Temporary imports and exports
ATA carnets, and the freight that goes with them
Send equipment overseas, use it, bring it home, and pay no duty or tax on it. That is what a carnet does. Getting it endorsed at the right counter, in the right port, before the right date is what we do.
In and out of Australia, run from one office in Perth. Customs clearance arranged through licensed brokers.
What an ATA carnet actually is
An ATA carnet, short for Admission Temporaire or Temporary Admission, is an internationally recognised document that lets eligible goods go into another country temporarily without paying import duty or taxes, on the condition that they come back out again. People call it a passport for goods, which is close enough.
It covers things like commercial samples, professional equipment, scientific equipment and an exhibition stand. Under Australian law the goods qualify for temporary importation under section 162A of the Customs Act 1901, and a carnet is used instead of an import declaration. That is what makes the clearance simpler.
We move carnet freight in and out of Australia by air and by sea, and we handle the part that catches people out, which is getting the physical document to the right counter at the right time so the goods are released instead of held.
We do not issue carnets. Nobody in the freight industry does.
In Australia the only issuer is the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Any freight company telling you it can issue you a carnet is telling you something that is not true. What we do is the freight and the border side, and we will tell you exactly what to ask the Chamber for.
What can go on a carnet, and what cannot
Border Force publishes both lists. Here they are in full, because a half quoted customs list is worse than none at all.
Eligible goods
- Commercial samples and advertising materials
- Professional equipment
- Scientific equipment
- Educational, or pedagogic, material
- Goods for display or use at events, fairs and exhibitions
Not eligible
- Vehicles to be used as transport on public roads in Australia, including cars, trailers, buses and trucks
- Goods imported for testing and evaluation
- Goods imported for repair
- Goods being sold, or offered for sale
- Goods specifically excluded within the relevant legislation or convention
Each eligible category sits under an international convention with its own specific requirements, so the category on its own is not the whole test. The relevant convention has to be checked against the actual goods before anyone applies.
Two of the exclusions catch almost everybody. If you are shipping something to sell it, a carnet is the wrong document. If you are bringing a vehicle in to drive on Australian roads, you want a Carnet de Passage en Douane (CPD), which is a different document for a different purpose and not something we handle.
If the goods turn out to be ineligible, that is not the end of it. Temporary importation may still be allowed under a security lodged with Border Force. It is worth asking before you give up on the idea.
The part that goes wrong, and what we do about it
The document is the easy bit. The freight around it is where the money and the delays live.
The same port, both ways
Border Force will often want to inspect the goods, so the carnet has to be presented in the same port the goods arrive at, and again in the same port they leave from. It cannot be done remotely and it cannot be done somewhere handier.
A counter, not a computer
The original carnet goes to the Cargo Clearance counter at that port to be endorsed. In limited cases documents can go by email to get pre-arrival clearance, but the physical carnet still has to be presented within seven days. Goods are not cleared until it has been endorsed.
What goes with it
On the way in, the bill of lading or air waybill, the passport and itinerary of anyone travelling with the goods, and any permits that apply. On the way out, the bill of lading or air waybill again, plus evidence the goods have been correctly reported in the Integrated Cargo System.
Biosecurity is separate and it still applies
A carnet deals with duty and tax. It does nothing about the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and their clearance has to be met before your goods are released. Timber crates and packing are the usual reason a carnet shipment sits on the wharf.
We pre-clear everything we move, so the entry goes in off your documents before the goods land rather than after. On a carnet job that matters more than usual, because the endorsement, the biosecurity and the transport all have to line up on the same day.
Moving something out and bringing it back
Tell us what the goods are, where they are going, when they have to be there and when they are due home. We will tell you what the freight looks like and what Border Force will want at each end.
Digital carnets are coming, but not to the Australian border yet
This one is current and most people have not caught up with it.
The International Chamber of Commerce, with the World Customs Organization, has built a global digital carnet platform called the eATA system. It will replace paper ATA carnets worldwide. From 1 June 2026 some countries began transitioning, and a global transition period runs until early 2028 during which both paper and digital carnets exist side by side.
You cannot currently use an eATA carnet to clear goods at the Australian border.
