For music artists – what is a carnet?

A guide for musicians on getting and using a carnet, by a concert tour manager.

What is a carnet?

A carnet (pronounced ‘kar-nay’) is a kind of passport for musical equipment. The ATA Carnet (to use the correct name) permits tax- and duty-free import and export of your gear into 81 countries and acts as a ‘bond’. Having a carnet says that you are taking music gear into a different country, and you will not sell that gear while in that country. If you sell it, you will pay the relevant tax to that country (the bond part). Obviously you will not sell your equipment when you perform abroad, and the carnet is still necessary to show, when requested, a list of your equipment to avoid paying importation and exportation duty on your gear.

Countries where you need a carnet.

You will need some kind of bond to visit any country that has an import and export tax regime. However, the ATA carnet scheme is recognised by 81 countries. The Wikipedia entry for ATA Carnet is good and lists those countries.

UK music artists

Music artists from the UK need a carnet for gigs in popular touring destinations such as the USA, Canada, Switzerland and Norway. They do not need a carnet for countries in the European Union (EU) if ‘travelling with portable instruments by public transport of in a vehicle’.¹

A Chamber of Commerce (CoC) will issue a carnet, and the artist’s tour manager could arrange for her local CoC to do so. However, specialised companies will also arrange for a carnet to be issued to a touring act. These companies understand concert touring and how to deal with a CoC. A search on Showcase Music will return relevant results – search ‘freight’ on that site.

US and Canadian artists

I’m based in the UK and so have never had to get a carnet issued in the US or Canada – I will have a carnet raised in the UK for import and export to the US and Canada. I understand that Chambers of Commerce in each city or district raise carnets, and specialized companies can handle the paperwork and issue the carnet to you. A quick Google search should turn up relevant results.

How to get a carnet.

The first step in getting a proper ATA Carnet is to create a manifest. You must itemise every piece of equipment that will travel abroad, from the largest bass cabinet to the smallest USB stick to include in the manifest. Each piece you itemise should have its country of origin, a serial number (if applicable), its weight and size, and its current value, listed. You, or your tour manager, should put this information in a spreadsheet. The CoC (or specialised company) will use this spreadsheet for the carnet application process.

The spreadsheet/manifest is not a carnet.

The cost of a carnet.

The price of the carnet depends on the value of the equipment that is being imported and exported, and the destination countries. A carnet for a 4-piece UK -based rock band touring Europe and Scandinavia, including Switzerland and Norway, would be about £350.00. This assumes the total value of their musical equipment is £20,000.

How to use the carnet.

An ATA carnet itself is a book of vouchers and counterfoils which must be authorised on leaving the home country (The Carnet Origin Country or TCOC), on entry to the other country, on departure from that country, and on re-entry to TCOC. This process is called ‘stamping’ (as in, ‘I need to get my carnet stamped’) and takes place at the borders of each country when travelling by road, or at dedicated offices in airports and ferry terminals.

Example of using a carnet – touring by road

The counterfoils and vouchers are bound into sequential pages in the carnet. I will use the example of a UK band touring in a splitter van to explain how the process works. Imagine the band are performing in France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Switzerland is not a member of the EU, and so the band will need to have a carnet to avoid paying importation and exportation tax for their show in Zurich, the capital of Switzerland.

Dover (departure ferry port)

The band would get the Green Cover of the carnet stamped by His Majesties Customs and Revenue (HMRC) before leaving the UK, and completing the Exportation Counterfoil and Voucher. They would do this at the ferry port before crossing the Channel. HMRC is based in the offices of Motis, a freighting specialist, at Dover, and the band would have to call in there to get the carnet stamped.

Calais (arrival ferry port)

The band need not get the carnet stamped on arrival in France if travelling with portable musical instruments.

At the border with Switzerland (going in)

The band performs concerts in France and Germany and then heads over from Germany into Switzerland. They will need to present the carnet to officials at the German – Swiss border. The White importation counterfoil should be presented to Swiss Customs officials for completion and stamping. By completing and keeping the white importation voucher, the band’s equipment will be exempt from import and export duties upon entering the country.
A note based on experience – customs offices are theoretically open 24 hours a day and you may have difficulty locating the correct office and an awake official if crossing the border in the early hours of the morning.

