Petition, transporting motorcycles to and from EU

[Two Rivers]

There is a government petition at the moment to allow transporting privately owned motorcycles to and from the EU for tourists duty and tax free.
Here is the link.

Archived Petition: Seek to end taxation on transporting privately owned motorcycles to/from the EU

The Government must make an agreement with the EU to allow third parties to transport motorcycles, used for tourism, to and from the EU duty & tax free and agree with the EU that only a letter of authority from the motorcycle owners will be needed to transport motorcycles through the EU border.

petition.parliament.uk

If you’re one of those who like to tow the bike over to Europe then I suggest you sign and pass on, I don’t know if it’s going to do any good but we just can’t sit and do nothing.

 

[bobnick]

Signed

 

[Coolcats]

There is a government petition at the moment to allow transporting privately owned motorcycles to and from the EU for tourists duty and tax free.
Here is the link.

Archived Petition: Seek to end taxation on transporting privately owned motorcycles to/from the EU

The Government must make an agreement with the EU to allow third parties to transport motorcycles, used for tourism, to and from the EU duty & tax free and agree with the EU that only a letter of authority from the motorcycle owners will be needed to transport motorcycles through the EU border.

petition.parliament.uk

If you’re one of those who like to tow the bike over to Europe then I suggest you sign and pass on, I don’t know if it’s going to do any good but we just can’t sit and do nothing.

There’s probably more pressing trade issues than tourists with motorcycles. But if you have a motorcycle I guess you could sign it and see if this government can negotiate on this

 

[ChrisL]

Signed.

 

[Diabalo]

Signed, it doesn't affect me but happy to help out those funsters that it does.

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[Odd-no-more]

Signed, I no longer tow a bike but I have I the past

 

[Clipgate]

Who is it presented too? UK Gov pointless they are not in control.

 

[Chrisvh]

The petition concerns third parties transporting motorbikes to the EU and not individual owners towing motorcycles behind a vehicle.

 

[Minxy]

I assume this is on the back of the blokr who got charged for transporting 3 bikes in his van recently - there are ways to not have to pay for this but it appears that people can't be bothered to do it.

I can't see any changes being made at all to this as it's standard practice for third countries AFAIK and the change would have to be made by the EU and we all know that ain't gonna happen as they have bigger 'fishing boats' to fry!

 

[Jo662]

Signed

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[MartinW]

Can someone explain this issue to me please? If someone is towing a motorbike behind their motorhome to use it themselves when in the EU, it is presumably taxed and insured and could be simply ridden or towed through customs without any problem.

On the other hand if someone wants to export multiple motorbikes then this will liable to all the taxes, charges and red tape caused by our leaving the EU. All our exporters are facing these problems, and it is what 52% of the country voted for.

 

[Minxy]

Can someone explain this issue to me please? If someone is towing a motorbike behind their motorhome to use it themselves when in the EU, it is presumably taxed and insured and could be simply ridden or towed through customs without any problem.

On the other hand if someone wants to export multiple motorbikes then this will liable to all the taxes, charges and red tape caused by our leaving the EU. All our exporters are facing these problems, and it is what 52% of the country voted for.

You were doing so well until your last comment.

I believe this is aimed at 'commercial' enterprises who have to abide by the rules of the country they're going to, they've had enough time to find out what was needed, no different to someone buying a car for the first time and having to find out about insuring, taxing etc it, don't do it and you'll get fined.

 

[David and Sally]

Signed

 

[GJH]

Apparently the creator of the petition, Tony Barker, runs a company called Eurobiketrans, as explained Here.
It seems to be all about trying to side-step the inevitable (known in advance) effects of Brexit on such companies, not any effects on individual tourists taking their own bikes with them. As the article says "The issue arises because as soon as a bike passes into the hands of a third party, it becomes 'goods', which requires a carnet.".

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

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[jumar]

 

[The Wino]

Sounds like a good idea but how would it work in practice especially if you wanted to transport a number of motorcycles for a "holiday" are they going to be address to your passeport with a charge if you don't bring them back and who decides what is a reasonable charge would they have to be road registered in the UK and have valid insurance and not if so how would people take trials bikes.
Someone has said that it was only one person that was stopped because they had 3 in a van if it doesn't affect anyone taking one with their motorhome will it affect many on here?

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

Sounds like a good idea but how would it work in practice especially if you wanted to transport a number of motorcycles for a "holiday" are they going to be address to your passeport with a charge if you don't bring them back and who decides what is a reasonable charge would they have to be road registered in the UK and have valid insurance and not if so how would people take trials bikes.
Someone has said that it was only one person that was stopped because they had 3 in a van if it doesn't affect anyone taking one with their motorhome will it affect many on here?

Yes, as long as it's not kayaks next , I normally have a collection of those secreted about the van

 

[Mr B]

Done

 

[jumartoo]

Not anothaaa ... petition

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[bigtwin]

Can someone explain this issue to me please? If someone is towing a motorbike behind their motorhome to use it themselves when in the EU, it is presumably taxed and insured and could be simply ridden or towed through customs without any problem.

On the other hand if someone wants to export multiple motorbikes then this will liable to all the taxes, charges and red tape caused by our leaving the EU. All our exporters are facing these problems, and it is what 52% of the country voted for.

