CBAM guides

Practical explanations of the rules that apply from 2026, each with links to the legal texts.

• What is CBAM?How the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism works in the definitive period: covered goods, who pays, the 50-tonne threshold, certificates and key dates.
• Authorised CBAM declarantWho must become an authorised CBAM declarant, the conditions, where to apply in each Member State, indirect customs representatives and what happens without authorisation.
• Declaration and certificatesThe annual CBAM declaration due 30 September, how certificates are priced and bought from February 2027, the quarterly 50 % holding rule, repurchase and cancellation.
• Default vs actual valuesWhen importers may use the Commission's default values, how the 10/20/30 % mark-up works, and when verified actual emissions from suppliers pay off.
• Free allocation adjustmentWhy importers do not pay for all embedded emissions: the CBAM benchmark, the CBAM factor phase-in from 97.5 % in 2026 to zero in 2034, with worked examples.
• CBAM penaltiesPenalties for not surrendering certificates, for importing above the threshold without authorisation, and the other consequences importers face.
• Downstream extension 2028The Commission's December 2025 proposal to bring around 180 steel- and aluminium-intensive downstream products into CBAM, the Parliament and Council positions, and what importers should do now.