Commercial and other Non-Personal Imports
If you do not qualify as a personal importer, and the vehicle is not type-approved, you will need to submit your vehicle for an Enhanced SVA inspection. Enhanced SVA applies to most imports which are neither type approved nor personal.
It is also permissible to obtain an equivalent single approval granted in another EEA State . If your vehicle has been SVA’d by another EEA member state to standards equivalent to those of UK SVA, it is eligible for a Department’s Approval Certificate on that basis. You must provide DVTA with evidence of the actual standards to which the vehicle was tested.
Further information on SVA is given in leaflet SVA 8, which is available, together with downloadable application forms on www.dvtani.gov.uk/vehicletesting/sva.asp.
Vehicles over 10 years old are exempt from type approval and SVA but will require a current MOT certificate. Light Goods Vehicles (LGVs) under 3500 kg, which were manufactured before 31st March 2004 are also exempt from type approval requirements at first registration in Northern Ireland, but proof of date of manufacture must be submitted.
A vehicle is classed as being 10 years old from the last day of the month of first registration. However, where a vehicle has been so radically altered that it loses its original identity, its original date of manufacture is also lost, and the vehicle must be submitted for SVA.
