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What is an ATA Carnet?

An ATA Carnet (from French/English Admission Temporaire / Temporary Admission) is an international customs document that lets you take goods into around 80 countries temporarily, for up to one year, without paying import duties or VAT, and without depositing money at each border. People often call it a "passport for goods", and honestly that's the right way to think about it: one document, recognised in many countries, stamped on the way in and out.

Without a carnet, bringing an expensive robot into a foreign country, even just for a three-day trade fair, means one of two things. Either you pay import duties and VAT (often 20–40% of the value, partly refundable at best), or you arrange that country's national temporary-import procedure with a cash deposit or bond, in the local language, at the border. A carnet replaces all of that with a stamp.

Who runs the system

The carnet system is based on two international treaties, the ATA Convention (1961) and the Istanbul Convention (1990), and is administered by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) World Chambers Federation. In each member country there's a national guaranteeing association, usually the chambers of commerce. It issues carnets and, crucially, guarantees to its national customs that duties will be paid if a foreign carnet holder breaks the rules.

That guarantee chain is the whole trick. When you show up at a foreign border with a carnet, customs doesn't need your money as security. It already has a standing guarantee from its own national chamber association, which in turn can recover from the chamber that issued your carnet, which in turn recovers from you. That's why your chamber takes a security deposit or insurance premium when issuing. The associations' liability is capped at the duties plus 10%.

Where do I get a carnet?

In the country where you're based, before the goods leave. That's the short answer, and it's the one people get wrong most often. You can't pick a carnet up at the airport or ask for one at the border, and customs doesn't issue them at all. Your national guaranteeing association does, which in nearly every country means a chamber of commerce.

Where you're basedWho issuesWhere you apply
Switzerland 17 cantonal and regional chambers of commerce ataswiss.ch (step by step)
Germany your regional IHK, guaranteed nationally by the DIHK e-ata.de, which covers around 73 IHKs (step by step)
France your CCI, guaranteed by CCI Paris Île-de-France GEFI (step by step)
United Kingdom 21 issuing chambers; the London Chamber is the national guarantor ecarnet (step by step)
United States USCIB, through two appointed providers (Roanoke, Boomerang) uscib.org (step by step)
Anywhere else that country's national guaranteeing association ICC country directory

"Where you're based" is a real rule, not just a convenience. German IHKs issue to companies with their registered seat in their district, and to private individuals where they live. Swiss chambers cover firms domiciled in their canton. USCIB says that "in most instances, it is not possible to obtain a US Carnet without legal residence and Taxpayer ID". So a German company shipping a robot to Chicago applies to its own IHK and uses that German carnet in the US. It doesn't get a US one. For France and the UK we couldn't find a published rule on foreign applicants either way, so if that's your situation, ask the chamber before you plan around it.

How early should you apply?

Days, not hours, and sometimes rather more. The London Chamber turns carnets around within 24 hours of submission (2 hours if you pay for express), Geneva's chamber within a business day, IHK Stuttgart within three working days. But IHK Munich asks you to plan at least a week and runs no express service, and in the US the usual figure is about two business days once your security is approved.

Your first carnet takes longer than the numbers above suggest. Nearly every portal wants a one-time account registration first, which means an approval step (in Germany) or a signed contract sent by post (in Switzerland). Your security has to be in place before the carnet gets printed. And once you're holding it, your own customs still has to activate it before the goods travel. Start two to three weeks out and none of that hurts.

What a carnet covers (and what it never covers)

Carnets are accepted for three broad categories of goods:

The golden rule behind all three: everything must come back, unchanged, within the deadline. That rules out:

What the document looks like

A classic paper carnet is a colour-coded booklet:

Each sheet comes as a pair: a voucher (Trennabschnitt) that the customs officer detaches and keeps, and a counterfoil (Stammabschnitt) that gets stamped and stays in your booklet permanently. The stamped counterfoils are your proof that everything was done right. Never remove them.

