CBAM regulation: Regulation (EU) 2023/956, the 2025 Omnibus and the acts that apply from 2026

CBAM mirrors the EU Emissions Trading System at the border. An EU producer of steel or cement pays for its emissions by surrendering EU ETS allowances; an EU importer of the same goods pays for the emissions embedded in them by surrendering CBAM certificates, priced from EU ETS auctions. As free allocation under the EU ETS is phased out for CBAM sectors, the CBAM charge rises in step, from a CBAM factor of 97.5% in 2026 to 0% in 2034 (see CBAM benchmarks).

The obligation sits with the importer, through its authorised CBAM declarant. A producer outside the EU has no direct legal duty, but the regulation makes its data decisive: the declarant may use actual embedded emissions only if the operator of the installation calculated them under the regulation’s methods and had them verified by an accredited verifier. Otherwise the declarant uses the Commission’s default values.

Annex I lists the goods by CN code. The full list, sector by sector, is on our page on CBAM CN codes.

Regulation (EU) 2025/2083 of 8 October 2025, “as regards simplifying and strengthening the carbon border adjustment mechanism”, was published on 17 October 2025 and entered into force on 20 October 2025. Its main changes:

• The 50-tonne threshold. It replaces the old derogation for consignments of negligible value, up to EUR 150, with a single mass-based threshold per importer and year (Article 2a and Annex VII). The threshold is set so that at least 99% of embedded emissions stay in scope; the Commission’s September 2026 assessment found it exempted 0.87%.
• Declarants. Clearer rules for indirect customs representatives, and the option to delegate the CBAM declaration to a third party established in a Member State with an EORI number, while the declarant stays responsible.
• Dates. Declaration and surrender by 30 September of the year after import; certificate sales from 1 February 2027.
• 2026 prices. Certificates for 2026 imports are priced at the quarterly average of EU ETS auction prices for the quarter of importation, then weekly from 2027 (Article 21).
• Quarterly holding. The share of embedded emissions a declarant must cover with certificates at the end of each quarter fell from 80% to 50%, and the free allocation adjustment is now taken into account (Article 22(2)).
• Penalties. The competent authority may reduce the penalty where the shortfall results from incorrect information from an operator, verifier or independent certifier (Article 26(1a)).

The basic regulation leaves the detail to the Commission. Most acts for the definitive period were adopted in December 2025 and apply from 1 January 2026. The one that matters most to a producer outside the EU is Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2547 on the methods for calculating emissions embedded in goods: it sets the system boundaries, production routes, monitoring rules and the operator’s emissions report template that actual values must follow. Default values come from Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2621, corrected by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1740 of 20 July 2026; for most goods they carry a mark-up of 10% in 2026, 20% in 2027 and 30% from 2028, with a lower mark-up for fertilisers. Country tables for the region are on our CBAM default values page.

The full list, with links, is in the table below.

EU importer and authorised CBAM declarant

• Hold the status of authorised CBAM declarant before importing above 50 tonnes a year, or use an indirect customs representative that holds it.
• Keep records of embedded emissions under Annex V, and from 2027 hold certificates covering at least 50% of the embedded emissions imported so far that year at the end of each quarter.
• Buy certificates on the common central platform from 1 February 2027, and file the declaration and surrender certificates by 30 September.

Operator of an installation outside the EU

• No legal obligation of its own. To let its declarants use actual values: monitor and calculate embedded emissions under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2547, report them in the operator’s emissions report template and have them verified by an accredited verifier.
• Optionally register in the CBAM Registry and share verified data with every declarant at once (see CBAM Registry). A registered operator keeps the verification report and calculation records for four years after verification (Article 10(5)).

Accredited verifier

• Accredited by a national accreditation body under Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2551, and applying the verification principles of Annex VI and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2546.
• Issues the verification report, which accompanies the actual values used in a declaration.

• Certificates not surrendered by 30 September. The penalty per missing certificate equals the EU ETS excess emissions penalty of Article 16(3) and (4) of Directive 2003/87/EC that applies in the year of importation: EUR 100 per tonne, increased in line with the European index of consumer prices. Paying it does not cancel the obligation to surrender the missing certificates.
• Importing without authorisation. A person other than an authorised declarant that brings CBAM goods into the EU without complying pays three to five times that penalty for each certificate not surrendered. The same applies to an importer that crosses the 50-tonne threshold without the status; the authority may reduce it where the threshold was exceeded by no more than 10%, or for importers covered by the 31 March 2026 application rule.
• Errors by third parties. Where a shortfall comes from incorrect information supplied by an operator, verifier or independent certifier, the authority may reduce the penalty.

On 17 December 2025 the Commission proposed COM(2025) 989, a further amendment that would extend CBAM from 1 January 2028 to 180 steel- and aluminium-intensive downstream products and strengthen the anti-circumvention rules. The Council agreed its position on 12 June 2026, and the European Parliament adopted its amendments on 15 September 2026 and referred the file back for interinstitutional negotiations. As of 6 November 2026 it is a proposal under negotiation, not law. Details are on our CBAM CN codes page.