What is a TIR carnet?
The TIR carnet is a guaranteed international transit document for sealed road vehicles or containers under the TIR Convention. It lets goods cross intermediate countries under customs supervision without a separate duty and guarantee process at each border. The other well-known route towards Europe is the common transit regime, where a T1 or T2 declaration is opened electronically.
What is the transit regime for?
The transit regime governs the movement of goods that are not in free circulation, or whose export formalities are complete, from one customs office to another under customs supervision. Its purpose is to avoid a separate duty and guarantee process at every border when goods cross several countries. How the goods are then cleared at the destination is a separate step, described under customs clearance.
What is the TIR carnet?
The TIR carnet is the best-known transit instrument. It rests on the TIR Convention under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, works with a guarantee given by guaranteeing associations, and lets sealed vehicles pass through intermediate countries without being opened. The carnet is for sealed road vehicles or containers; it is a customs transit document, and it does not replace the transport document, the CMR consignment note, which evidences the contract of carriage.
- Basis: the TIR Convention under the UN Economic Commission for Europe
- Guarantee: given by guaranteeing associations
- Vehicle: sealed, passing through intermediate countries without being opened
What is the common transit regime (T1 and T2)?
The second route towards Europe is the common transit regime. A T1 or T2 declaration is opened electronically through NCTS, and the goods are guaranteed under that regime. Both a T1 and a TIR carnet let goods cross customs territories under transit; they differ in the legal basis and in how they are opened.
How is the choice made between them?
Which instrument is used depends on the route, the status of the goods and the practice of the destination country. For a given shipment the answer is not always the same, so we settle it with your customs broker before the shipment starts. For cargo that neither starts nor ends in Türkiye, the same question comes up with different countries, and it is covered on the third-country and transit shipments page.
Which other documents travel with it?
A road shipment moves with several documents. Besides the transit instrument and the CMR consignment note, the file contains the commercial invoice and packing list, the export declaration, the A.TR or EUR.1 movement certificate where one applies, and a transit permit where the route needs one. A difference in the number of packages or weight between the invoice, the packing list, the CMR and the movement certificate stops the declaration.
TIR carnet and T1/T2 common transit compared
| Criterion |
TIR carnet |
T1 / T2 declaration |
| Legal basis |
TIR Convention under the UN Economic Commission for Europe |
Common transit regime |
| What it is |
A guaranteed international transit document |
A transit declaration, opened electronically through NCTS |
| Guarantee |
Given by guaranteeing associations |
Guaranteed under the common transit regime |
| Typical use |
Sealed road vehicles or containers |
Goods moving under the common transit regime towards Europe |
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a T1 and a TIR carnet?
Both let goods cross customs territories under transit. A T1 is a transit declaration under the common transit regime, opened electronically, and it is guaranteed under that regime. A TIR carnet is a guaranteed international transit document for sealed road vehicles or containers under the TIR Convention. Which one applies depends on the route, the countries and the transport.
Does a TIR carnet replace the CMR?
No. They do different jobs. The CMR consignment note evidences the contract of carriage and the handing of the cargo to the carrier, and damage reservations are entered there. The TIR carnet is the guaranteed customs transit document. A road shipment normally has both.
Who decides whether a TIR carnet or a T1 is used?
It depends on the route, the status of the goods and the practice of the destination country. We settle this with your customs broker before the shipment starts, so that the vehicle is not stopped at a border for a document that does not fit the route.
Is a transit permit the same thing?
No. A transit permit is a vehicle quota that countries grant each other under bilateral agreements; it is needed to cross a country in transit or to unload cargo there. It is a permission for the vehicle, whereas the TIR carnet or a T1/T2 declaration is the customs transit instrument for the goods. If the quota runs out during the year, finding a vehicle gets harder and the shipment is usually moved to a Ro-Ro or intermodal route.