Incorrect documentation, duplicate invoices, heavy pockets and a few too many zip-lock baggies all combined to make one of the largest recent U.S. Customs seizures of gold jewelry at O'Hare Airport's international terminal on Sunday, April 22. An ATA carnet document is an international merchandise passport that lists items being temporarily imported into one or more cooperating countries.
Merchandise covered by a carnet includes commercial samples, displays, and items for trade shows.
The carnet should have a complete listing of all items that are to be temporarily imported and their correct values. Instead, the carnet presented to the Customs inspector by the passengers, who were jewelry salesmen from Hong Kong, listed only a portion of the jewelry and undervalued the items as well. The Customs inspector had misgivings about the shipment because of the way that the jewelry was described on the carnet. After a quick exam of the luggage, two invoices were found along with dozens of empty plastic zip-lock baggies. The invoices also listed jewelry that had not been listed on the carnet.