What is the TIR Carnet?

TIR Carnet is a valuable document, which guarantees the payment of customs duties on goods transported under the TIR regime, up to the sum of USD 50,000. It can be issued in the country of departure or in the country where the holder is established or domiciled.

TIR Carnet is printed in French, except for the yellow Manifesto (non-customs page) whose sections are printed in the national language and can have 4, 6 or 14 sections.

TIR Carnet can be held by any company that:

• was admitted to the TIR customs regime by the guaranteeing Association and authorized to use TIR carnets by the national customs authority,

• received a copy of the TIR Carnet Holder's Manual,

• signed the Declaration of Commitment regarding admission to the TIR regime,

• provided the guarantee requested by the Association and the chain of guarantees.

TIR Carnet is identified by a series of two control letters followed by 9 digits.

Upon issuance, the guaranteeing association also establishes the validity period of the TIR Carnet, specifying a last day of validity after which the TIR carnet can no longer be presented at the customs office of departure for recording.

TIR Carnet remains valid until the end of the TIR operation at the customs office of destination, provided that it has been recorded at the customs office of departure on or before the last day of validity.

A single TIR Carnet can be used for a group of vehicles (coupled vehicles) or for several containers loaded on a single vehicle or on a group of vehicles.

For the transport of oversized goods, at the owner's request, the association can issue "open TIR Carnets" (Open-TIR). These are ordinary TIR Carnets, but whose "volutes" bear the mention in French "Marchandises pondereuses ou volumineuses" ("Oversized goods").

The transport of certain goods is completely prohibited under the cover of the TIR Carnet (eg: alcohol and derived products, tobacco and derived products).

Certain goods are prohibited to be transported under the cover of the TIR Carnet only in the member countries of the European Union (e.g.: live animals and meat from the bovine species; milk and cream; butter and milk fats; cheeses and curds; bananas including seedlings; wheat ; rye; ethyl alcohol; brandy, liqueurs and other spirits).

Also, outside the European Union, certain goods designated as "Increased Risk" can be transported under the cover of the TIR Carnet, but for which the holder must have an additional guarantee (or letter of bank guarantee) equivalent to USD 50,000. Examples:

• meat of bovine animals, frozen;

• milk and milk cream;

• butter and other fatty substances from milk;

• fresh bananas with the exception of banana growers;

• cane or beet sugar and pure, solid sucrose.

In order to be used, the TIR Carnet must be completed, signed and stamped by the Holder in the respective sections on the cover, the Goods Manifest (non-customs yellow tab) and all the white-green flaps.

Transports carried out under the cover of a TIR Carnet may involve several customs offices of departure and destination, but the total number of customs offices of departure and destination may not exceed 4. The customs offices of departure or destination may be located in several countries, provided that the total number of customs offices (4) is not exceeded.

If the transport includes only one customs office of departure and one customs office of destination, the TIR Carnet must have at least 2 pages for the country of departure, 2 for the country of destination and 2 pages for each country whose territory is crossed. For each additional customs office of departure (or destination), 2 sheets are required.

TIR Carnet will be presented together with the road vehicle, vehicle assembly, container or containers at each of the customs offices of departure, transit or destination. At the last customs office of departure, the signature of the customs officer and the date stamp must be applied to the mat (bottom of the goods manifest) of all the parcels to be used for the continuation of the transport to the destination.

When the transport carried out under the cover of the TIR Carnet crosses, on a part of the route, the territory of a state that is not a contracting party to the TIR Convention, the TIR operation will be suspended during the crossing. In this case, the customs authorities of the contracting party whose territory is still crossed, will accept the TIR Carnet for the resumption of the TIR operation, provided that the customs seals have remained intact.

The same will be done for that part of the route during which the TIR Carnet is not used by the holder in the territory of a contracting party, either due to simpler customs transit procedures (e.g.: common transit regime), or when the use the customs transit regime is not required. Upon the arrival of the cargo at the customs office of destination and provided that the goods are subject, at that time, to another customs regime or cleared for consumption, the unloading of the TIR Carnet will take place without delay.

TIR Carnet can be downloaded with or without reserves. If it is closed "with reservations", they must refer to facts related to the TIR operation itself, facts that must be indicated on the TIR Carnet.

The customs authorities of the countries of departure and destination will charge the TIR Carnet holder with any discrepancies between the quantity indicated on the goods manifest in the TIR Carnet and the actual content of the road vehicle.

TIR Carnets are returned to the issuing Association within a maximum of 15 days from the journey or after the expiry of the validity date for the unused ones.

If a TIR Carnet cannot be returned because it has been lost, stolen, destroyed or detained by an official body (customs, police) the holder must immediately notify the issuing association and fill in a form called "Declaration to be drawn up in case of loss/theft /destruction/retention". The Issuing Association will request an additional guarantee for each missing TIR Carnet that is not used (eg USD 2,000 for the first non-reimbursed TIR Carnet, USD 5,000 for the second TIR Carnet if the event occurred within 2 years of the first violation).

The additional guarantees will be issued if the missing TIR Carnet is returned or after 27 months, starting from the date of issuance of the TIR Carnet, provided that no complaint has arisen regarding the missing TIR Carnet.

Source UNTRR