues or amends the registration certificate, i.e. the vehicle registration document and vehicle registration certificate, or notes with a seal on the expert opinion for obtaining individual approval or general operating license that the operating license has been issued.
  

• In Hesse, applications must generally be submitted to the Fulda or Marburg-Biedenkopf bundling authority. If you live in Frankfurt, the Hochtaunus district or the Lahn-Dill district, the application must be submitted to the local licensing authority.
• In Hesse, the certificate of approval must be submitted to the local licensing authority when applying for registration.

You may incur additional costs for the necessary expert opinions.: Fee 39,50 EUR (Information on cost composition can be found here)

You can prove the operating license for a vehicle by means of the registration certificate part I or the vehicle registration document. You must carry these with you as the driver. You must also have a copy or photocopy of the relevant operating license for parts installed or attached to the vehicle.

• relevant operating license,
• type approval,
• approval within the scope of the operating license or an addendum thereto or an extract from this permit or approval

must be carried.
If the modification is accepted on the basis of

• a permit,
• an approval or
• a parts certificate,

you must carry appropriate proof of this with confirmation of proper installation or fitting and the conditions to be observed. You no longer have to carry this proof if a corresponding entry has been made in the vehicle registration document.

If the operating license has expired, you may only drive the vehicle if you immediately acquire a new operating license. You must keep the previous license plates or red license plates on the vehicle. Short-term license plates on vehicles that do not belong to an approved type may only be returned when driving for the aforementioned purposes in the district of the registration authority responsible for the location of the vehicle or an adjacent district.