There is an important event regarding CBAM Registry nowadays. The application process to become an authorized CBAM declarant is launched on 31 March 2025 in the CBAM Registry. This launch will allow importers and indirect customs representatives to apply for the status of authorised CBAM declarant. You can find guidance detailing the authorisation process on the CBAM website in the dedicated section “Authorisation Management Modul”.
Furthermore, as part of the Omnibus package, also a CBAM simplification package is proposed by the Commission based on the experience gained in implementing the CBAM Regulation since the mechanism started to apply in its transitional phase on 1 October 2023. Based on these experiences and on the assessment of stakeholders’ feedback since 1 October 2023, it has become clear that CBAM requires two types of main simplifications:
- a broader derogation from CBAM requirements of importers of very small quantities of CBAM goods, and
- a set of simplifications for the rest of the importers of CBAM goods to facilitate their compliance with the administrative requirements.
The first proposed simplification is expected to exempt around 90% of importers from CBAM obligations, while maintaining more than 99% of embedded emissions in scope of CBAM, thereby safeguarding the environmental nature of the mechanism. The new CBAM de minimis threshold exemption is 50 tonnes mass (new Annex VII).
Secondly, the proposal contains a set of simplifications for importers of CBAM goods above the threshold to facilitate their compliance with the reporting requirements. In particular, the proposal simplifies and streamlines the authorisation procedure for national competent authorities and the Commission, the data collection processes from third country producers to authorised CBAM declarants, the calculation of embedded emissions for certain goods, the emission verification rules, the calculation of the authorised CBAM declarants’ financial liability during the year of imports into the EU and the claim by authorised CBAM declarants for carbon prices paid in third countries where goods are produced.
You can check the details here: https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/carbon-border-adjustment-mechanism_en#latest-developments
Going forward, the next steps will include a full review of CBAM later this year, to assess its potential extension to other ETS sectors, downstream goods, indirect emissions. The Commission will also examine, how to help exporters of CBAM products at risk of carbon leakage. This will be followed by a legislative proposal in early 2026.
