ATA Carnet for Robotics brought to you by RobotLife

How to get an ATA Carnet in the UK

UK carnets are issued by chambers of commerce, not by HMRC. Both businesses and private travellers can apply, and the applicant can be the carnet holder or a representative acting for them. Whether a company without a UK presence can hold a UK carnet isn't stated anywhere we could verify; if that's you, ask LCCI directly before planning around it.

Step 1: Pick your issuing chamber

Twenty-one chambers issue carnets, all listed on the UKNATACO chamber list: from Aberdeen and Edinburgh down through Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol to London (LCCI), plus Northern Ireland. You don't have to use your nearest one.

LCCI takes applications through its online portal, ecarnet.co.uk; the finished carnet is posted to you or collected from the issuing office. Other chambers run their own front ends and set their own fees. We haven't collected those, so the figures on this page are LCCI's; ask your chamber for its rates.

Step 2: Build the goods list (the "General List")

The list is the basis of the carnet and gets frozen once issued, so get it right and complete:

Step 3: Provide the security (the big UK difference)

Here's where the UK system differs most from what you may know from elsewhere. The issuing chamber must hold security from you equal to the highest rate of duty and taxes applicable to the goods in any destination or transit country, including a possible 10% penalty. For an expensive robot, that's real money. Three forms are accepted:

  1. Cash deposit or banker's draft for the full security amount. Refunded after the carnet comes back and is discharged.
  2. Bank guarantee from specified UK institutions. Returned to the bank for cancellation after discharge.
  3. Carnet Security Scheme (CSS) - LCCI's in-house guarantee. A non-refundable one-off payment with "while you wait" processing and no freezing of your cash. You stay liable if the carnet is misused. The premium rates aren't published anywhere; you get a quote via ecarnet.

One useful lever: the security can be bought for 2, 6 or 12 months rather than the full year, and the carnet can then only be used for the period the security covers. Short demo tour, shorter security.

How much security? The rate chart

UKNATACO publishes a security rate chart with percentages of the goods value per destination and goods category. A few examples relevant to robotics:

DestinationGoods categorySecurity rate
European UnionAll categories40%
USAMachinery (non-electrical)35%
USAElectric, electronic, scientific and digital equipment (excl. computers)38%
USAComputer equipment20%
SwitzerlandElectronics25%
SwitzerlandComputer equipment15%

Step 4: Pay the issuing fee and receive the carnet

LCCI's fees as published (incl. VAT):

ServiceLCCI memberNon-member
ATA Carnet, standard£270.00£444.00
Express service£540.00£714.00

Standard processing is within 24 hours of submission; express is within 2 hours. Processing runs 9am–5pm Monday to Friday, so a Friday-evening application starts its clock on Monday. Other chambers' fees and turnaround differ; ask yours.

Since 1 June 2026, carnets for the UK, EU, Norway and Switzerland are digital: you receive a PIN and QR code by email and load the carnet into the ICC ATA Carnet App. Paper carnets continue for other destinations. Details in using your carnet.

Before you submit: two non-customs checks

Sources

Every factual claim on this page comes from the sources below, checked on the "last reviewed" date in the footer. Official resources are linked in whatever language they are published in.