Carnet - A Petition for Change ( RAC ADAC FIA ) UK Europe

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Hi All,

Today we had the RAC send us a nice email, on the last Friday before Christmas whilst we are in Colombia, to tell us that they have written to our bank to make a claim on our Bank Guarantee for a carnet used in 2012 -2013.

They did not tell us a claim had been made,

They did not allow us to defend the claim

They did not notify us before approaching our bank to claim the guarantee

They told us they don't send letters any more and just communicate by email (they were unable to provide any copies of emails to us), last year they told me they only communicate by post lol

We spoke to them last year when they withdrew the Bank Guarantee without notice, RAC Improved Carnet service & 10% off your Carnet | Overland Sphere - Overland Travel Forum & Information
They promised to improve their service, it seems to me its just going downhill.

We have also heard that although every one has the right to use the ADAC, the RAC has started to refuse granting letters of "non objection" and therefore blocking people with UK registered vehicles using the RAC.

With all of this we want to send a message to the RAC and would ask if you would sign and share our Petition on change.org

https://www.change.org/p/fia-rac-uk-break-the-monopoly-treat-travellers-better-rac-carnet

If you have ever had a carnet or are planning on using one in the future please support our cause!

Sign this petition,

- show the RAC we want to be treated better,

- to break the monopoly that the RAC has,

- to have a free market in Europe and across the world on Carnets

- to make the RAC allow you to use other Carnet issuers without barriers

- to force the RAC to actually make contact or make all reasonable efforts to contact you prior to making a claim
 
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Many thanks to all those who have supported the petition to the RAC & Others (FIA, CMA, FCA, EU Commission)

The RAC Complaints Department and the CEO have received the Petition and have promised to respond in the first week of January.

We now have 380 signatures which is fantastic, thank you,

We are not expecting a positive response from the RAC, we will need to take it one step at a time through each organisation.

The more signatories we have on the petition the more likely it is that the organisations will start listening, so please do keep sharing and if you have not signed it already, it would be great if you could.

Any media buzz you can create would be beneficial to show these organisations that we are not backing down on this…

Many thanks for all your support.

Martin & Nicole

https://www.change.org/p/european-c...treat-travellers-better-rac-carnet?lang=en-GB
 
Carnet Update 7 Jun 2015

The FIA has been looking into the complaint raised with them for several months now, unfortunately to date there has been no conclusive outcome.

I am hoping that by the end of the month we will have a positive and conclusive response from them.

So far the FIA have been positive and responsive and I thank them for their work to date. However they too are restricted by the rules and regulations that were adopted many years ago when the Carnet system was created and before the EU existed. Unravelling this is complex, and I expect there would be resistance to change from their members (The Motoring Organisations).

One of the FIA’s objectives/aims: is to promote safe travel, to promote freedom of mobility and to encourage sensible, sustainable tourism worldwide. We are trusting that they as an organisation stick to their key principles and objectives.

However, if at the end of June we do not have a conclusive response or a response that does not resolve the issues highlighted in the petition we shall begin the complaint process outside of the FIA, which may include the European Commission, Competition Commission, local MP/MEP and the HMRC.

If this is the case we would be looking for your support to help us move this forward!

We will keep fighting for as long as it takes to ensure that UK travellers are not at a disadvantage to our European friends when travelling internationally with a vehicle!

If you would like to discuss this further or contact us you can do so through our communities FB group:https://www.facebook.com/groups/OverlandSphere/
 
Carnet update 2 Aug 2015

We have been in communication with the FIA over the last few weeks, and are very happy to say that things are progressing.

The FIA are currently working on changes that will ensure that the rules and regulations of the FIA:
1. Will not prevent people from applying for Carnets from any other Carnet issuer in Europe
2. Remove the ability of issuing clubs to prevent consumers from engaging with other carnet issuers in Europe by eliminating any misinterpretation that consultation or a letter of non-objection is required.

I believe that the changes proposed will remove the barriers from using other Carnet issuers in Europe.

