Tow bar

More Officious bunkum, but thanks for the heads up. 

It's always been like that. Stops the cowboys fitting an inappropriate type for the vehicle. Not on the ficha tecnica? Not accepted.  Seems a sensible idea to me.

A tow bar Certificate of Conformity (CoC) or type-approval certificate proves your tow bar meets legal safety standards like EC 94/20 or UN Regulation 55. It should match your vehicle's maximum approved towing limits, there should be a permanent label or stamp on the tow bar shows the approval number and D-value; a separate paper certificate is rarely needed if this physical label is present and legible.

In reality every approved towbar carries a hard stamped approval.

I would be more worried if it were fitted by cowboys but each to their own.

Not fair, not all non OEM towbars are made/fitted by 'cowboys'.

Another example of the lack of coordination of rules and regs across the EU, 3rd party - and even home made towbars - are perfectly acceptable in many other countries. 

Have you ever seen one fail, I know I haven't.

The car is 11 years old. It has had 7 previous ITV's without a hint of a problem. The tow bar was fitted when we bought the car brand new, by the dealership. I cannot understand why it has sailed through every other ITV without it ever being mentioned. To add insult to injury, the dealership has charged me 186 euros for the certificate, which I should get sometime next week. I have done everything properly and legally and I am flaberstunned this has taken 11 years to suddenly become a problem. The towbar itself has letters and numbers engraved into the length of it and a somewhat faded sticker on it. Maybe avoid Torrervieja ITV station next time. ? Could this be down to an overzealous inspector who dislikes Brits I wonder? By the way, we do speak Spanish so communication isn't an issue. Feeling very p****d off and ripped off.

Certainly sounds like an overzealous inspector, the letters and numbers engraved into the length of it will no doubt relate to the Type Approval so there should be no need for a C of C, also for him to get a C of C he would need to be able to read the stamping, letters & numbers on the towbar, C of Cs relates to type approval, batch numbers, dates, material & testing, once the numbering / letters are identified a C of C would be available from the manufacturer and if he cannot read the numbers then he cannot provide a C of C as it is not traceable back to a batch number/ type approval number,

I can't make my mind up if the worst part of your story is the garage charging 186euros for the certificate (i don't know how this could be justified) or the fact that the vehicle passed 7 previous ITV's without a problem. I can see why your feeling hacked off. 

Rgds,

Aitch.

I had a similar problem when I imported my Jeep from the UK.

It was fitted with a genuine manufacturer's towbar and had all the approvals you could think of including a label on the bar itself stating EU conformity.  I could have done no more.

Needless to say I had to take it off for the car to pass the ITV.  How completely and utterly ridiculous.  Spain is supposed to be part of the EU and should abide by the EU Directives not make up it's own rules as it goes along.

 It was exactly the same with the LPG conversion. In both cases it would pass if it was fitted by the Spanish.

In my opinion it is nothing to do with safety as they would probably use the same kit.

It's just a job creation scheme, no more, no less.

How do you explain that I had to remove my EU certified tow bar as well as my EU certified LPG conversion.

This is nothing but a scam and job creation scheme for Spanish garages.

Spain are part of the EU and as such should conform to EU regulations.   Not make their own up as they go along.

If it's certified in the UK then that certification also applies to Spain.  The whole idea of having Harmonised Standards is to cut out this crap.

I worked for BSI in England to ensure that this shouldn't happen, then Spain goes and writes its own rules.

I seems I wasted a lot of my time attending BSI meetings in Chiswick.

We always used to say the foreign delegates only came for the free lunches.