CBAM: the carbon border adjustment if you import

The CBAM is the mechanism that puts the same price on imported carbon that European industry already pays for its emissions. It was created by Regulation (EU) 2023/956 and works in a very simple way to summarise: you declare how many emissions the goods you import contain and surrender certificates covering those emissions.

Between 1 October 2023 and 31 December 2025 there was a transitional period in which you only had to report every quarter, without paying anything. That period has ended. From 1 January 2026 the definitive regime applies: prior authorisation is required to be able to import, emissions for the whole year are calculated and certificates that cost money are surrendered.

The change matters a lot in practice because the control is at customs. Customs will not release a CBAM good for free circulation to anyone who does not prove their status on the import declaration, so the problem does not appear in a future assessment, it appears at the dock.

The CBAM covers 6 families: cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilisers, hydrogen and electricity. It is not decided by the commercial name of the product or by your company's sector, it is decided by the 8 digit CN code listed in Annex I of the Regulation. 2 references that you call the same thing can have different codes and only one might be included.

The quick way to check is to look at the TARIC 775-CBAM measure associated with the heading: if it triggers during clearance, the goods are affected and a document code must be entered on the customs declaration.

Goods originating in the European Union and those from Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland are excluded, as well as Büsingen, the island of Helgoland, Livigno, Ceuta and Melilla. Be careful with a common confusion: the Canary Islands are included, because they are part of the customs territory of the Union even though they have their own tax regime. The Canary Islands Economic and Tax Regime does not exempt you from the CBAM.

Goods intended for military activities are also excluded.

This is the filter that decides whether you have obligations or not. Regulation (EU) 2025/2083 replaced the old threshold of €150 per consignment with a single mass threshold: 50 net tonnes accumulated per importer and calendar year. If you do not reach those 50 tonnes in the whole year adding up cement, iron and steel, aluminium and fertilisers, you are exempt from CBAM obligations, including the obligation to request authorisation.

There are 2 nuances that should be clear. The first: the threshold is cumulative and annual, not per operation or per supplier, so you can exceed it halfway through the year without realising if you do not keep track. The second: electricity and hydrogen do not fall under this exemption, there is no threshold there.

The exemption is not silent either. Even if you are below the 50 tonnes, the code proving the exemption must be entered on every import declaration, because otherwise customs will assume you are importing without being authorised.

The threshold can move: the Commission is empowered to adjust it through delegated acts, so that it continues to cover at least 99% of imported embedded emissions. It is therefore advisable to check the current value before closing the year's planning.

The application is submitted to the European Commission's CBAM registry, with an electronic certificate, and the body that resolves it in Spain is the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, which is the competent national authority for these purposes. The AEAT (the Spanish Tax Agency) does not grant this authorisation, it checks it at clearance.

It can be requested by the importer established in a Member State or, when acting in indirect customs representation, their customs representative. A valid EORI number, a history of customs and tax compliance, and financial and operational capacity are required. If the company has not been established for the 2 full financial years prior to the application, a guarantee is also required.

There was an escape valve for the start of 2026: anyone who submitted the application before 31 March 2026 can continue importing provisionally until it is resolved, except for electricity and hydrogen. That coverage is reflected at clearance with a specific code and has an expected expiry date, so it is not a solution for anyone starting to import now.

If you do not have an EORI yet, that is the first step. Registration with the AEAT is electronic and is usually resolved quickly, in a matter of hours or 2 working days when the tax identification number is active, but there is no guaranteed deadline, so it is not advisable to rush the clearance schedule. Managora processes the EORI and prepares the authorised declarant application with the documentation requested by the registry.

Embedded emissions are those generated when producing the goods, not those from transport. The general rule is to use actual data from the installation of origin, and in that case the data must be verified by an accredited verifier. When they cannot be adequately determined, the default values published by the Commission are used, which do not require verification but are usually less favourable than well documented actual data.

The price of the certificate is not set or negotiated by you: it is published by the Commission based on the auction price of European emission allowances. In 2026, exceptionally, a quarterly average is published, 4 prices a year. From 2027 it goes back to being weekly.

2 reductions are applied to the number of certificates to be surrendered. The first is the adjustment for the free allocation still received by European industry: the so called CBAM factor is 97.5% in 2026 and goes down year by year until it disappears, so the bill for the first few years is a small fraction of the gross cost. The second is the carbon price already effectively paid in the country of origin, which is deducted if you keep the documentary proof and this is certified by an independent person.

Buying certificates is not possible in 2026. Sales by Member States start on 1 February 2027, and from 2027 there is also a portfolio discipline: at the end of each quarter you must hold certificates for at least 50% of the accumulated embedded emissions for the year.

When the heading is affected by the TARIC 775-CBAM measure, the import customs declaration must carry a document code explaining its status, and that code is entered in data element 12 04 002 000. If you are an authorised declarant, the CBAM account number is declared, which the EU automatically validates against the registry. If you are below the 50 tonnes, the code for an unauthorised importer importing less than that threshold is declared.

An error in that data is not a formal defect: it blocks the release of the goods. It is the point where most files get stuck, because the purchasing department does not usually know that the consignment is CBAM until customs stops it.

It is also advisable to review who appears as the importer and with what type of representation, because the obligation falls depending on that. Managora prepares the SAD with the correct CBAM code and checks the EORI before submitting it.

There are 3 different consequences and it is best not to mix them up. The first is immediate and customs related: without the proven status, the goods are not released for free circulation, with the storage and demurrage costs that this entails.

The second is the fine for not surrendering the certificates corresponding to the declared emissions. It is calculated for each missing certificate, taking as a reference the penalty for excess emissions of the European emissions trading system, and paying it does not replace the obligation to surrender the pending certificates.

The third affects anyone who has imported above the threshold without being an authorised declarant: the penalty is aggravated compared to the previous one. Regulation (EU) 2025/2083 allows it to be modulated when the excess over the threshold is small or when the application was submitted and denied after having imported provisionally.

Added to all this is the reputational effect before customs. A history of non compliance weighs heavily when later requesting a customs simplification or Authorised Economic Operator certification.

Managora prepares and submits it for you: the EORI registration, the authorised CBAM declarant application to the competent authority and the import SAD with the correct CBAM code, all online and without you having to travel. If you are also interested in taking the step to Authorised Economic Operator certification, we also prepare and submit that application, with an honest warning: that file does not end with the electronic processing, because Customs carries out an audit of your facilities and processes before granting the status. You can see the conditions of each service on its file and order it online.