The Carnet de Passages en Douane is an internationally recognised customs document that, if accepted in a country, entitles the holder to temporarily import a vehicle without the need to pay the appropriate customs duties and taxes. A Carnet is required for most transcontinental journeys and you must obtained one in advance of the journey.

Motoring organisations (in the UK, either the AA or the RAC) issue the documents and are made directly responsible for the payment of customs duties and taxes if the Carnet is not discharged correctly, ie if the owner violates another country's customs regulations by selling the vehicle illegally. Any payment will be recovered from the Carnet holder under the terms of the agreement signed on issue of the Carnet.

There are three options for obtaining the carnet:

• an insurance indemnity arranged through the AA or RAC's nominated insurance company. This is usually upwards of £1500 but a percentage of the premium is refunded once the carnet is discharged.
• a bond paid to the AA or the RAC and refunded once the carnet is discharged.
• a guarantee, calculated as the highest potential duty payable. Each country has their own duties, ranging from 100% to 500% of the value of the vehicle. The guarantor (bank, building society, etc) agreeing to pay any duties up to the limit of the guarantee. A fee is charged for arranging the guarantee.

We chose the third option, with the guarantee calculated at a horrendous £20,000; the country with the highest potential duty payable was Egypt, at 500%.

The Carnet is valid for one year from date of issue and the fee for a Carnet booklet can vary from £50 to £65 depending on how many pages you require.

Update 13-05-02

With current events in the Middle East, I have heard and read reports of people being unable to arrange carnet's for Syria, Jordan and Egypt. I recently spoke to Sue Collins at the RAC and she assured me that she had not heard that carnets could not be arranged for these countries. As we will be towing a trailer on this expedition, I will be organising two carnet's, one for the Range Rover and one for the trailer, and we will once again be using the third option for obtaining the carnet. The guarantee required will be approximately £15,000.

Web design by helen@oceannomad.com
Copyright © OceanNomad
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 9, 2003 at 3:42:57 pm