UK Bikes okay to enter EU

Taking your bike to Europe in a van this summer? You should be fine, with no need for extra paperwork, carnets or any other red tape. But the operative word in that sentence is should...

After several reports of UK motorcyclists being confronted with extra post-Brexit bureaucracy, or even turned back at the border, FEMA (Federation of European Motorcyclists), FIVA (the historic vehicle federation), and the UK's own NMC (National Motorcyclists Council) decided to take action.

In December 2021 they wrote a letter to the European Commissioner to ask for a solution. The reply from the Commissioner arrived in May 2022 and is crystal clear: ‘Means of transport entering the EU temporarily and leaving back to the United Kingdom after a few weeks can be placed under temporary admission and declared to customs by the sole act of crossing the frontier.’

In other words, if the stay is temporary (i.e. for a holiday or an exhibition) no customs formalities are needed at the moment of entry and exit. There's no need for a customs declaration to be lodged; no safety, security or temporary storage requirements; and no VAT to be paid. That all seems fairly clear cut, but wait…

The message clearly hadn't got through to all customs officers. Take the case of ex-Dakar rider Simon Pavey, who was refused entry to France in late March 2022, after being told that he needed an ATA carnet. Simon and son Llewellyn were on their way to the Olympia Rally in Greece, travelling with two bikes in the back of their camper van. French customs officials based at the English end of the Channel Tunnel refused to allow them out of the UK, telling them that they had to obtain a carnet to take the bikes into the EU, and imposing a €500 fine. One bike belonged to Simon, the other to KTM UK, but the officials did not even ask who owned them.