Guides / ATA carnet General List · Updated 19 October 2026

Filling in the ATA Carnet General List: a practical walkthrough

Everyone explains what an ATA carnet is for. Fewer explain how to actually complete the General List it depends on, or what happens to the document at each border crossing. Whether you search for it as an ATA carnet, an ata karnet or a karnet ata, the paperwork underneath is the same, and gov.uk sets out exactly how to fill it in.

This guide is also available in Polish.

An ATA carnet only works as well as the General List inside it. Get the list wrong, whether that means a missing serial number, the wrong valuation basis or goods grouped that should have been itemised separately, and you risk a hold-up at the exact moment you cannot afford one: the border. This guide walks through how gov.uk says to complete the list, how the voucher system works at each crossing, and what validity and guarantee rules apply, drawing on HMRC's own ATA carnet handbook. For the difference between a carnet, temporary admission and a duplicate list, see our separate guide on choosing between those three options; this guide assumes you have already decided a carnet is the right tool and need to fill one in.

What a carnet is, and who issues it

GOV.UK describes an ATA carnet as "an international customs document, also known as a 'passport for goods'," made up of "a single document with vouchers and counterfoils that serve as customs declarations for export, import, transit, re-export and re-import." In the UK, you apply for one through a chamber of commerce listed on the UK National ATA Carnet Organisation website, not through HMRC directly. Once you have applied, the issuing chamber tells you "the guarantee or security you'll need to give" and "when your carnet will be ready." Neither figure is fixed by gov.uk; both depend on the goods and the chamber you use, so build time into your planning rather than assuming a standard turnaround.

Filling in the General List

The General List is the itemised inventory of everything travelling under the carnet, and gov.uk's guidance is specific about how to write it, not just what to include.

• Describe the goods, not the packaging. GOV.UK's instruction is direct: "do not write 'box of tools' or 'bag of cables'." You can still note packaging after the description of the item itself.
• Give a serial number, or mark it NSN. Every item needs a "serial number, or No Serial Number (NSN) if no serial number is present." For electrical items specifically, gov.uk repeats that you should "note 'NSN' if no serial number is present or if the item is a prototype."
• State the weight and the value. Each article is itemised "with its own description," including its weight and value, "using retail values for new items or replacement values for used items." A used item is valued at what it would cost to replace it, not what you originally paid.
• Group only identical items. GOV.UK allows grouping, but only for genuinely identical items; it gives cables as an example, which "can be described as a 'set of cables' and treated as one item." Everything else gets "itemising every article individually with its own description."
• Itemise electrical goods separately, even inside a toolkit. Non-electrical toolkits can be listed as one line with their total weight and piece count, provided the set is valued above £150. But gov.uk is explicit that "electrical tools within a toolkit must be itemised separately," and that electrical items generally, "computers, scientific equipment, electrical musical instruments," must include make, model and a serial number or NSN.

Some categories have their own rules. For boats, gov.uk asks you to "include make, model, length and registration number" and to itemise any outboard engine separately. For books, you state "title, author and publisher." For jewellery, you "describe each piece individually with weight, stones, colour of gold," and gov.uk adds that "some countries require photographs," naming Israel and Russia as examples. Loose precious stones are itemised "by count and total weight," and uncut stones require a Kimberley Process Certificate. GOV.UK notes that these category-specific details are recommended by issuing chambers such as the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the UK National ATA Carnet Organisation, so check with your own issuing chamber if your goods fall into one of these groups.

How long a carnet lasts

GOV.UK's introduction to the ATA carnet system states that "carnets are valid for up to one year" from the date of issue, and that the same carnet can be used more than once within that period, provided the goods are "returned to their country of origin in the same condition" each time. That one-year ceiling is fixed once the carnet is issued; plan your trips, including any buffer for delays, inside that window rather than assuming it can be extended.

Using the vouchers at each crossing

A carnet is used by presenting it to customs at every border, where officials deal with a different voucher and counterfoil depending on the stage of the journey. GOV.UK's guidance on using a carnet describes the pattern: on export, officials "certify the green front cover" and "keep the yellow export voucher," filling in and stamping the matching counterfoil. On arrival in another country, and again on departure from it, officials "check the green front cover" and "keep the white import or re-export voucher," again filling in and stamping the corresponding counterfoil. On the way back into the country of origin, you "must complete box F on the yellow import voucher," after which officials "keep the yellow re-import voucher" and stamp the re-import counterfoil.

If the goods come back in more than one shipment, GOV.UK says that "for paper carnets, you'll need a separate voucher for each consignment," and that each voucher "must clearly show the goods number from the general list which are being re-imported at the time." If you run out of re-import vouchers partway through, the guidance is to "contact the office that issued your carnet" rather than leave a consignment undocumented.

If the goods do not come back as planned

Plans change: a piece is sold, damaged beyond repair or simply left behind. GOV.UK's instruction here is about timing as much as process: if goods are going to stay in another country, you must contact that country's customs authority "as soon as you know the goods will be staying in the country," and explicitly "do not wait until the carnet is due to expire." Separately, if the goods are released into free circulation abroad, you also need to tell the office that issued your carnet, so the List can be reconciled against what actually returned. If the carnet was not shown on the way out of a country, customs may later ask you to "provide proof of the current location of your goods," which is far easier to produce if you dealt with the paperwork at the time rather than after the fact.

Checklist before you travel

• Every item on the General List has a serial number or an NSN note, a weight and a value on the correct basis (new or used).
• Only genuinely identical items are grouped; electrical goods are itemised individually, even inside a toolkit.
• Special categories (boats, books, jewellery, loose stones) follow the extra detail gov.uk and your issuing chamber ask for.
• You know what guarantee or security your chamber requires, and have applied with enough lead time.
• You have enough re-import vouchers for the number of consignments you expect.
• If anything will not be coming back, you have a plan to tell both the foreign customs authority and your issuing chamber before the carnet expires.

If you would rather have a customs agency prepare the paperwork and manage the crossings for you, Easy Clearance, a UK–EU customs clearance agency handling import and export declarations, T1/T2 transit and UK–Poland removals, has a step-by-step walkthrough of filling in the ATA Carnet General List.

Related guides

• Digital ATA Carnet (eATA): what's changing and when

• ATA carnet vs temporary admission vs duplicate list for equipment

• Taking work tools and equipment to a UK job: temporary admission

Sources

• ATA Carnet handbook: introduction (GOV.UK)
• ATA Carnet handbook: general list of goods (GOV.UK)
• How to use your ATA Carnet (GOV.UK)
• Applying for an ATA Carnet (GOV.UK)

General information, not legal, tax or customs advice. Rules change; confirm current requirements on gov.uk or with a registered agent before you ship.