By Ben Silas, Group Chief Commercial Officer, EFM Global, with contribution from Catherine Stephens, Head of International Trade Services, Business West

Today, June 1, 2026, the United Kingdom, European Union, Norway, and Switzerland will stop accepting paper ATA carnets as the sole document for cross-border professional goods movement. The system that has governed international equipment travel for decades is going digital. This is not a pilot. It is not optional. And the industries that depend on carnets most are, by and large, not ready for what that actually means in practice.

An Old System, a New Format, and a Window of Maximum Risk

An ATA carnet is, at its simplest, a passport for goods. It allows professional equipment to cross international borders temporarily without incurring import duties. The carnet acts as a guarantee to the destination country that the goods will return home within the agreed period. It is recognized in more than 80 countries, covers a broad range of professional goods categories, and can support multiple border crossings within a single 12-month window.

The system has worked for a long time because it is well understood. Customs officials know what to look for. Logistics teams know how to prepare the paperwork. The process, while bureaucratic, is predictable.

Digital carnets change the medium, not the rules. But changing the medium creates new challenges, and the transition period is where those challenges will concentrate.

Here is the scenario most operators have not fully modeled: from June 1, a tour routing from the UK through Europe into the United States requires two separate carnets running in parallel. A digital carnet, processed through the eATA app via QR code, handles the UK and EU legs. A paper carnet still covers the US leg, because the United States is not expected to join the digital system until the second half of 2026 at the earliest. Full global adoption is not projected until the end of 2028. Both carnets must be used correctly at every crossing. Both must be returned for discharge.

Customs officers at many ports are still being trained. The parallel procedure, where paper and digital carnets operate simultaneously on a single journey, is a primary pain point for both carnet holders and customs officials.

The paper carnet system had its flaws, not because of the rules, but because of execution. Physical documents were lost in transit. Counterfoils were stamped incorrectly. Sign-offs were delayed at borders because an officer was unavailable and nothing could move without a physical stamp. These were operational challenges, not regulatory ones.

Digital carnets answer most, but not all, of these challenges. They cannot be lost in transit. They do not require a manual stamp. Border validation happens in real time through the customs officer’s scanner.

The obstacles with the digital system are not at the border. They are in the preparation. An app not installed on the device that will actually be presented to customs. A travel itinerary not created in the system before departure. A crew member carrying the equipment who has not been told what the customs officer will ask to see.

The companies that will struggle after June 1 are not the ones who haven’t heard about the change. They are the ones whose preparation stops at awareness. The ones that move cleanly will have tested the system before the deadline, walked their operational teams through the process, and mapped every production, tour, and exhibition in their pipeline against the digital-or-paper decision for each individual leg.

What Preparation Actually Looks Like

The first step is mapping your routing. For any production, tour, or event crossing borders after June 1, identify which legs fall under digital territories and which do not. The UK, EU, Norway, and Switzerland go live on June 1. The US does not. If your schedule includes both, you need to use the parallel carnet procedure. Your issuing body, such as Business West in the UK, can advise on the correct structure for your specific itinerary and issue accordingly.

The second step is registering with your issuing chamber ahead of the deadline. Applications for digital carnets run through the same issuing bodies as paper carnets. The eATA app is available for both iPhone and Android. Testing ports have been live throughout 2026 across the UK, Germany, Norway, Belgium, Switzerland, and several other territories.

The third step is briefing the people who will actually carry the equipment. The carnet is only as good as the person presenting it. That person needs to know which device has the app installed, how to pull up the correct travel and QR code, and what to expect when the customs officer scans it. This is an operations problem, not an IT problem. It sits with the people planning tours, productions, and load-ins.

Finally, assess whether the logistics providers in your supply chain have direct experience with digital carnets in live environments. Reading the guidance is not the same as having processed digital carnets at active ports, across multiple territories, under time pressure.

The Industries With the Least Margin for Error

The sectors most exposed to carnet disruption are also the ones least able to absorb a delay.

Live music touring operates on fixed show dates. A hold at customs does not mean a late delivery. It means a cancelled show, a venue without equipment, and a tour that has already sold tickets across multiple cities. International sports competitions run on broadcast schedules. Film and television productions crossing multiple European territories can cycle equipment through borders several times in a single week. Trade show exhibitors work within load-in windows measured in hours.

In every one of these contexts, a carnet error does not generate a warning. It generates a hold. And the parallel period, when paper and digital carnets coexist and confusion is anticipated on both sides of the customs desk, is when those holds are most likely to happen.

The organizations that move through this transition without disruption will not be the ones who read a guidance document in May. They will be the ones who applied for digital carnets during the testing phase, mapped their forward schedules against the new requirements, briefed their crews, and confirmed their partners have run this system in the field, at active ports, under production deadlines.

June 1 is not far away. The parallel period begins then. The question is not whether your organization knows about the change. It is whether you have done the preparation that will keep your equipment moving when it does.

Ben Silas is Group Chief Commercial Officer at EFM Global, a specialist logistics provider for live events, exhibitions, film productions, and touring.

Catherine Stephens is Head of International Trade Services at Business West, an ATA carnet issuing body in the United Kingdom.

EFM Global and Business West completed the world’s first digital ATA carnet journey in November 2023.

*information correct at date of publication