An ATA carnet is a single document that lets you take goods into another country temporarily, without paying import duty or tax and without posting a deposit at that country's border. Customs stamp it in, you stamp it out, and nothing is owed. It is the closest thing international trade has to a passport for cargo.
Two things about carnets changed in 2026, and most published guidance has not caught up with either. Digital carnets went live across 30 territories on 1 June 2026. And Mexico, after a brief suspension in March 2026, now requires electronic pre-registration before a carnet will be accepted at all.
What an ATA carnet actually is
Two treaties sit behind the system, and both are still in force. The Customs Convention on the A.T.A. Carnet (Brussels, 6 December 1961) came first. The Convention on Temporary Admission (Istanbul, 26 June 1990) entered into force on 27 November 1993 and consolidated a dozen earlier agreements into one instrument with 13 annexes.
Istanbul did not replace the 1961 Convention, and the difference is not academic. Several of the largest carnet economies, including the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand and Mexico, are not parties to the Istanbul Convention at all. They operate under the 1961 ATA Convention. The World Customs Organization maintains separate contracting-party lists for each.
The Istanbul Convention defines temporary admission as a procedure under which goods are brought in "conditionally relieved from payment of import duties and taxes", for a specific purpose, and "intended for re-exportation within a specified period and without having undergone any change except normal depreciation due to the use made of them". That last clause is the whole test. Goods must leave in substantially the condition they arrived in.
What it covers, and what it will not
Most guidance names three categories: commercial samples, professional equipment, and goods for exhibitions and fairs. US Customs and Border Protection and Irish Revenue both use that framing, and it is a fair summary of ordinary use. It is not the law. The Istanbul Convention runs to 13 annexes covering everything from scientific and educational equipment to animals, travellers' sports goods and humanitarian relief. The UK government's own coverage list runs to roughly 20 categories, including works of art and antiques for exhibition.
The exclusions matter more in practice. A carnet cannot be used for:
- Goods intended to be processed or repaired. This is an express treaty prohibition, in Annex A, Article 2(4). The nuance almost everyone omits: Irish Revenue confirms that "repairs and maintenance to preserve the goods or keep them in working order for their use under the procedure are possible". A camera that breaks mid-shoot can be fixed. A camera sent abroad to be fixed cannot travel on a carnet.
- Consumables, perishables and giveaways. CBP names agricultural products and disposables specifically.
- Anything intended for sale, including sale on approval, even where the goods themselves are in an eligible category.
- Alcohol, tobacco and fuel for consumption.
- Goods imported by post. The treaty is softer than this sounds: Annex A, Article 18(1) gives each country the right to enter a reservation on postal traffic, so it is a country-level exclusion rather than an absolute ban. In UK practice it is flat.
- A vehicle imported to be driven as transport. A vehicle as an exhibit, a race car or a broadcast unit is fine. See the section on CPDs below.
The one-year rule, and why "extending" a carnet is a myth
Annex A, Article 5 is unambiguous: issuing associations "shall not issue temporary admission papers with a period of validity exceeding one year from the date of issue". There is no extension mechanism. The only route is a replacement carnet, which carries a new number and the same general list, and which the US guaranteeing association warns is not accepted by every carnet country.
The confusion is understandable, because a closely related document can be extended. A Carnet de Passages en Douane can be renewed once, for up to a year, under Annex A, Article 14(2). An ATA carnet cannot.
A second, costlier misreading is that a carnet buys twelve months in every country on the itinerary. It does not. Customs at each border set a re-export date that is the earlier of the carnet expiry or that country's own maximum period for those goods. Malaysia caps temporary admission at three months. Saudi Arabia, which joined the system on 1 June 2024, allows six. India and China accept carnets for exhibitions only. Peru, which joined in April 2024, takes exhibitions and professional equipment but not commercial samples.
What it costs, and the 110% trap
Two separate numbers get conflated constantly, and the error is expensive.
The guarantee is capped by treaty. Annex A, Article 8(2) provides that the guaranteeing association's liability "shall not exceed the amount of the import duties and taxes by more than 10%". So 110% is correct shorthand, but it is 110% of the duties and taxes, not of the value of the goods.
