Hi, my bikes currently on the way back to Finland from Australia, should be home in less than a month.

The Automobile Association here refuses to return the carnet bond (5000 euros) before they will get the "certificate of location", on the last page of the carnet, stamped by customs authorities here in Finland. That, of course, will not happen until the bike actually gets here. I could use that money right now, cos I was travelling for half a year, and didnt earn much during that time...

The carnet has been stamped out of Australia (the same way it has been stamped out of all other carnet countries we visited).

I once had an idea to leave the bike to Thailand (ok, there may be other difficulties regarding that, but lets not go into that)... if I had done that, the situation would basically be exactly the same that it is now. Carnet stamped out, but no bond coming back, unless both bike and the carnet have returned home.

Does anyone know, if this is really so that the BIKE has to physically return home, before the bond can be returned? I understood that the carnet is ONLY for the countries that are in the system, and provided that I take my bike to a non-carnet country, I should be able to return this document, and get the bond back. According to the Finnish Automobile Association, this is not the case.

Luckily I am really taking it back home now, so I should eventually get the money back...

There is a "Certificate Of Location" on the last page of this carnet, but i dont know if this should actually be in the carnet, or if its something "extra" that the Finnish club has included in theirs. They said it will make it easier for them to prove that the vehicle has not been left into a carnet country, if any country will make such claims in the future (that might be true).

What difference does it make (regarding the carnet/bond), where the bike actually is, as long as it can be proven, that its not in a carnet-country anymore?