eATACarnet Pilot Participants Announced

UPDATE TO THE DECEMBER 2018 BLOG POST

At the International Chamber of Commerce World Chambers Congress in Rio de Janiero on June 12 - 14, ICC Secretary-General, John Denton, announced that the eATACarnet is "...ready and the pilot is to begin shortly." A report from the World ATA Carnet Council (WATAC) confirmed that the Americans and Swiss are most ready to test and the other pilot countries are further away.

USCIB is currently testing the smart phone app and customs portal internally and with their Service Providers. Customs at JFK International Airport is on board as the first U.S. port to begin testing. Once internal testing is complete, ATA Carnet users will be asked to participate and provide feedback. To be added to the boomerang carnets special eATACarnet email list, send a request to Leslie August.

The U.S. is on the front lines of the eATACarnet development. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) just announced the participants in the coming Phase II of the eATACarnet project: the digitization of the ATA Carnet. Those participants are:

1. Belgium,
2. China,
3. Germany,
4. Russia,
5. Switzerland,
6. the United Kingdom and
7. the United States.

Each country's involvement could be through their national guaranteeing association, customs or both. The pilot is scheduled to begin during the 1^st quarter of 2019.

The U.S. pilot will likely consist of a select number of U.S. ATA Carnet users that travel out of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. To participate, those users' destination countries should be at least one of the other participating countries such as the U.K., Belgium, China, Russia. Germany or Switzerland. This would be the first time that detailed ATA Carnet activation and validation data is available electronically to customs, issuers and National Guaranteeing Associations (NGA).

"Tracking the location of an ATA Carnet and whether it has been properly validated has always been the biggest challenge for users, issuers and NGAs," commented Curt E.H. Wilson, President and CEO of boomerang carnets. "Once that data is captured electronically many claims will be avoided or mitigated which will make the ATA Carnet process even more beneficial than it already is for temporary imports."

The ICC has taken the initiative to develop the first real-time, global ATA Carnet lifecycle management application. The pilot is Phase II and will begin as soon as the new digital system finalizes development. Questions about the pilot or participation can be directed to Leslie August.