If you’re going across international borders and bringing gear with you, you’ll probably need a carnet — a detailed document that declares what you’re bringing in, how long you plan to stay and what you plan to take back with you once the tour’s over. Without a carnet, you could be required to pay import duty on arrival and export duty on your own gear for the trip back. And these days, dealing with border and customs regulations can be difficult and confusing, so it’s good practice to be prepared — well before you plan to travel. Black Box Music is highly experienced in international touring, and Jannice Kluck handles the required paperwork for the company — and its clients. “I do the carnets,” she explains. “All our equipment is warehoused and bar-coded, so when we’re setting up for a production, I can just scan the barcodes and get an immediate update on what’s available and in stock. This creates a database with all the serial numbers, so creating a carnet is fairly simple. Then I get a list of backline from the band, add that in, and do all the carnet and customs paperwork. We’re very experienced in border support and knowing what we need for different countries. In the EU countries, this is not so difficult for us as a German company, but dealing with Russia and different Eastern European countries can be complicated, as is doing tours in North America, and knowing which ports to ship to and having all the carnets and correct paperwork. Our production assistants can handle all the requirements for any production,” she adds. The carnet/customs process can be complicated. However, “once you know some of the secrets about what you need to do and how to get a carnet through, then it’s not so difficult,” says Kluck. “We do this several times a month, sometimes with seven tours out at the same time. Even when we go to Switzerland — which borders Germany but is not part of the EU — we’d need a carnet, just as if we were going to the U.S. As long as we’re within the EU, we don’t need carnets, but with non-EU countries like Norway, Switzerland, Croatia, Russia — a carnet is required. But for us to go somewhere like France, it’s like driving to another state in the U.S.”