Issues range from cars needing a 'passport', to big VAT tax bills on imported modern classics and added headaches for those exporting collectible vehicles to Europe.
www.dailymail.co.uk
No surprise that the article is somewhat misleading. ATA Carnets are not a new thing they have been around since the 60's. Most often they are used for exhibtion goods and the like which will be returned to their original point / country of export within a 12 month period.
Lets say your sending a test engine / display engine out to USA then Canada then Italy then Spain and finally back to the UK. The carnet has an import and export section for each country it will visit. Customs inspect the goods listed on the carnet at each import and export point and if it is found that something is missing on any of the export legs the local import duty and taxes would need to be paid on this missing items. For that reason things like exhibition give aways such as pens , bags , key rings should not be put on a carnet.
The example above applied before Brexit and after Brexit. If the goods were going to or from a non EU member state then you either needed an ATA carnet for the tempory import or if the shipment was just going to and from one other country it may be more suitable to export them as goods for return in an unaltered state where relief is claimed from duty and vat when returning to the UK. The country it was exported too would process it as good being imported for return in an unaltered state duty and taxes being put on suspense pending re export.
Not really a shock then that either process would be needed once we left the EU.
If the goods at any point were either starting from outside the EU or leaving the EU then a Carnet / temp procedure was always needed. Once the goods enter the EU then a single import and export section of the carnet would be used regardless of how many countries in the EU the goods would visit (27 countries).
The only change is UK to EU goods because we are not part of the EU anymore so no surprise at all and the information has been available on line for years or printed format since the 60's. I've possibly still got a printed version from the 80's
I do wish the journalists writing some of these articles would do their homework and understand the subject they are writing about.