Chamber releases guidance on digital carnets ahead of rollout next week

Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce has today released new documentation guidance for businesses – with all digital carnets for the UK, EU, Switzerland, and Norway set to go live from Monday, 1 June.

Digital carnets replace paper documents with a secure, mobile-based app (eATA) for faster, paperless customs with QR codes, offering real-time tracking, reduced customs border queues, and increased security for international trade.

Digital ATA Carnets are for businesses, professionals, and organisations needing to temporarily export goods, equipment, or commercial samples duty-free.

From next week, these can be used for temporary, duty-free, and tax-free importation of goods, samples, or professional equipment.

It is managed via a smartphone app (eATA app), which can be downloaded from android Playstore or Appstore, or via a desktop portal.

Businesses are advised to apply for the ATA Carnet via the eCert web platform but instead of receiving a physical document in the post they will receive a Carnet number, Carnet ID and Carnet PIN. Add these details into the ATA Carnet App on a smartphone/tablet or on to the desktop portal to “download” a Carnet.

Business can then use this to prepare declarations (or ‘Travels’ as they are referred to in the App) and this will generate QR codes that customs will scan during exporting, importing, re-exporting or re-importing.

The documentations team of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC) can issue both digital and paper carnets depending on each itinerary.

Customers importing/exporting to EU, Switzerland or Norway will only get a digital carnet while customers importing/exporting to other countries will only receive a paper carnet.

Businesses visiting a combination of EU, Switzerland, Norway and any other country will get a digital carnet to use for digital carnet countries and a paper carnet to use for other countries. They will have the same number and will only require a single payment.

Businesses that have been issued a paper carnet prior to 1 June to EU, Switzerland and Norway can still use it for travelling until the date expiry date of the carnet.

For the first two weeks of the transition, digital carnet applicants will also receive a backup physical document only to be used in cases where customs staff cannot accept a digital carnet to ensure users do not experience any delays during this initial period.

Jonathan Crosbie, GBCC international documentation manager, said: “For a long time we have waited for carnets to embrace the digital medium and modernise, especially when other shipping documents have already switched to digital, so this change should be an exciting one for all carnet users. Documents will be safer, more secure, easier to use and ultimately quicker to process and access.”

Visit the GBCC website for more information on digital carnets including a step-by-step guide.