CBAM Compliance for EU Importers: The 2026 Definitive Regime

Last reviewed: 4 August 2026 · Author: Kadim Rammahi, Founder, AllMarketZones

CBAM compliance is the set of obligations that require EU importers of certain carbon-intensive goods to be authorised, report the embedded emissions of those goods, and surrender CBAM certificates to cover them, under the definitive regime that begins on 1 January 2026.

The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism is established by Regulation (EU) 2023/956, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2025/2083 ("Omnibus I"). It applies a carbon price at the EU border to imports of iron and steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen, mirroring the price paid by EU producers under the EU Emissions Trading System.

This guide explains, in plain terms, who is caught, what the definitive regime requires, and the key dates through to the first annual declaration. AllMarketZones provides a fixed-fee CBAM Scope Assessment — a written determination of whether your imports fall within CBAM scope and what obligations follow. It is not authorised declarant representation, emissions verification, or binding customs classification advice; where those are required, we coordinate accredited partners.

What is CBAM and who does it affect?

CBAM is an EU border measure that charges importers for the greenhouse-gas emissions embedded in specified carbon-intensive goods brought into the EU customs territory. It affects any importer of record whose imports of iron and steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, electricity or hydrogen exceed the de minimis threshold in a calendar year.

The mechanism was designed to prevent "carbon leakage" — the risk that production shifts to jurisdictions with weaker climate policy while the EU tightens its own. It does this by requiring importers to pay a price on embedded emissions equivalent to what EU producers pay under the EU ETS. During the transitional period from 1 October 2023 until 31 December 2025, the obligations of importers were limited to reporting (Article 32, Regulation (EU) 2023/956); the definitive regime's core obligations apply from 1 January 2026 (Article 36(2), point (b)).

The obligation sits with the importer, not the overseas producer. Overseas producers supply verified emissions data, but the legal duties to be authorised, declare and surrender certificates fall on the EU-established importer or its indirect customs representative.

It is worth being precise about who "importers" are for these purposes. The carbon border adjustment mechanism importers who carry obligations are the declarants of record for customs purposes — the entities in whose name goods are released into free circulation in the EU. A distributor sourcing aluminium from outside the EU, a manufacturer importing steel inputs, and a trading company clearing fertiliser shipments are all potentially in scope. The commercial role matters less than the customs position: if you are the importer of record for CBAM goods above the threshold, the duties attach to you.

The CBAM definitive regime from 2026

The CBAM definitive regime is the phase, starting 1 January 2026, in which importers must hold declarant authorisation and pay for embedded emissions by surrendering CBAM certificates. It replaces the transitional reporting-only period that ran from 1 October 2023 until 31 December 2025 (Article 32, Regulation (EU) 2023/956).

Under the definitive regime three things change. First, importers established in a Member State are required to apply for authorised CBAM declarant status before importing goods in scope, subject to the Article 2a exemption (Article 5(1) and (1b), Regulation (EU) 2023/956). Second, declarants must surrender CBAM certificates corresponding to their declared embedded emissions (Article 22(1)). Third, an annual CBAM declaration is submitted in the CBAM registry, quantifying emissions and surrendering the matching certificates (Article 6(1)–(2)).

Omnibus I, adopted as Regulation (EU) 2025/2083, amended several elements of the original design. It inserted the single mass-based de minimis threshold in Article 2a and Annex VII, set the start of certificate sales under Article 20 at 1 February 2027 (Article 36(2), point (d)), and set the annual declaration deadline at 30 September, first applying in 2027 for the year 2026 (Article 6(1)). The core carbon-pricing logic is unchanged.

Which goods are in CBAM scope?

CBAM covers six sectors: iron and steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen, identified by Combined Nomenclature (CN) codes listed in Annex I of the Regulation. Whether a specific product is caught depends on its precise CN classification, not its commercial description.

The table below summarises the sectors in scope. For aluminium, the covered goods sit in CN Chapter 76; a detailed breakdown is given in our guide to aluminium CN codes under CBAM. Note that aluminium waste and scrap under CN 7602 is not listed in Annex I and is therefore outside CBAM scope, and it does not count towards the 50-tonne threshold — the position is set out in our note on aluminium scrap and CBAM.

