Member States shall ensure that testing centres or, if relevant, the competent authorities, which have carried out a roadworthiness test on a vehicle issue a roadworthiness certificate for that vehicle indicating at least the standardised elements of the corresponding harmonised Union codes as laid down in Annex II.

Member States shall ensure that testing centres or, if relevant, the competent authorities make the roadworthiness certificate or, in the case of an electronically produced roadworthiness certificate, a certified printout of such certificate available to the person presenting the vehicle for testing.

Without prejudice to Article 5, in the case of re-registration of a vehicle already registered in another Member State, each Member State shall recognise the roadworthiness certificate issued by that other Member State, as if it had itself issued that certificate, provided that the roadworthiness certificate is still valid in terms of the frequency intervals established for periodic roadworthiness tests by the re-registering Member State. In cases of doubt, the re-registering Member State may verify the validity of the roadworthiness certificate before recognising it. Member States shall communicate to the Commission a description of the roadworthiness certificate before 20 May 2018. The Commission shall inform the Committee referred to in Article 19. This paragraph shall not apply to vehicle categories L3e, L4e, L5e and L7e.

Without prejudice to Article 5(4) and paragraph 3 of this Article, Member States shall recognise, as a matter of principle, the validity of the roadworthiness certificate in the event that the ownership of a vehicle — having a valid proof of periodic roadworthiness test — changes.

As from 20 May 2018 and at the latest by 20 May 2021, testing centres shall communicate electronically, to the competent authority of the Member State concerned, the information mentioned in the roadworthiness certificates which they issue. Such communication shall take place within a reasonable time after each roadworthiness certificate is issued. Until the latter date, testing centres may communicate the relevant information to the competent authority by any other means. Member States shall determine the period during which the competent authority is to retain that information. The duration of that period shall not be less than 36 months, without prejudice to the national tax systems of the Member States.

Member States shall ensure that, for the purposes of checking the odometer, where an odometer is normally fitted, the information included in the previous roadworthiness test is made available to the inspectors as soon as it is available electronically. In cases where an odometer is found to have been manipulated with the aim of reducing or misrepresenting the distance record of a vehicle, such manipulation shall be punishable by effective, proportionate, dissuasive and non-discriminatory penalties.

Member States shall ensure that the results of the roadworthiness test are notified, or made available electronically, as soon as possible to the authority responsible for registration of the vehicle. That notification shall contain the information mentioned in the roadworthiness certificate.