Guide to writing a general list for a motorsport ATA Carnet
When writing a general list for a motorsport Carnet, you will need to make sure that you provide adequate detail about your vehicle and extraneous equipment.
When you apply for your ATA Carnet, you will have the option to input the list information directly onto the general list field on your online application:
Or you can upload the list as a CSV file:
We recommend doing the latter, just so that you can prepare the list in advance.
Your CSV file:
When creating your CSV file, you need to fill in the following columns:
1. Item description
This is where you need to list all key information about your item and clearly specify what it is. You need to provide enough detail so that customs will be able to easily identify your item when they are checking your Carnet. Terminology such as “Box of”, “Box containing”, “Assorted”, “Various”, “Accessories” and liberal use of the phrase “set of” (other than for cables) cannot be used as part of the description of goods, as they do not clarify what is actually being taken.
2. Pieces
This is where you need to list the quantity of each item. You should only list more than one piece if the items in the item description are identical.
3. Unit
Enter the unit of weight such as ‘KG’ for kilograms or ‘G’ for grams. You should use the same unit of weight for each line item.
4. Weight
This is where you need to list the weight of the item. You can do this one of two ways:
• List each individual item weight
• List the total weight (the sum of all item weights) in the ‘totals’ field within the application on SGS
5. Value
This is where you need to list the value of each item in GBP, and this should be the true commercial value of the item in the UK. The value must also reflect the price of the total number of items on that line.
6. Origin
This is where you need to input the origin of the item (the country of manufacture of the item) using the ISO two-letter (Alpha-2) country code system. You can find the full list of ISO country codes here. If completing the general list directly on SGS as part of the application, rather than completing the excel CSV, you can select the origin country via drop-down menu.
7. Heading
This column denotes a 'heading' however, the use of headings on the general list is being removed in the near future therefore, please leave this column blank.
When writing a general list for a motorsport Carnet, there are several major things to remember:
- Specify whether the vehicle is a car or motorbike.
- Specify what brand/make the vehicle is.
- Specify the vehicle identification number (VIN)/chassis number. All cars and light commercial vehicles built after 1981 have a unique 17-character VIN/chassis number that provides access to the car’s history, and you can find this number either on the dashboard of the car, on the driver’s side door, or on the registration certificate. Heavily modified or prototype vehicles may not have a vehicle registration number, in which case, please either get one via the DVLA, or provide a letter explaining your situation. It is imperative that the VIN/chassis number listed on the Carnet exactly matches that of the vehicle. If the numbers do not match, this could cause problems at customs.
- Specify the vehicle engine number. Again, it is imperative that you check that the engine number is correct before you submit your list to us.
- Correctly list your toolkit. We have created a full guide to listing toolkits, which you can find here.
- List all items that are part of a kit/set. For example, if you are taking a set of brake pads, you will need to specify in the item description exactly how many brake pads there are per set.
- Provide a serial number (or specify that there isn’t one by writing ‘NSN’ for ‘no serial number’) for all electrical items. When you are listing more than one item, make sure to include all serial numbers in the item description column (see ‘handheld radios’ in the example list).
An example of a general list for a motorsport ATA Carnet looks like this:
