ATA Carnet
What is an ATA Carnet?
The initials “ATA” are an acronym of the French and English words “Admission Temporaire/ Temporary Admission”. The ATA Carnet is an international customs document that permits duty-free and tax-free temporary import of goods for up to one year.
ATA Carnet system is currently implemented in approximately 80 countries, each country separately accepts purposes in which temporarily import ATA carnet can be used. The list does not include the EU countries associated with the ATA Carnet agreement, as goods are freely circulated within the EU. The goods must not go through any changes while situated in the country of temporary importation. ATA Carnets do not cover perishable or consumable items.
ATA Carnets are issued to cover:
• Professional goods
• Exhibition goods
• Commercial samples
Why an ATA carnet?
The ATA Carnet system’s purpose is to ease and simplify temporary customs-free exporting and importing by:
- travel through customs without paying import duties, taxes at each customs border office
- use one unified document for all declarations at home and abroad
- use one document for multiple destinations and trips throughout its one-year validity
- make advanced customs arrangements at predetermined costs
How to get one?
The organization should register https://www.atacarnet.fi/, registration for the service is free of charge. After registering, the customer will be able to log into the system and fill out the application. ATA Carnet can be awarded to Finnish organizations. All the applicants’ credit rating are checked, the credit rating must be RL1 or RL2 so that ATA Carnet can be issued if the credit rating is inferior so further clarification is required. The price varies, depending on the general value of the cargo and the number of countries the cargo has to go through. Additionally, the applier provides a security deposit, which is returned if the ATA Carnet has been used correctly. The ATA Carnet needs to be returned to the same chamber of commerce from which it has been obtained. A chamber member gets a 50% member discount off all ATA Carnets.