Carnet papers by fax
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by Derren Hayes • International operators are celebrating the United Nations customs committee's decision to change the TIR Carnet system to allow key documentation to be faxed rather than personally delivered.
The TIR system, run in conjunction with the International Road Transport Union (IRU), allows companies to avoid border checks after their loads have been inspected and sealed by customs officers in the country of their origin. Since September carnets have been monitored by Societe General de Surveillance (SGS), a Genevabased firm brought in to beat fraud.
But operators complained there were too few SGS offices so they had to travel long distances to reach them.
The new system is expected to come in on 1 January and will do away with operators having to go to SGS offices once they have gone through customs. Instead document details can be faxed to SGS. Andy Parks, transport manager at Peterborough-based Murfitts, says: "Once we don't have to go through SGS offices it should be much quicker."
Uwe Ploog of Kent-based operator Astran Transport says: "We are taking a big sigh of relief. The system was costing us a lot of money and in some cases loads were being held up for days."
7 For more details contact John Bumpstead of SGS on 0181 590 5995.