The 50-tonne de minimis threshold

The de minimis threshold is a single mass-based limit of 50 tonnes net mass of CBAM goods imported per importer per calendar year, below which the importer is exempted from the obligations of the Regulation. It was inserted by Omnibus I as Article 2a(1) of Regulation (EU) 2023/956, with the 50-tonne figure set in point 1 of Annex VII.

The threshold is cumulative across the year and measured per importer, not per consignment. An importer bringing in 30 tonnes of aluminium profiles in March and another 30 tonnes in September has imported 60 tonnes for the year and is over the threshold, even though no single shipment exceeded 50 tonnes. The exemption does not apply to electricity and hydrogen (Article 2a(4)). The mechanics, including how to monitor cumulative mass through the year, are covered in our guide to the 50-tonne CBAM threshold.

An importer that exceeds the threshold becomes subject to all obligations under the Regulation for all goods imported in that calendar year (Article 2a(2)), and an importer that expects to exceed it is required to submit the application for authorisation (Article 5(1b)).

Becoming an authorised CBAM declarant

An authorised CBAM declarant is the entity that carries the Regulation's declaration and certificate-surrender obligations. An importer established in a Member State applies for the status before importing goods in scope (Article 5(1), Regulation (EU) 2023/956), and the application is submitted via the CBAM registry (Article 5(1), as amended) to the competent authority of the Member State of establishment (Article 17(1)).

The status is granted where the criteria in Article 17(2) are met: no involvement in serious or repeated infringements of customs legislation, taxation rules, market abuse rules or the CBAM Regulation, no record of serious criminal offences relating to the applicant's economic activity in the preceding five years, and demonstrated financial and operational capacity. Once granted, the status is recognised in all Member States (Article 17(1)) and carries the ongoing duties to surrender certificates and file the annual declaration (Articles 6 and 22). Our detailed guide explains how to become an authorised CBAM declarant, and, for Germany specifically, how applications are handled by the competent authority in our note on CBAM in Germany and DEHSt.

Each Member State designates its own national competent authority. In Germany this is the German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt) at the Federal Environment Agency; other Member States name their own bodies, but applications are made through the same EU-wide CBAM Registry.

CBAM certificates and the annual declaration

A CBAM certificate is the unit an authorised declarant surrenders to cover the embedded emissions of its imported goods: the declarant surrenders, via the CBAM registry, the number of certificates corresponding to the declared embedded emissions (Article 22(1), Regulation (EU) 2023/956).

The provisions governing the sale of certificates apply from 1 February 2027 (Article 36(2), point (d)), with those first purchases relating back to 2026 imports since the core obligations apply from 1 January 2026 (Article 36(2), point (b)). The annual CBAM declaration is due by 30 September of each year, for the first time in 2027 for the year 2026 (Article 6(1)). The declaration quantifies the embedded emissions of the year's imports and surrenders certificates covering them. The full sequence of dates is set out in our guide to CBAM deadlines for 2026 and 2027.

The mechanics of the CBAM annual declaration reward preparation. Because the declaration requires embedded-emissions figures for every in-scope import over the year, an importer that has collected verified producer data as it goes will file far more smoothly than one reconstructing a year of shipments in September 2027. Verified actual emissions data generally produces a lower and more defensible figure than the default values that apply in its absence, so securing that data from suppliers is both a compliance and a cost matter.

Because the certificate price tracks EU ETS auction prices (Article 21), the timing profile of a declarant's imports affects the total cost of covering a fixed quantity of embedded emissions.

What is the CBAM certificate price?

As the general rule, the Commission calculates the price of CBAM certificates as the average of the closing prices of EU ETS allowances on the auction platform for each calendar week (Article 21(1), Regulation (EU) 2023/956). By way of derogation, for embedded emissions declared in respect of the year 2026 the price is calculated as the quarterly average of the closing prices of EU ETS allowances on the auction platform for the quarter of importation of the goods (Article 21(1a), inserted by Omnibus I). The certificate price therefore tracks the EU carbon market rather than being a fixed rate.

Penalties for non-compliance

Non-compliance with CBAM carries financial penalties that do not extinguish the underlying obligation (Article 26, Regulation (EU) 2023/956).

What is the penalty for not surrendering CBAM certificates?

