ATA carnet

Temporary admission of GOODS

The ATA carnet is a unified customs document at the international level that allows the free movement of goods between different customs territories, without the need to carry out specific export or temporary import procedures in each of them.
The simple presentation of the ATA carnet at customs will allow you to enter or exit.
It is used to travel with goods that are not of a perishable nature, outside its borders and subsequently return to its starting point within a year.

Legislative framework and conditions for granting the scheme

Currently, the system is based on the coexistence of two international customs agreements that regulate all its provisions: the ATA Agreement (06.12.1961), which sets the basis for the use of the ATA carnet and provides for the application rules for admission temporary goods, and the Istanbul Convention (26.06.1990), which takes over the previous one and makes it extensive, in each of its annexes, to other categories of goods.

Specifically, in its annexes, the Istanbul Convention provides for the temporary admission of the following goods:

• annex B1: merchandise that must be presented at an exhibition, fair or congress;
• annex B2: professional material;
• annex B3: containers, pallets, packaging and samples;
• annex B4: goods imported as part of a production operation;
• annex B5: goods imported for educational, scientific and cultural purposes;
• annex B6: personal effects of travellers and goods for sporting purposes;
• annex B7: tourist propaganda material;
• annex B8: goods imported with border traffic;
• annex B9: goods imported with a humanitarian purpose;
• annex C: means of transport;
• annex D: animals;
• annex E: goods imported with partial suspension of import duties and taxes;

However, the signatory countries of these agreements can limit their level of commitment according to the type and conditions of use of the goods, so that the Principality of Andorra allows the temporary importation into its customs territory of the goods described in annexes B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7 and B9.

Regarding to the countries of the European Union, the entry into their customs territory of the goods described in the entirety of their annexes is authorized.

List of countries that adhere to the ATA agreement or that accept the ATA CARNET.

As in the case of the product categories described above in the regular temporary admission regime, the conditions for registration in any of these categories are very strict and must be considered sufficient by the customs authorities.

Advantages of using the ATA CARNET

Given that the ATA carnet is a particularity of the temporary admission regime, some conditions for granting and operating the regime are repeated:

1. The identification of the goods must be always guaranteed and their intended location and use must be declared to the customs authorities.
2. They must be re-exported in the state; they cannot be modified, nor transformed, nor repaired. In this sense, the use of the ATA carnet for consumable products is also not authorized.
3. The period of temporary admission is limited. The customs administration, depending on the type of goods and the declared use, imposes a deadline for reimportation with a franchise.
4. In the case of professional material, the Principality of Andorra does not authorize the benefit of the regime for materials that must be used for industrial manufacturing, the conditioning of goods or, unless it is a question of hand tools, for to the exploitation of natural resources, for the construction, repair or maintenance of buildings, for the execution of earthworks or similar works.

However, the ATA carnet allows for faster and simpler procedures at customs points:

• WIDE USER PROFILE: The ATA carnet is not only useful for business travellers or business leaders, but also for technicians and operators, exhibitors and participants in fairs, liberal professionals, lecturers, sportsmen, artists, musicians… even for individuals who wish to save themselves bureaucratic procedures in their trips abroad.
• VALID TIMES: in most of the countries that adhere to this system, the opening hours of the customs services for processing with an ATA carnet are wider than usual.
• VALIDITY FOR ONE YEAR AND UNLIMITED NUMBER OF TRIPS: the card allows the interested party to make an unlimited number of trips during the year of validity of the card, without paying any additional issuance costs (except the cost of forms used on each trip).
• FACILITATION OF THE PROCESSING: the declaration with the ATA carnet does not involve the use of the Single Administrative Document (DUA), so the simplicity of the procedure allows the interested party to complete the customs documents themselves, without the services of a customs agent and reducing expenses.
• ADVICE, MANAGEMENT AND GUARANTEE: the ATA system relies on a chain of guarantor associations that, in addition to issuing ATA carnets, act as an advisory and management body and as a guarantor.

In this sense, at the customs of the country of destination, the holder of the ATA carnet does not have to guarantee on site the customs debt liable to be generated if the re-export of the goods is not carried out.

Request and obtain the ATA CARNET

The Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services of Andorra is the issuing body and guarantor of the ATA system in the Principality of Andorra, so if you are interested in placing your goods under the cover of an ATA carnet, contact us at gemma@ccis.ad

Formalities and application for ATA carnet

Instructions for using the ATA carnet

.