Importing a car from Japan (JDM) to Germany
Yes: the EU's own Court of Justice has ruled that a member state can't refuse to register a vehicle solely because it's right-hand drive, so a JDM import is legally registrable across the EU. What actually varies by country is the registration, lighting, speedometer, emissions, and individual-approval requirements layered on top, plus a real per-country appetite for RHD conversion work.
Ireland needs no steering-side conversion at all. Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Austria, Czechia, and Poland can register RHD vehicles, with an added conversion budget.
Myth-busted: do you actually need to convert the steering side? →What's different about a Japan (JDM) car
A European Court of Justice ruling establishes that member states cannot generally refuse vehicle registration solely on the basis of right-hand-drive steering position.
Ireland itself drives on the left, so a JDM import needs no steering-side conversion at all, making it by far the largest practical EU market for JDM vehicles by volume.
Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Austria, Czechia, and Poland can all register RHD vehicles, but each one needs its own additional conversion budget on top of the standard homologation process.
The Germany process, at a glance
Einzelgenehmigung (§21 StVZO)
TÜV / DEKRA (technical services), local Zulassungsstelle (registration authority)
Typically 4-10 weeks for a straightforward case, longer if modifications or an exemption request are needed.
Frequently asked
Yes: the EU's own Court of Justice has ruled that a member state can't refuse to register a vehicle solely because it's right-hand drive, so a JDM import is legally registrable across the EU. What actually varies by country is the registration, lighting, speedometer, emissions, and individual-approval requirements layered on top, plus a real per-country appetite for RHD conversion work. Ireland needs no steering-side conversion at all. Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Austria, Czechia, and Poland can register RHD vehicles, with an added conversion budget.
Einzelgenehmigung (§21 StVZO), handled via TÜV / DEKRA (technical services), local Zulassungsstelle (registration authority). Typically 4-10 weeks for a straightforward case, longer if modifications or an exemption request are needed. The underlying process is the same one covered on our full Germany guide; what's specific to a Japan (JDM) vehicle is covered on our Japan (JDM) guide.