The security your issuer takes from you is a different thing entirely, and it is a percentage of goods value. The US guaranteeing association publishes a standard security deposit of 40% of the general list value, rising to 55% for India, 100% minimum for China, and 100% to 150% where vehicles are involved. Most holders post a surety bond instead of cash, at a premium of roughly 1% of the bond amount, non-refundable.
On top of that sits a processing fee. The US schedule runs from $255 for a general list under $10,000 to $545 above $1m, with continuation sheets at $12 a page. In the UK, the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry charges £215 plus VAT for members and £355 plus VAT for others, with security quoted per carnet and sold in 2, 6 or 12 month bands.
UK guidance explains how that security is sized, and it is worth understanding: it typically covers the highest rate of duty, VAT and a 10% penalty in any country on the itinerary. You are underwritten against the worst jurisdiction on the route, not the average one. Adding one high-duty country to a tour raises the security for the whole trip.
The number that actually matters: 33 months
Ask what a carnet ties up and most people answer twelve months. The real exposure is closer to three years, and it falls out of the Convention's own clock:
- 12 months of carnet validity (Annex A, Article 5).
- Plus 12 months for customs to bring a claim. Article 8(4) bars a claim made more than a year after the carnet expires.
- Plus 6 months for the guaranteeing association to produce proof of re-export, under Article 9(1)(a).
- Plus 3 months before a provisional payment becomes final, under Article 9(1)(b).
That is 33 months of potential liability from the date of issue, and UK government guidance says deposits may be retained for that whole period. If you are budgeting a cash deposit rather than a bond, budget for the cash to be gone for nearly three years, not one.
The proof that closes the loop is narrow. Article 10 says evidence of re-export "shall be provided by the re-exportation counterfoil completed and stamped by the customs authorities of the territory of temporary admission". A photograph of the goods back in your warehouse proves nothing. The stamp is the only currency, which is why an unstamped exit is the single most common way a carnet goes wrong.
When it does go wrong, the bill escalates on a schedule. The US association charges 25% of duty plus a 10% penalty for re-export within 90 days of expiry, 50% plus penalty between 90 and 180 days, and full duty plus penalty beyond 181 days. Goods actually sold under a carnet attract full duty and tax plus 10%.
Digital carnets: what changed on 1 June 2026
The eATA carnet is live. Not a pilot, and not yet worldwide, and both halves of that sentence are being got wrong.
On 1 June 2026 the International Chamber of Commerce launched digital carnets across 30 territories: the 27 EU member states plus Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Issuance, declarations and customs verification all run digitally, with travellers using a smartphone app that generates QR travel codes and customs using a dedicated portal. The United Arab Emirates is scheduled to join on 9 November 2026, which would make it the first territory outside Europe.
Three practical points follow:
- Paper is still valid. HMRC confirmed in June 2026 that all paper carnets issued before 1 June 2026 remain valid.
- Mixed itineraries still need paper. Chambers may issue a carnet in paper, digital, or both, depending on which countries are on the route. A tour that touches one paper-only country needs paper.
- The transition runs to the end of 2027. Remaining countries move across gradually, with full worldwide digitisation targeted for 1 January 2028. The ICC maintains the plan as a living document, and there is no published country-by-country date table beyond the first group.
Country traps to check before you book
Mexico changed its rules in March 2026 and this is the freshest trap in the system. After a short suspension, carnets were accepted again from 6 March 2026 with a new condition attached: the carnet must be registered electronically in advance through CANACO, the Mexican guaranteeing association, which generates a folio that has to be presented on entry. The US association's guidance puts the notice period at seven days, the cost at around $60, and fines for late re-export at MXN 2,670 to 4,030 applied every 15 days past the deadline. A carnet presented at a Mexican border without a folio is not a valid carnet.
