Export certificate, registration card and CoC for your Belgian registration

At the export, the car is deregistered from the Dutch vehicle register. The buyer, or the person the export is arranged for, receives:

• the export certificate, which the RDW calls kentekenbewijs deel II (Dutch registration certificate part II);
• the registration card (kentekencard) with one corner cut off, or, for older cars, the paper registration part 1B (tenaamstellingsbewijs deel 1B).

The seller receives the vrijwaringsbewijs, proof that the Dutch registration has stopped. It stays with the seller and plays no part in the Belgian registration. Selling your car to a buyer across the border? Read about selling a car for export.

According to the RDW's page on exporting a vehicle, you need the export certificate together with the registration card for registration abroad, and you hand both to the organisation that registers the vehicle. The RDW also advises asking in the destination country which documents are required.

Both the technical inspection and the DIV ask for the complete original foreign registration certificate. The Flemish government adds two warnings: the certificate sometimes consists of several parts, and nothing may be written on it. No Belgian source names the Dutch documents individually, so our practical advice is simple: bring the registration card and the export certificate, both originals, and don't write anything on them. Make copies for your own records before you hand them over.

For the E705 customs vignette, the Brussels Expat Welcome Desk lists the purchase invoice, a copy of your identity card (or the 'annexe de la commune'), all parts of the foreign registration certificate and the mileage. Proof of ownership can be a purchase invoice, proof of purchase, sales agreement, deed of gift or will. According to the Flemish government it should state, among other things:

• the price excluding VAT;
• the surname, first name and full address of both buyer and seller;
• the vehicle details, including make, model, chassis number, date of first registration and mileage;
• the payment method and the delivery date.

Buying from a Dutch dealer? Ask for an invoice with all of this before you pay.

At the Belgian inspection, the certificate of conformity (CoC) is an additional document. What matters most is the European type-approval number, the WVTA number. If it is shown in field K or K1 of the previous registration certificate, the second-hand inspection can start straight away. If not, the inspection centre first validates the vehicle, which takes extra time.

So bring the CoC if you have it. Don't have one? We offer CoC guidance on request; the application route varies by manufacturer and importer.

If Dutch documents are missing, the organisation that registers the car abroad must ask the RDW for permission, a 'verklaring van geen bezwaar' (declaration of no objection). According to the RDW, you cannot request it yourself. Missing yellow plates are easier to solve: have new plates made by a recognised plate manufacturer before the export.

For the export at our desk, bring the identity document of the person the export is for, the registration card with its code (or the old paper parts), the yellow Dutch plates, the current mileage and the buyer's full address abroad. The full checklist is below. With complete documents, a standard application is usually ready in about 15 minutes.

The export is arranged in the name of the Belgian buyer, who receives the export certificate in their name. If the buyer can't come to the Netherlands, a contact person in the Netherlands may arrange it, according to the RDW.

You can also arrange everything remotely. Prepare online, send the yellow plates by post or courier, and we start once they arrive. We send documents, and plates if you order them, insured with tracking, also to Belgium. If the car is already there on Dutch plates, we can still arrange the export with kentekenbewijs deel II through a separate postal procedure; contact us first. Postal rates are on our price page, and the Belgian steps that follow are on registering a car in Belgium. If you drive the car yourself, you'll also need Dutch export plates.