• General principle
• Temporary admission
• The re-import of temporarily exported goods
• The ATA carnet (Admission temporaire - temporary admission)

General principle

Marketing visits, displaying national commodities abroad, exhibiting at an international show, renting foreign material, .... Those operations generally include movement across borders. Utilisation procedures for goods have been created to facilitate their implementation, most often exempt from duties and taxes. Contrarily to the transit and storage regimes, they allow a specific utilisation of the merchandise , but do not allow for assembly or work of any sort , as in the case of processing procedures.

Temporary admission

The temporary admission relates to the temporary importation of non EU products intended to be used in circumstances related to the commercial activity of the company such as fairs, shows, tests, demonstrations, samples... From their entrance onto the territory and during their entire stay, the articles are placed under customs.. All or part of the obligations are suspended.

The suspension of customs obligations may only be partial in the case of equipment or material imported for production . Those goods do not undergo any transformation but they contribute to the creation of added value in the EU (example : public works machinery). However, customs allow some of these goods to enter completely free of duties if they are used for a production essentially aimed at exporting.

• The merchandise must be re-exported in the same state as that of import at the end of the period decided by customs.
• The goods must be clearly identified with serial numbers, inscriptions, ....
• A single admission declaration is enough to cover different display points or the movements of a representative.
• The products may be transferred to another user, yet only with a customs authorisation.

The re-importing of goods temporarily exported

This regime allows EU merchandise, after commercial use abroad, to be re-imported free of duties, VAT and other taxes.

• The merchandise must be re-imported in its initial state and must not have been handled more than necessary.
• The merchandise must be clearly identified thanks to serial numbers, engravings, etc..
• The re-importation must take place within a precise period starting from the date of export (12 months for CAP products and 3 years for the others).
• The merchandise may be transferred to another user, with a customs authorisation.
• When they are re-imported, the goods are allowed in free of duties if they were in free circulation at the time of export or if they came from the internal market.

The ATA carnet (Admission temporaire - temporary admission)

Just as international transit ,was developed to facilitate the movement of goods on the soil of several countries, the ATA carnet is the fruit of an International Convention covering the temporary importation, duty and tax -free, of goods intended to be presented in trade events (customs convention on the ATA carnet for the temporary admission of goods). It can also be used for temporary exports. It is thus an alternative mode to the systems of temporary admission and re-importation of goods exported temporarily.

• The carnet covers professional material, samples and products intended to be presented at fairs, shows, or any other similar events.
• The essential condition to benefit from this system is that the merchandise be re-exported or re-imported in its initial state. One should therefore not include under this procedure samples aimed for consumption.
• The ATA carnet consists of several sheets with differing functions : export and re-import - import and re-export - transit. This is why the firm, before making its carnet, should organise its journey precisely, checking if certain countries don't require additional formalities (such as the US).
• Operators can obtain ATA carnets from their national Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
• The use of the ATA carnet is limited to the countries which have signed the convention, i.e. sixty or so countries. Most of the Arab and Latin American countries haven't as well as many Asian or African countries.
• The period of use of the carnet is limited to a year (in certain countries, it may be limited to 3 or 6 months).
• The ATA carnet regroups in a same document all the customs modes linked to a marketing visit : the temporary export from the departure country, the temporary import in the destination countries and the re-import at the end of the circuit, without omitting any possible transit formalities.
• The firm benefits from the surety system at the International Office of the Chambers of Commerce. That frees importers from having to give customs a financial guarantee such as a deposit. Though obtaining an ATA carnet isn't free, it will often be cheaper than the sum of the surety operations in each different country along the way, especially as far as time savings are concerned.