Leaving Switzerland (going out)

The band must adhere to the sequential order of the vouchers and counterfoils, and this is important when leaving a foreign country. Here, our band has played the concert in Zurich (Switzerland) and are heading to Germany for another show. They must stop at the Swiss border on the way out and get the carnet stamped. This means getting the white re-exportation vouchers and counterfoil stamped and making sure the authorities complete the re-exportation counterfoil. In my experience, it is this leaving/re-exportation counterfoil which is the one that causes the most problems. Make sure you pay close attention when a customs official stamps your carnet as you leave a country.

At the border with Germany (coming back into the EU)

The band must then get the reimportation vouchers and counterfoils stamped for entry into the TCOC. The band can do this at the German border, as Germany and the UK have a reciprocal agreement (at this time of writing). Here, this means the band crossing the road to the German side of the Swiss-German border, and asking the German authorities to complete the re-importation voucher, and complete and stamp the re-importation counterfoil. The final stamp confirms that the TCOC has re-imported the equipment.
The band could have waited until they got back to the Dover (UK) ferry port to get the carnet stamped, and it was as easy to do it on re-entry to a neighbouring EU country – as they did here.

Transiting a country

Travelling by road means you may cross a country without performing there. You may have to cross Switzerland if touring from France to Italy for instance. You would use the Blue Transit vouchers in the carnet, instead of importation vouchers, in this case, making sure you get those vouchers stamped on your way back out of Switzerland.

Example of using a carnet – travelling by air

I will describe the process for using a carnet when travelling by air, using the example of an artist travelling from New York to Denmark for a show at Roskilde festival.

JFK – departure airport

Imagine you are travelling with a small band, and laptops, MIDI controllers (AKAI APC 40 MK2, SPD MK 2, Novation Keyone, etc). You or your tour manager have raised a carnet in the previous weeks and now you must present it to US Customs for stamping. You or your tour manager should present the carnet to the Customs Border Protection (CBP) offices for stamping. The offices are difficult to find, and are in the arrivals hall of each terminal, which is inconvenient when you are flying out of the airport! My advice here is to add another hour onto your expected check-in time allowance (four hours instead of three) to allow for finding the office and getting the carnet stamped. And, here’s the kicker: the CBP may want to inspect the gear listed in the carnet before stamping it. This means taking the gear with you to the CBP Ships office – wherever that may be.
It is then a matter of making sure the CBP staff complete the vouchers and counterfoils to show you are leaving TCOC with your gear.

Copenhagen – arrival airport

You must find the relevant customs people when you arrive in Denmark and get your carnet stamped before leaving the airport. This will mean collecting your equipment and luggage from the carousel and looking for signs that say ‘Customs’ (or the local version of) and taking the gear and the carnet to those offices. You can research destination airports before setting off on your trip, and I have found that most airports have decent maps or indications of where the customs office are in real life. Most times, you can go through the ‘something to declare’ channel on your way out of the airport and get your carnet stamped there. You must make sure you get the Importation vouchers and counterfoils stamped though – before you check-in to fly out of the country. You may find a customs office in a nearby city if you forget to get stamped at the airport, and that can be a PITA.
It is polite to inform runners and promoters ahead of time that you need to get your paperwork completed before leaving the airport. It can take some time to get your carnet stamped, and people sent to pick you up from the airport may wonder where you are!

Copenhagen – departure airport

OK, you tore up the stage at Roskilde festival and you are now leaving to fly back to the US. As with road travel, you must stamp the carnet as re-exporting your gear before you fly. You won’t be able to pass through the ‘something to declare’ channel at departures to do this (there isn’t one), so use Google to find the location of the relevant offices at the airport. Observe the customs people to double check they have completed the re-exportation counterfoil – you will be in big trouble when you land back at JFK if they haven’t!

JFK – arrival airport

Getting your carnet stamped on arrival back at JFK is easier than on departure as the CBP Ships offices are in the arrivals hall at each terminal. You should collect your gear from the carousel and head to the offices, or flag the attention of a CBP official, who will escort you to get your carnet stamped for re-entry into TCOC.

‘Closing’ a carnet

A carnet needs to be ‘closed’ after the gear has returned to TCOC. To ‘close’ a carnet, you need to check it, ensuring that all vouchers and counterfoils have been used, and that there are no discrepancies. The carnet can be closed at the border on entry back into TCOC and it is safer to wait and get the issuing authority (the chamber of commerce) to do this by returning it to them (via the specialised carnet company if you used one).

Merchandise (t-shirts etc)

The ATA Carnet allows for the tax-free movement of musical equipment (amongst other things). A carnet is not applicable for taking merch into other countries. You will sell merch at shows and you should declare your profits and pay the tax to the local authorities when you do.