The digital carnet (eATA), live since 1 June 2026

On 1 June 2026 the digital ATA Carnet went live in 30 countries: Switzerland, all 27 EU member states, Norway and the United Kingdom. Carnets issued in those countries from that date must generally be presented digitally. Instead of a paper booklet, you load your carnet into the free ICC ATA Carnet App using a Carnet ID and PIN from your chamber, prepare the declaration in the app, and show a QR code at the border, which customs scans.

Validity: exactly one year, no extensions

A carnet is valid for exactly 12 months from the day it's issued, and it can never be extended. Within that year you can make unlimited trips with any subset of the listed goods. Three important wrinkles:

What it costs

Two things, in every country: a fee to whoever issues the carnet, and security. The fee is the small, predictable part, roughly €100 to £450. The security is the big number, and how it gets charged is the single biggest difference between countries. There are two models:

CountryIssuing feeSecurity
Switzerland CHF 95 (members) or CHF 130 (non-members) plus 1‰ of the goods value at most chambers. Geneva charges a percentage of the carnet value instead: 0.8% members, 1.2% non-members. Refundable deposit, typically 20–40% of the goods value. Some chambers accept guarantee insurance instead.
Germany IHK fee of €80–155, depending on the chamber and whether you're a member, plus a €12 ICC fee. No deposit. A flat insurance fee to Allianz Trade, by value band: €46 up to €10k, €250 for €50k–150k, €455 for €150k–300k, €750 for €300k–500k, then +€500 per further €500k.
France €75 base, plus a €30 international guarantee levy, plus €30 per return trip. No deposit. A flat, non-refundable prime de cautionnement by value band: €70 up to €11k, €500 for €100k–150k, €1,500 at €500k, and 0.22% above that.
United Kingdom London Chamber: £270 for members, £444 for non-members. Other chambers set their own. The highest duty and tax rate of any country you'll visit, plus 10%. For EU trips that's a flat 40% of value. Pay it as cash or a bank guarantee (refundable), or buy the Carnet Security Scheme instead (non-refundable, priced by quote).
United States USCIB fee by value tier: $255 up to $10k, $365 for $50k–150k, $425 for $150k–400k, up to $545 above $1m. 40% of the General List value (India 55%, vehicles more), usually posted as a surety bond with a non-refundable premium of about 1%.

Figures as published when we checked them: Switzerland 11 June 2026, Germany, France and the UK 12 June 2026, the US 6 July 2026. Tariffs change at the turn of the year, so confirm the current one with your issuer. Watch for the extras too: express handling, additional voucher sheets, postage and, in France, every trip beyond the first.

The same robot, five countries

Say your goods list comes to 150,000 in your own currency. We're not converting between currencies here, because the fee bands are set in local currency anyway. Roughly what you'd pay:

Set that against the alternative. Import duties plus VAT commonly run 20–40% of the value, at every border, and the UK's 40% security rate for EU destinations is itself an estimate of exactly that. A carnet converts a recurring five-figure exposure into a few hundred in fees and a deposit you get back.

Which countries accept carnets

About 80 countries and customs territories, including the whole EU, Switzerland, Norway, the UK, the USA, Canada, China, Japan, Australia and many more. The authoritative, current list is the ICC country directory. Three things worth knowing:

The lifecycle at a glance

  1. Apply at your national issuer with a complete goods list.
  2. Activate the carnet at a customs office in your own country before first use. Every country has its own name and office type for this step, and every country wants it done before you travel.
  3. Export stamp when leaving your home country (or, from the EU, when leaving the EU).
  4. Import stamp on arrival in the destination country.
  5. Re-export stamp when leaving the destination, before the deadline.
  6. Re-import stamp when coming home.
  7. Return the carnet to your issuer; it checks the stamps, discharges the carnet and releases your security.

Every step, with the office types, opening hours and local vocabulary that actually apply to you, is in the country guides: European Union, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States.

Alternatives: when a carnet isn't the right tool

Next: what all of this means specifically for robotics companies →

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.