Taking your robot abroad?
You probably need an ATA Carnet.
Trade fair in Munich, customer demo in London, field test in Boston. Every time a robot crosses a border, customs wants import duties and VAT on it, unless you can prove it's coming back. The ATA Carnet is the document that proves it. This site explains the whole system in plain language. It's written for robotics companies, with opening hours, exact office locations and a link to every official source.
Where is your company based?
Carnets are issued nationally, by chambers of commerce, and every country runs the system a bit differently: different portals, different fees, different security models, different customs quirks. Pick your country and we'll walk you through the whole thing, from application to the last stamp.
European Union
The EU is one customs territory: no carnet needed between member states, one shared process for trips beyond. The how-to is EU-wide; the portals, fees and offices are national, with country pages for Germany and France so far.
The EU guide →United States
One federal process for all 50 states, and still on paper for now. The catch: nobody stamps you out automatically. Get the carnet validated before you check in your bags.
The US guide →United Kingdom
Since Brexit, taking equipment to the EU is the main reason UK companies need carnets. Issued by 21 chambers under LCCI; one stamp at first EU entry covers all 27 states.
The UK guide →Switzerland
Apply through your regional chamber on ataswiss.ch. The key trick: activate the carnet early, then the big motorway crossings stamp it around the clock.
The Swiss guide →Somewhere else? The fundamentals below apply in all ~80 carnet countries. EU country pages for the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain are planned, along with a guide for Canada.
The basics, country-independent
What is an ATA Carnet?
The "passport for goods" explained: how it works, what it costs, which ~80 countries accept it, and the new digital eATA carnet.
Carnets for robotics companies
Demos, trade fairs, pilots and field tests: when a carnet is the right tool, what to put on it (robots, batteries, spares, tools), and the traps that catch robotics teams.
Common mistakes
What actually trips people up, ranked: starting too late, bad goods lists, lost paperwork, wrong offices, missed stamps.
The 60-second version
- A carnet is a passport for your equipment. One booklet (or, since June 2026, a QR code in an app) replaces customs declarations and deposits in around 80 countries for up to 12 months, as long as everything comes back unchanged.
- You get it from a chamber of commerce, not from customs. Each country has its own issuing system: ataswiss.ch in Switzerland, an LCCI-listed chamber in the UK, and in the EU your national chamber (your IHK in Germany, the GEFI portal in France). Fees and security models differ a lot, which is exactly why this site has a guide per country.
- Customs must see it at every border. Activation at home, export stamp, import stamp abroad, re-export stamp, re-import stamp, then back to the chamber. Miss a stamp and you risk paying full import duties plus a 10% penalty.
- Plan around opening hours. Opening a brand-new carnet usually only works at commercial customs offices during business hours. Every country guide tells you where and when, and the universal advice is the same: get it activated before travel day.
New to all of this? Start with What is an ATA Carnet? It assumes you know nothing about customs, which is exactly where most people start.
Why a site just for robotics?
Because robots are an awkward fit for generic customs guides. A robot is expensive, so the duty exposure is real money. It's full of serialised components, so the goods list matters. It runs on lithium batteries, which tangles transport rules up with customs rules. Parts of it can be export-controlled (cameras, autonomy). And it travels constantly: demos, fairs, pilots. A mobile-robotics startup demoing an inspection robot at a trade fair in Stuttgart, a drone maker flying test units to a customer in Rotterdam, a surgical-robotics team exhibiting in Chicago... they all hit the same questions, and the answers are scattered across customs administrations and chambers of commerce. This site puts them in one place, with the official source linked next to every claim.
The guide currently covers the European Union (with country pages for Germany and France), the United States, the United Kingdom and Switzerland in depth. More EU countries and Canada are planned.