The issue arises if a customs officer decides that what you are carrying (motorbike, e bike, generator, kayak, etc) is goods in which case a carnet is required.

Ian

 

[MartinW]

The issue arises if a customs officer decides that what you are carrying (motorbike, e bike, generator, kayak, etc) is goods in which case a carnet is required.

Ian

52% voted to leave the EU and we left the EU. Therefore it is entirely up to the customs officials of EU countries to deal with items we take into their countries according to their own laws. There is nothing that the UK government can do about it. We could ask the EU to please turn a blind eye to certain goods I suppose, but at the end of the day we have no say in the matter, and the EU countries will only change the law if they think that it is their interest to do so. I suppose we could offer to make a concession in some other area as a bargaining chip, but we are not in a strong position when dealing with a block of 27 countries all of whom will own only make changes that help their own citizens.

 

[Ivory55]

Was it 52% I am not sure you mentioned that before, haha

 

[Two Rivers]

As an attendee of classic motorcycle events in Europe I was due to attend an event in Italy this summer towing a motorcycle behind my van, I was advised that I needed a TIP (temporary import permit).
Here are the details, download cerfa_15678-01-pdf and its for non commercial imports, you will need two copies, one for customs and retain one yourself, ownership paperwork is required and to be presented. The form is in French but straight forward using google translate. Unfortunately because of covid19 and the Italians introducing strict covid rules the event I was attending got cancelled last minute, so I never managed to put this to the test, during the summer French customs were using a light touch and to my knowledge not too many people had problems, however, I wouldn’t want to try it now without the right paperwork seeing how Anglo French relationships have deteriorated over the last couple of weeks

 

[bigtwin]

52% voted to leave the EU and we left the EU. Therefore it is entirely up to the customs officials of EU countries to deal with items we take into their countries according to their own laws. There is nothing that the UK government can do about it. We could ask the EU to please turn a blind eye to certain goods I suppose, but at the end of the day we have no say in the matter, and the EU countries will only change the law if they think that it is their interest to do so. I suppose we could offer to make a concession in some other area as a bargaining chip, but we are not in a strong position when dealing with a block of 27 countries all of whom will own only make changes that help their own citizens.

Thanks for the history lesson but I was responding to your original question (below):

Can someone explain this issue to me please? If someone is towing a motorbike behind their motorhome to use it themselves when in the EU, it is presumably taxed and insured and could be simply ridden or towed through customs without any problem.

Ian

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[MartinW]

The point of my mentioning the fact that we are no longer in the EU, is that because we are not in the EU there is nothing that the UK government can do about the actions of customs officials from the EU countries, when they apply their own countries' laws. Those laws existed when we were in the EU, and still exist now we are out of it, but now they apply to us, when before they did not.

If the EU changes the law about the import of goods from non-EU countries so that carnets are not required for certain items, the changes would by default apply to all countries that trade with the EU, not just the UK. The UK is only responsible for 10% of the imports of goods into the EU, so they will want to take into account how changes would affect imports from the rest of the world. We could try to have a special deal with the EU which gives us trading privileges not enjoyed by most other countries, but since we are just one country against 27 it is not easy for the government to get a deal that is favourable to us, and it would be certain to involve making concessions that would be unpopular with many voters.

Since there is in practice nothing the UK government can do I do not understand the point of the petition, perhaps it would be better to address it to Ursula Von der Leyen.

 

[The Wino]

The point of my mentioning the fact that we are no longer in the EU, is that because we are not in the EU there is nothing that the UK government can do about the actions of customs officials from the EU countries, when they apply their own countries' laws. Those laws existed when we were in the EU, and still exist now we are out of it, but now they apply to us, when before they did not.

If the EU changes the law about the import of goods from non-EU countries so that carnets are not required for certain items, the changes would by default apply to all countries that trade with the EU, not just the UK. The UK is only responsible for 10% of the imports of goods into the EU, so they will want to take into account how changes would affect imports from the rest of the world. We could try to have a special deal with the EU which gives us trading privileges not enjoyed by most other countries, but since we are just one country against 27 it is not easy for the government to get a deal that is favourable to us, and it would be certain to involve making concessions that would be unpopular with many voters.

Since there is in practice nothing the UK government can do I do not understand the point of the petition, perhaps it would be better to address it to Ursula Von der Leyen.

Not just that how big a problem is it on a national scale to the other trading issues we have at the moment not to mention a pandemic

 

[Minxy]

Apparently the creator of the petition, Tony Barker, runs a company called Eurobiketrans, as explained Here.
It seems to be all about trying to side-step the inevitable (known in advance) effects of Brexit on such companies, not any effects on individual tourists taking their own bikes with them. As the article says "The issue arises because as soon as a bike passes into the hands of a third party, it becomes 'goods', which requires a carnet.".

Reading some of the earlier articles it states that for the owners of the bikes there should be a problem and no need for a carnet, or words to that effect, if they are transporting themselves both in and out of the country.

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

Reading some of the earlier articles it states that for the owners of the bikes there should be a problem and no need for a carnet, or words to that effect, if they are transporting themselves both in and out of the country.

Should there not have been a not in that statement?

 

[Minxy]

Should there not have been a not in that statement?

Well spotted ... I got distracted watching a TV programme about a serial killer!

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