The changes are expected to be drafted and put forward for acceptance to FIA members sometime in December 2015, I therefore believe it is not likely that we will see these changes implemented until sometime between March 2016 and June 2016.

The Next Problem
The changes being implemented are moving us in the right direction, however, it does not mean that other issuers will agree to issue UK vehicle owners a Carnet.

Currently every Carnet issuer in their own right is free to assess each Carnet application, and may choose whether or not they wish to issue that person a Carnet or not. Some Carnet issuers may also not be legally able to issue consumers in the UK or other European countries a Carnet due to the limitation of their insurance coverage.

Once the new changes have been implemented, we will have to test the water and see if alternative issuers are willing to issue Carnets to UK vehicle owners. If they are not, we will have to consider what action we can take. If they do demonstrate though their actions that they are being discriminative towards UK vehicle owners, we will look at our options for taking further action and which organisations would be best to work with to solve the issues.

Possible Long Term Solution
We have expressed an interest to the FIA about setting up our own association to issue Carnets in Europe through a new organisation called “The Overlanding Association”.

The FIA have said that they would have no objection to an additional carnet issuer in Europe.

We plan over the coming months, to continue our enquiries with the FIA about the legal and financial requirements of becoming a Carnet issuer, in addition to assessing whether we would be able to offer the service to Overlanders at reasonable cost whilst mitigating any potential risks.

If the enquiries are positive and we are able to offer Overlanders Carnets at reasonable cost i.e the security required in terms of a deposit or insurance premium, then we will move forward and see how best we can achieve this.

Overlanding Association
The Overlanding Association http://overlandingassociation.org/ is being set up to continue discussions with the FIA and to be a voice for overlanders on similar matters going forward. Over the coming weeks, we will be finalising the legal structure and objectives of the association and would like to invite those who are interested to join us at an early stage to help us shape the association for the benefit of all Overlanders. The Overlanding Association offers us a great opportunity to build a community working for and on behalf of Overlanders around the world.

This is the Association’s FB pagehttps://www.facebook.com/OverlandingAssociation

More news on the Overlanding Association will be released in coming weeks, but if you were interested in becoming founding members or committee members please feel free to contact me, or discuss this through our Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/OverlandSphere . (This will be an international association, not just for the UK, and will be open to all Overlanders regardless of mode of transport)
 
15 Oct 2015 — Carnet Update Europe:

The FIA have completed their legal review of the global carnet guarantee agreement, and are ready to start consulting with their stakeholders & government organisations to implement the changes. The amendments have to be agreed by the associations (issuers) the AIT and the world customs council, only then will the changes be fully implemented. We expect this to be completed before the end of March 2016.

Once these changes have been implemented, any EU Citizen may apply for a carnet from any EU issuing organisation (note this does not mean they will issue one). Discussions with the FIA were positive that other issuers would be willing to issue carnets to UK citizens.

We now fully believe that the clause under discussion/in dispute is not enforceable i.e The requirement of a letter of non-objection in the EU is NOT required.

We believe where an association is preventing or denying EU citizens access to public services they may also be breaking EU laws, we are happy to raise this with the associations on behalf of our members in the hope that we can gain some traction before the changes are fully implemented.

As mentioned in the previous update we are currently speaking with both the UK & Irish governments so that we may be able to issue carnets in the future. If the financials make sense and we can provide carnets to people with a reasonable and comparative level of security we will move forward with this option. We hope that by becoming an issuer, we can ensure that overlanders are never put in this situation again…

Regular/small updates will be posted in our FB Grouphttps://www.facebook.com/groups/OverlandSphere .
 
Carnet update UK: The ADAC has today confirmed that from the 1st of January they will consider applications from UK residents without a letter of non objection. They are under no obligation to issue to UK citizens and will assess each application based on its own merits.

The ADAC acts as the “official” carnet issuer for a number of countries, however the UK is not one them…

We are still progressing with our application to issue carnets in the UK, however the talks with the HMRC are being drawn out and are not expected to be resolved until March 2016 at the earliest.