
With the new year comes the new seasons for the different motorsport series, which we work with and support. Preparation of cars, new kit, spare parts, new trucks, lots of planning and even more documents. Teams need to make sure everything arrives in a timely and cost-effective way, and that everything being taken to events is in date, the correct specification, and going to be accepted – race licenses, medicals, helmet scrutineering. It is a lot, before any racing has even happened.
Since Brexit, an additional document has been added to any race team manager or logistics team’s list of jobs to do. UK teams racing overseas, or teams based in the EU who are heading into the UK for a race weekend, and it is as valuable and important as the other documents and items that are used to support the car, bike, kart or even horse. Your ATA Carnet is your passport to overseas sport, and if it isn’t correct, it can be like a lot of things in sport. Very expensive.
‘We’re only going for one weekend race this year’, ‘we didn’t bother with one last year’, or ‘we only have one event out of the country’, might well be the case, but the legal requirement is that each item moving across the English Channel is included on an ATA Carnet. It might not always be checked, it might not always be a case that a vehicle is stopped and searched, and you might have got away with it up until now. However, the net is tightening, and it is a legal requirement for transporting goods into the EU, or for bringing items into the UK, if they are only coming temporarily.
What is expensive? If you don’t have an ATA Carnet in place, or it is filled out wrong or missing details of the items being transported, you are then at the mercy of HM Revenue & Customs. Without the correct documents, you are technically importing or exporting the goods, and VAT and duties of up to 110 percent are then due, or the items may be seized, plus, you may face a fine.
So, what is the true cost of an ATA Carnet, and is it worth taking the risk to find out? Get in touch and see how Bespoke Handling can help every step of managing and producing your ATA Carnet, in-house. We also offer an express service because, well, sometimes even the best-laid plans take an unexpected turn.
Email carnets@bespokehandling.com or call +44 (0) 1444 831869.