An authorised declarant that fails to surrender the required number of certificates by 30 September is liable to a penalty "identical to the excess emissions penalty set out in Article 16(3) of Directive 2003/87/EC and increased pursuant to Article 16(4) of that Directive", applied for each certificate not surrendered (Article 26(1), Regulation (EU) 2023/956). Article 16(3) of Directive 2003/87/EC sets that penalty at EUR 100 for each tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent, and Article 16(4) increases it in accordance with the European index of consumer prices. Payment of the penalty does not release the declarant from the obligation to surrender the outstanding certificates (Article 26(3)). Where a person other than an authorised declarant introduces goods without complying with the Regulation, the penalty is an amount from three to five times the Article 26(1) penalty (Article 26(2)).

CBAM timeline: 2026–2027 obligations

The definitive regime unfolds across a defined sequence of dates from January 2026 to September 2027. The table below sets out the key milestones and what each requires of an importer.

UK companies and CBAM

A UK company cannot itself be an authorised CBAM declarant: Article 5(1) of Regulation (EU) 2023/956 reserves the application for the status to importers established in a Member State, and where an importer is not established in a Member State, the indirect customs representative obtains the status instead (Article 5(2)). UK exporters selling into the EU, and UK groups importing into the EU, therefore need an EU-established entity or an indirect customs representative to act as the declarant.

In practice this means arranging for an EU-established group company, an importer of record, or a customs representative who holds CBAM authorisation to carry the obligations. UK businesses should confirm early who their declarant will be, because the authorisation and certificate duties cannot be discharged from Great Britain directly. The European Commission's CBAM guidance and the DEHSt pages set out the position for the Registry and for Germany respectively.

A practical CBAM compliance checklist

A practical CBAM compliance routine has five recurring elements: identify in-scope goods, monitor cumulative mass, secure declarant authorisation, gather verified emissions data, and budget for certificates. Getting these in place before liability accrues is far cheaper than remediation after a missed threshold.

The first step is classification. Because scope turns on the CN code rather than the commercial name of a product, an importer must map every product line to its eight-digit CN code and check it against Annex I. Misclassification cuts both ways: treating an in-scope good as out of scope risks penalties, while treating an out-of-scope good as caught wastes effort and certificate spend. This is why we are explicit that our Scope Assessment is a written determination of scope, not binding customs classification advice — where a formal ruling is needed, we coordinate accredited partners.

The second step is monitoring cumulative net mass across the calendar year, per importer, because the 50-tonne threshold is annual rather than per consignment. An importer that expects seasonal peaks should forecast whether the 50-tonne line will be crossed and, if so, apply for authorisation ahead of time rather than reacting after a shipment tips the total over.

The third step is authorisation itself, submitted through the CBAM Registry via the national competent authority. The fourth is emissions data: the annual declaration states the embedded emissions of the year's imports (Article 6(2)), so quantifying them — ideally with data from the producer — is a practical prerequisite. The fifth is financial: budgeting for certificate purchases once the Article 20 sales provisions apply from 1 February 2027 (Article 36(2), point (d)), recognising that the price tracks EU ETS auction prices under Article 21 and is not fixed.

Two elements of this checklist deserve particular care because they cause the most avoidable errors. The first is the treatment of aluminium waste and scrap: CN 7602 is not listed in Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2023/956, so aluminium scrap is outside CBAM and does not count towards the threshold — while ferrous scrap under CN 7204 is listed and does. The distinction is explained in our note on aluminium scrap and CBAM. The second is threshold monitoring across multiple product lines and shipments, which our guide to the 50-tonne CBAM threshold works through in detail. Together with declarant authorisation, these are the areas where importers most often discover they are further into scope than they assumed.

How to confirm your position

The first practical step is to establish, in writing, whether your imports fall within CBAM scope and whether you cross the 50-tonne threshold. That determination drives everything that follows — authorisation, certificate budgeting and the annual declaration.

AllMarketZones provides a fixed-fee CBAM Scope Assessment for exactly this purpose: a written determination of scope and obligations that you can rely on when planning. Where the assessment shows you need authorised declarant representation, emissions verification or binding customs classification advice, we coordinate accredited partners rather than providing those regulated services ourselves.