Jimmy:

No, No, No - you are mixing apples and oranges here.

A carnet (absolutely not necessary for Western Europe if you are temporarily importing a Canadian plated bike for tourism, and intend to ship the bike back to Canada) is a document that has to do with customs and importation issues. It's kind of like posting bail for your motorcycle, it's a financial promise that you will export the motorcycle back out of the country you are visiting. A lot of third-world countries require them, primarily because they charge huge import duties on motorcycles that their citizens buy, and they don't want to run the risk that someone will import a bike as a 'tourist on a temporary basis', then sell the bike in that country for cash instead of re-exporting it.

A 'green card' is the term commonly used to describe the certificate of liability insurance necessary to ride a bike on European roads. It's exactly the same thing as the 'Canada InterProvincial' insurance slip that you get when you buy insurance here in Canada. It proves to the cops (and others) that you have the legally required liability insurance.

To import a bike into Europe for the purpose of temporary tourism (implies you will be taking it back to Canada the same year) you just ship the darn thing. Period. It's the same as importing your bike into the United States to go riding there - you just show up at the border with it.

However, same as in Canada and the USA, you are obliged by law to have a minimum amount of liability insurance in order to ride in Europe. You buy this insurance from a European vendor a short time before shipping the bike, so that you have the proof of insurance (the green card) in your hand to show to Customs when you go to pick the bike up at the air freight shed.

There are lots and lots of discussions about this whole process in the "trip transport" forum - make a coffee, and spend about an hour browsing these discussions, and I think you will be able to figure it all out.

Michael