EU Parliament Approves CBAM Exemption for Most Importers
The European Parliament on Sept. 10 gave its final approval for a revised carbon border adjustment mechanism that it said will exempt 90% of European importers from the new rules. The change, first unveiled by the European Commission in a May proposal (see 2505230008 and 2506180053), aims to “reduce the administrative burden” for smaller and mid-sized European companies, or those that are “occasional importers,” the Parliament said.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
The exemption excludes companies that import small quantities of goods covered by the carbon tax -- less than 50 metric tons of those goods per year. But the Parliament stressed that the “climate ambition behind the mechanism remains unchanged, as 99% of total CO2 emissions from imports of iron, steel, aluminium, cement and fertilisers will still be covered by the CBAM.”
Other changes to the law will put in place “anti-abuse provisions” to “prevent circumvention of the rules,” while other rules will be simplified, such as the CBAM's authorisation process, the calculation of emissions, verification rules and the “financial liability of authorised CBAM declarants.”
The changes must next be approved by the European Council. The CBAM will require traders to pay taxes beginning in 2026 (see 2310020037 and 2410170036).