Border Force is clear about it. Whether your carnet was issued in Australia or overseas, the paper carnet is what gets endorsed here, and the goods are not cleared until it has been. If your destination country has gone digital, your issuing association may give you both. Having the digital one does not remove the need to get the paper one endorsed in Australia.
If goods reach the Australian border without the paper carnet, Border Force holds them under customs control until you produce and present it, or the goods are cleared another way such as an import declaration, or you export them again. That is a real cost in storage and a real risk to a delivery date.
So the practical advice while the transition runs is short. Get the paper carnet, bring it with the goods, and do not assume a digital one will be accepted here. None of this affects CPD carnets, which stay on paper.
Twelve months, and what happens if you run over
A carnet is valid for one year from the date it is issued, and the goods have to be exported before it expires.
Carnets are not extended. If there are genuinely extenuating circumstances, the holder applies for a replacement carnet, and the application has to be received and approved before the original expires. That means Border Force form B257, a copy of the carnet, a written statement explaining why, and any evidence the eligibility requirements still hold, all submitted to the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. They then liaise with Border Force and with the overseas guaranteeing organisation.
Once it is approved, the original carnet, the replacement carnet, the approved B257 and the Border Force approval email all get presented at a Cargo Clearance counter to be endorsed.
Miss the expiry date and you are in a different and more expensive conversation.
While the goods are here
Goods on a carnet must be exported before it expires, must only be used for the purpose set out in the convention the carnet was issued under, and must not be sold, loaned, mortgaged, hired, given away, disposed of or altered in any way without permission from Border Force.
Read that list twice. Loaned and altered are the two that get broken by people who do not think they have done anything wrong.
If the conditions are not met
Border Force lodges a claim with the Victorian Chamber of Commerce for the import duties and taxes owed. The overseas guaranteeing organisation then collects that from the carnet holder or keeps the bond. Further penalties can apply on top if legislation has been breached. It is not a fine you argue your way out of, because the whole system only works on somebody having guaranteed the money up front.
If the goods end up staying
Sometimes the sale happens or the equipment is needed longer. You have to get permission from Border Force before the carnet expires, and then a licensed customs broker handles it. An ordinary import declaration is not the route.
We arrange that through licensed customs brokers. We are not a licensed brokerage ourselves and we do not pretend to be. What you get is one number to ring instead of three, which on a job with a deadline is worth a fortnight.
We do this regularly, not occasionally
Temporary imports and exports are a real part of what we move. We handled three carnet movements in the month to September 2026, including an air freight shipment out to the United States under carnet.
That matters because carnet work is not a lane you can learn on somebody's deadline. The endorsement has to happen at the right counter in the right port, the biosecurity has to be met, and the goods have to come home before a date that cannot be moved. Knowing that in advance is the difference between a shipment that clears and a shipment that sits.
What we do not do
- We do not issue carnets. Only the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry can, wherever in Australia you are. A Perth business exporting equipment temporarily still applies to a Melbourne chamber, which surprises people every time.
- We are not a licensed customs brokerage. Clearance is arranged through licensed brokers and we manage it, so you deal with us rather than with three separate companies.
- We do not issue CPD carnets. If you are bringing a car, campervan, motorbike or caravan to Australia to drive around in, that is a different document, issued by motoring associations rather than chambers of commerce. We do ship the vehicle. Here is how the vehicle carnet works.
- We do not guarantee dates. Inspection selection belongs to Border Force and to the Department of Agriculture, not to us. We give you a typical time and we ring you the moment it moves.
Saying that plainly costs a few enquiries and saves everybody a wasted week.
Where this comes from. Every rule on this page was taken from the Australian Border Force website on 10 September 2026, from its carnets, ATA carnets and eATA transition pages. The eligible and ineligible lists are reproduced in full. Rules change, so check the current position with us or with Border Force before you commit to a shipment.
Tell us what you are moving
Unit 26, 110 Inspiration Drive, Wangara, Perth WA 6065.
Phone 08 9303 2110.
Tell us what the goods are, where they are going and when they have to come home, and we will come back to you the same day if we can and inside 24 hours either way. We move the same cargo by air freight and sea freight, and arrange the road transport at both ends. Or read more about Red Nav.