Haroon

Query By Sunny:


Hi All!

Can someone shed light on what are the basics of a motorcycle bought under Carnet into India?

If I am correct the Carnet is valid for one year from the date of issue. But the main thing is if it can be renewed easily and what is the fee of the renewal?

It is an ATA Carnet. I tried digging up the website Wlcome to FICCI ATA Carnet and could not find the renewal info I was looking for.

However some definitions for others:

The following post is made by Haroon (from the following thread QUERY- My forthcoming peninsula ride on my BMW).


OK, for starters- here below is what the Carnet de Passage means:

EXEMPTION TO CERTAIN VEHICLES IMPORTED BY TOURISTS* UNDER TRIPTYQUE OR CARNET DE PASSAGE

Basically, as a tourist you are allowed to bring into India your foreign registered car, bike, van etc for a limited period (6 months, but sometimes with a special extension maximum upto one year). You have to buy the Carnet/Triptique document from your local Automobile Association in the country where your vehicle is registered. Its normally valid for 1 year. With this document, and some other simple procedures, you can bring the vehicle and use it in India with the foreign number plate. ONLY additional thing to do in India is to purchase a Third party or comprehensive insurance to use the vehicle on the road. But if you do not take back the vehicle out of the country within the stipulated period, the customs will confiscate your vehicle, slap a hefty fine running into few lacs (yes, few lacs) and you have to run around like a headless chicken at the customs department to release your vehicle.

I know of only one country, Egypt where you have to pay a refundable deposit of something like US$ 3,000 to take your vehicle there. I hope the babus in India are not reading this

BTW, the carnet book has many pages in it, therefore I can use it in as many countries during its validity of 1 year.

In India, I am supposed to bring the vehicle and depart with the vehicle. Whereas, in my special case I am leaving it there & returning to Saudi due to my work commitments here and hence I will come back in December for the trip. Therefore, I am supposed to surrender the vehicle to customs during my absence as it is not to be used by anybody else during this period. This is complicated, so I managed to show them the malayalam newspaper article about my europe trip and my seriousness to do a bike trip in India and also gave them a notarized affidavit & they somehow agreed for only surrendering the key which will be returned when I go back to India.

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Sunny

Hi All!

Can someone shed light on what are the basics of a motorcycle bought under Carnet into India?

If I am correct the Carnet is valid for one year from the date of issue. But the main thing is if it can be renewed easily and what is the fee of the renewal?

It is an ATA Carnet. I tried digging up the website Wlcome to FICCI ATA Carnet and could not find the renewal info I was looking for.

However some definitions for others:

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aargee

IMO, Haroon is the best person; he underwent through this not more than 2 months ago.

The following may be useful...
http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/508856-post.html

Frankly, I learned from the above post only

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Sunny

Thanks for that Aargee, I have appended his post to this thread, but still awaiting clarity on the renewal.

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strider

@haroon- it will great if you can put a picture of your Carnet..

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Haroon

Extremely sorry folks as I never knew such a thread existed. If not, you know I am the first to offer any help I can. Anyway, if its still relevant here are my inputs for bringing a bike under carnet to India- Temporary Import (I dont know about taking an indian registered bike out on carnet to a foreign country, but the procedures would be similar):

First Part (Buying the Carnet)
The Carnet or Triptyque is valid for 1 year from date of issue. So you can use it to travel to various countries during that 1 year period. HOWEVER, it is not renewable. Which means that before it expires, you & the vehicle have to be back in the country from where you bought the carnet (as an example Saudi Arabia in my case). You then have to buy a new Carnet document paying the fees again (I paid the equivalent of Rs. 6,000 here in Saudi Arabia).

Second Part (Importing the bike/car into a particular country)
Firstly the documents that you need in India (almost the same in most countries) for temporary importation under Carnet is:

1. Carnet book
2. Copy of customs export document from the country where the vehicle is originally registered (Saudi customs in my case)
3. Original & copy of the Vehicle Registration Book/Card (RC book as you call in India)
4. Original & copy of the carnet holders passport
5. Few forms to be filled in and a written undertaking mentioning the purpose for which you are bringing in the vehicle and that you will take it out of the country before the expiry period.
6. Clearance fees

Ofcourse, you have to go to about 6 separate customs departments in the same office and then they inspect your engine no & chassis no as mentioned in your registration book & carnet book.

Once you import the bike/car on Carnet into a particular country, each country has different rules for maximum period that you can keep it there. As for India, it is 6 months from date of clearance of vehicle from the Indian sea/air port, which in few cases (not always) can be extended to a maximum of 1 year showing valid reasons to the customs commissioner who originally signed your temporary import documents. Also, this needs to be done well before the expiry of the original 6 months period. I was told of a british lady who was slapped with a fine of 5 lakhs for keeping their Range Rover in India more than 1 year (besides they had not requested for the extension after the original 6 months period- as the husband passed away in India). Also for cars, there is a requirement (not enforced always), that only the Carnet holder is supposed to drive the car in India (there is a Dubai registered Hummer confiscated in Cochin as it was being driven by someone else - most probably it was rented out for a wedding party!)

NEW RULE AFTER MY EPISODE.
Earlier during the temporary import period of 6 months in India, the carnet holder could not leave the bike/car in India and travel out without surrendering the vehicle to customs and taking back possession upon his/her return to India with the 6 months period. However, the nice customs commissioner in Cochin saw me being put thru unwanted trouble by the 'enforcement dept' and he did a full investigation of their rule books & subsequently issued a strong internal circular that the carnet holder is now allowed to leave the vehicle in India and depart the country as many times as he wants during the validity of the temporary import which starts from the day the vehicle originally cleared customs at the Indian sea/air port (dont mistake this validity period with the validity period of the carnet document that I purchased in Saudi Arabia). BTW, if your clearing agent in India knows how to handle the carnet procedures, a car or bike brought in under carnet can be cleared in a single day in 2-3 hours time. My agent in Cochin is good at it as he handles truck loads of Hummers, Bentleys, Ferarris & other exotics brought under carnet by affluent NRIs mainly from UAE & Qatar.

Third & Final Part (Taking the bike back out of the country)
The carnet holder has to empty the petrol tank and simply hand over the bike to the clearing agent and sign one form and return the original Indian customs clearance document and original Carnet book and leave the country. The clearing agent will in your absence arrange inspection of customs officers and get the stamp on the carnet book, ship out the bike and subsequently courier the carnet book to you in your country.

This is how a Carnet looks. Outside cover and inside page:

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