URL: https://carnet-ata-for-robotics.com/us/using-your-carnet Last reviewed: 2026-07-06 Summary: The US customs steps for an ATA Carnet: finding the CBP officer on arrival, the re-export date on your counterfoil, the exit-validation trap before check-in, transit as an in-bond movement, and sending goods as freight. # Using your carnet in the United States Your carnet only protects you if CBP sees it at the right moments. On any US trip there are two customs touchpoints: one stamp from a CBP officer when the goods arrive in the country, one when they leave. Both are entirely your job to chase. Nobody at a US airport will come looking for your carnet, in either direction. ## Entering: find the officer yourself At your port of first arrival, you (or an authorised representative) present the carnet **and the goods** to a CBP officer, who validates the **white importation counterfoil**. The procedure is the same whether the goods travel as cargo or as carry-on baggage. And USCIB, the US carnet association, is blunt about whose problem this is: "Arrive early! It is the Carnet Holder's responsibility to locate a customs inspector to validate the Carnet." One thing to check before you walk away from the desk: the officer may write a **final date for re-exportation** on the importation counterfoil, and that date can be **shorter than your carnet's validity**. If it's there, it's your deadline. If the field is empty, the deadline is the carnet's printed expiration date. Look at the counterfoil while you're still standing in front of the officer, and put whichever date applies in your calendar. ## What your goods enter as The US isn't a party to the Exhibitions and Fairs convention, so there's no "exhibition goods" category here. Goods for a trade fair enter as **commercial samples** (items to be exhibited) or as **professional equipment** (items used to set up or operate booths and displays). A mobile-robotics startup demoing an inspection robot at a US trade show is fine; the robot just enters under one of those two headings. Professional equipment comes with a catch: the carnet must list the **natural person** visiting the US who will use the equipment. For crew-operated gear, that's the crew supervisor. Some things can't ride on a carnet into the US at all: - anything intended for **sale or sale on approval**, - consumables, giveaways and disposables, - goods intended for **processing or repair** in the US, - anything sent **by mail**. Postal imports on a carnet are banned outright. > **⚠️ Leaving: the exit-validation trap** > > There is **no automatic exit check** in the US. If you don't actively get the re-export counterfoil validated, it simply doesn't happen, and that's the classic trigger for a duty claim later. USCIB's rule: present carnet and goods to CBP **before checking in your baggage**, at the last place where you still control the goods. That holds even when your first flight is domestic: flying Dallas to JFK to Heathrow, you get stamped in **Dallas**, because that's where the cases leave your hands. > > Flying at night or outside office hours? You still have to arrange validation. Call the port's CBP office the day before so an officer who knows carnets is available. There's no official "arrive X hours early" figure, so we won't invent one: allow generous time and confirm by phone. Missed the exit stamp anyway? It's usually fixable. Proof from the next country (an import stamp there, or re-import at home before expiry) generally settles a US claim for a regularization fee. The details, including what counts as proof, are in the [US problem playbooks](https://carnet-ata-for-robotics.com/us/problems). ## Transit through the US ATA transit through the US exists, but don't picture a casual drive-through with a stamp at each end. It runs as a CBP **in-bond movement** using the carnet's blue transit vouchers, with the goods moved by bonded carrier: think merchandise landing in Chicago and carried under bond to Canada. If your route crosses the US on the way to somewhere else, plan it with a customs broker rather than improvising at the border. (It's TIR carnets that can't be used in the US at all; that ban doesn't extend to ATA transit.) ## Sending the goods as freight A few extra rules apply when the robot travels without you: - **Ocean freight still needs an ISF** (the "10+2" Importer Security Filing), no later than 24 hours before the vessel is loaded. The carnet exempts you from the ISF bond, not from the filing itself, and ISF violations run up to $5,000 per violation. Air, land and hand-carry are exempt from ISF. - **Unaccompanied freight must be presented by the right person.** CBP won't accept a carnet from a freight forwarder or anyone else without an interest in the goods, unless they're a licensed customs broker. - **Trucking in from Canada or Mexico:** since March 2026, carriers can pre-declare a carnet in the ACE Truck Manifest. That's advance notice only; the physical carnet is still validated at the border. ## What about the tariffs? Short version: a compliant temporary admission under a carnet stays duty-free, and that survived the 2025-26 tariff turmoil. The IEEPA "reciprocal" duties ended in February 2026; Section 301 duties remain, but no duty is collected on a properly handled temporary import. Two caveats. Chinese-origin items can raise the **security** your issuer demands for a US-bound carnet, so ask them before budgeting. And we can't confirm anywhere how the merchandise processing fee is treated for carnet entries, so don't count on an exemption there. ## Pre-trip checklist 1. Carnet in hand, confirmed with your issuer for a US route. 2. Professional equipment: the person using the gear (or the crew supervisor) is named on the carnet. 3. Nothing on the list is for sale, giveaway, repair, or shipped by mail. 4. Arrival port's CBP office located and its hours checked; you know where you'll find the officer. 5. Re-export date on the importation counterfoil checked at the desk and put in your calendar. 6. Exit stamp planned at the last airport where you control the goods, before baggage check-in; CBP office called the day before if you fly off-hours. 7. Ocean freight: ISF filed at least 24 hours before loading. Unaccompanied goods: broker or Box-B representative arranged. Something already went wrong? The [US problem playbooks](https://carnet-ata-for-robotics.com/us/problems) cover missed stamps and claim letters, and the [common mistakes](https://carnet-ata-for-robotics.com/common-mistakes) page is worth five minutes before your first trip. ## 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. - [USCIB - Instructions for using an ATA Carnet](https://www.uscib.org/docs/Instructions_for_using_ATACarnet.pdf) (English, PDF) - [USCIB - ATA Carnet FAQ](https://uscib.org/ata-carnet-export-service/faq/) (English) - [CBP - ATA Carnet FAQ](https://www.cbp.gov/trade/programs-administration/entry-summary/ata-carnet-faqs) (English, last modified June 2024) - [CBP - Directive 3280-013B, Acceptance of Temporary Admission Carnets](https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2017-Nov/3280-013B.PDF) (English, PDF, dated 2010, still the current published version) - [eCFR - 19 CFR Part 114 (Carnets)](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-19/chapter-I/part-114) (English) - [USCIB - carnet compliance (ISF, export controls)](https://uscib.org/ata-carnet-export-service/compliance/) (English) - [USCIB - CBP adds ATA Carnets to ACE truck manifest filings](https://uscib.org/cbp-adds-ata-carnets-to-ace-truck-manifest-filings/) (English) - [White House - Executive Order 14389, Ending Certain Tariff Actions](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/02/ending-certain-tariff-actions/) (English, February 2026) --- This is an independent guide for robotics companies, not an official government resource. Customs rules, fees, locations and opening hours change, so always confirm details with the linked official sources (customs administrations and chambers of commerce) before you travel.