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Hi,

I plan to move to Europe and I was wondering if there would be any problems using non-E marked child seat in EU. I know Australian/NZ standards are more strict than EU standards, but would there be any problems with insurance if I used my NZ seat in EU?

Cheers,
Kari Kolehmainen

It would probably be illegal to use a non-EU marked car seat in Europe so you not only risk your insurance but also being fined by the police if caught. There are many differences between Australia/NZ standard car seats and EU standard car seats, for one A/NZ car seats use tether straps but there are no bolts in most European-market cars to tether them to. In Europe they widely use ISOFIX standard fixtures and current A/NZ car seats are not compatible with those standards.

To be absolutely sure you would need to contact the relevant transport authority or motoring club in the destination country, but our advice is to sell the NZ car seat and purchase or rent a EU-compliant seat when you move to Europe to be on the safe side.