Have any of you traveled internationally with a laser scanner? Have you guys had any problems with customs? If you have had any was it when you were driving or flying?
Oh man! It helps if you describe it as a "camera" at Customs. Years ago I did do all the paperwork and had a carnet and everything to travel to Canada. I was surprised- Customs didn't care at all, and didn't even seem to know what to do with the paperwork.
Good advice on labeling it as a "camera" because you wouldn't be lying... just omitting that there is a laser attached.. ;D
If the scanner is small enough and you can travel with it then you can take your chances on calling it a camera (for personal use) and I haven't been stopped before. If you're shipping it or it's not going to be easily passed off as a camera then I would go the official (and legally correct) route of getting a Carnet, which is a ?Merchandise Passport? for temporary import. A bit of a pain the first time, but once you've done it once it's not too bad.
For Carnet info see: http://www.uscib.org/index.asp?documentID=1843
Regardless of how you ship it I would stay away from terms like scanner and laser as they are often affected by import, radiation and other controls and we've had a few customers have systems tied up for weeks while the customs officials ask for paperwork.
Come to think of it the Brazilian Customs has had a brand new laser scanner in it's possession for the last 3 years that was shipped with the wrong paperwork. The cost of duties on it was more than a new system so it got left with them. So it is definitely worth being a careful to make the correct choices up front.
Thanks Spike3D - I had never heard of that before.