On Thursday 22 February 2024, London Heathrow Airport processed an incoming Carnet from a US logistics company called Rock-it Cargo, representing the world’s first ever intercontinental digital Carnet transaction. United Kingdom National ATA Carnet Organisation (UKNATACO), specialised unit of the LCCI dealing with ATA Carnets at the national level, and HMRC are responsible for implementation of digital Carnets in the UK and have been working with various UK ports since 2022 to ensure their operational readiness.

Sally Beggs, Deputy Director, Customs Policy and Strategy commented on this achievement: “It’s great that HMRC is at the forefront of piloting digital Carnets alongside our counterparts in the USA, and we’re really pleased to enable the first digital carnet movement between the two countries. The strong collaboration with Border Force and the UKNATACO has been crucial to this success. We look forward to collaborating with more ports to make digital Carnets available, so that more businesses can take part in the pilot.”

Davor A McKinley, Head of UKNATACO remarked that "UKNATACO is delighted that United States Council for International Business (USCIB) chose United Kingdom as the destination for their first ever digital Carnet. This clearly highlights the close working relationship between the two countries and demonstrates that digitalising ATA Carnets will play a pivotal role in strengthening our mutual trade further."

We encourage Carnet users to take part in testing digital Carnets, especially as we start expanding digital functionality to other UK ports. To get involved and for more information please visit the UKNATACAO website.