Russia, Belarus and Ukraine appear on the country directories but are not being served. Issuance to all three has been suspended since the 2022 sanctions, and UK, US and German chambers have all carried suspension notices. The ICC directory lists guaranteeing associations; it is not a live operational status board. Iran is operational in the wider system, but the US association will not issue carnets for use there.
On country counts generally, be sceptical of any precise figure. The ICC publishes "approximately 80 countries and customs territories". The US association says "81+". The Istanbul Convention had 76 contracting parties as at September 2024. These count different things, and none of them is the 175 that circulates online.
When a carnet is the wrong tool
A carnet earns its fee on multi-country, multi-trip movements. For a single one-way shipment it is often the more expensive option, and sometimes it is not available at all.
US Temporary Importation under Bond
TIB, governed by 19 CFR 10.31 to 10.40 and heading 9813 of the tariff schedule, covers goods entering the US only. The bond is generally double the duties and fees, though it drops to 110% for samples, advertising films and professional equipment. TIB requires a customs entry form; a carnet requires no form beyond itself. The trade-off is reusability: a carnet can cross multiple borders repeatedly for twelve months, a TIB cannot. Nationals of a number of free trade agreement partners, including Canada, Mexico, Singapore, Australia, South Korea and Colombia, can bring in professional and demonstration equipment with no bond at all where the goods originate in that country. If you are weighing bond options generally, our guide to US customs bonds covers the wider picture.
One 2026 wrinkle worth flagging carefully. CBP has stated that the IEEPA reciprocal tariffs are assessed on consumption entries, and that TIB importations are not consumption entries, so the additional duty is not assessed on goods qualifying for TIB. Carnet entries are made under the same Chapter 98, Subchapter XIII provisions. CBP's published FAQ does not address carnets by name, so treat the read-across as a question for your broker rather than a settled answer.
EU Temporary Admission
The EU's own procedure, under Articles 250 to 253 of the Union Customs Code, allows up to 24 months, double what a carnet permits. Partial relief is available at 3% of the duty otherwise payable, per month. But 24 months is a ceiling, not an entitlement: Irish Revenue is explicit that goods should be re-exported when the use they were admitted for has finished.
The two regimes interlock rather than compete. Presenting a carnet at an EU border counts as both the import declaration and the application for authorisation, and acceptance by the officer is the authorisation. It also removes the security requirement. The catch is that where goods move on a carnet, the temporary admission period cannot exceed the carnet's validity, so a carnet caps you at twelve months even inside a 24-month regime.
Worth knowing for UK and EU traders: carnets are an optional facilitation between the UK and EU, not a requirement. Temporary Admission, Returned Goods Relief and, for portable items, declaration by conduct are all alternatives.
Carnet de Passages en Douane
Same treaty, different appendix, different purpose. A CPD covers the vehicle itself, and is common across Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia. It is issued through national motoring clubs under the AIT and FIA rather than chambers of commerce, it can be extended once, and its guarantee carries no 10% uplift. The dividing line is clean: an ATA carnet covers a vehicle as cargo or exhibit, a CPD covers a vehicle as a vehicle.
Getting it right the first time
Most carnet failures are clerical rather than substantive. The general list must describe every item, with serial numbers where they exist, and nothing may travel that is not on it. Every border crossing needs a stamp in both directions, including transit stops. Irish Revenue opens an enquiry when a re-export voucher has not come back within two months of the final re-export date, so a missing stamp starts a clock you will not see.
If your movement is a one-way commercial import rather than a temporary one, a carnet is the wrong instrument and the ordinary process applies. Start with our customs clearance guide and the import documentation checklist. If the goods will sit in-country before onward movement, compare foreign trade zones and bonded warehouses. If duty has already been paid on goods that are leaving again, duty drawback may recover it. And whatever the route, the tariff classification drives the numbers, so get the HS code right before anything else.
Carnets are handled by a minority of forwarders, and the ones who do them regularly are worth finding. You can search more than 29,300 logistics companies in the CargoLinked directory by country and service, or post your shipment and let forwarders who handle temporary admission come to you. If you are unsure whether you need a broker at all, our guide on whether to use a customs broker is the place to start.
