Authorised CBAM declarant: who needs the status, how to apply, and what happens without it

An authorised CBAM declarant is a business that a national authority has cleared to import goods on the CBAM list (Art. 3(17)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 3, point 17Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 17Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 17Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Since 1 January 2026 it is the only kind of importer that customs let through with those goods, apart from one within the 50-tonne yearly threshold. CBAM explains the scheme, the goods list and the money; this page is about the status itself.

Who needs the status of authorised CBAM declarant

Only an authorised CBAM declarant may import listed goods. Customs do not allow anyone else, except an importer within the threshold (Art. 4Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 25(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 25, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Which importer must hold it depends on where the importer is established and how it declares:

An importer is the person who lodges the declaration for release for free circulation in its own name, or, where an indirect customs representative lodges it, the person on whose behalf it does (Art. 3(15)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 3, point 15Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Who that is for your goods is on importer of record.

A business is established in an EU country if its registered office, central headquarters or permanent business establishment is there (Art. 3(19)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 3, point 19Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The Commission’s Q&A takes up one case, a branch in the EU of a company outside it. Where the branch is not a permanent business establishment of the parent and is not itself a person in the sense of Art. 3(18)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 3, point 18Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., neither the branch nor the parent can be authorised, and both need an indirect customs representative (Commission Q&A 7.4). Where the branch is a permanent business establishment, the parent counts as established in that country (Art. 3(19)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 3, point 19Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., point (b)), and it can apply there (Article 1(3) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/486). The Q&A adds that a branch that is a person in the sense of Art. 3(18)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 3, point 18Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. is dealt with by the authority of the country where it is established.

From when the status is required

The regime has been in its definitive period since 1 January 2026, and the consolidated Regulation on the Commission’s list of CBAM legislation is the text after Regulation (EU) 2025/2083. That list shows no later amending act on 5 October 2026.

An application made after 31 March 2026 gives no right to keep importing while it waits. The status has to be granted before the threshold is crossed (recitals (10) and (11) of Regulation (EU) 2025/2083). An importer that applied by 31 March 2026 could keep importing until the authority decided. If the authority then refused, it works out the emissions in the goods imported from 1 January 2026 on default values and uses them to set the penalty (Art. 17(7a)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 17, paragraph 7aClick opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 26(2a)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 26, paragraph 2aClick opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

How to apply through the CBAM registry

The application is lodged electronically through the CBAM registry. The authority of the EU country where the applicant is established decides it, and the status is then recognised in every EU country (Art. 5(3)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 5, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 17(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 17, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.; Article 1(1) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/486). The Commission’s page on the registry says importers and indirect customs representatives apply in its Authorisation Management Module, and that all users set up two-factor authentication on an EU Login account first (CBAM Registry). Each application gets a unique reference number in the registry (Article 1(4) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/486).

The application gives:

• your name, address and contact information, and your EORI number;
• your main economic activity in the EU;
• a certificate from the tax authority of the country where you are established that you have no outstanding recovery order for national tax debts;
• a declaration of honour that in the five years before the year of application you were not involved in serious or repeated infringements of customs, tax or market abuse rules, and have no record of serious criminal offences linked to your business;
• information that shows your financial and operational capacity. If the authority decides on a risk assessment, it also asks for documents such as the profit and loss account and balance sheet for up to the last three financial years with closed accounts;
• the quantity of goods you expect to import, by type of goods and EU country of import, for the year of application and the year after;
• the number of your authorised economic operator certificate, if you have one;
• the names and contact information of the persons you act for, if you act for anyone.

That is the list in Art. 5(5)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 5, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., points (a) to (h). A legal person from a third country that has its registered office, central headquarters or a permanent business establishment in the EU gives its address in the third country, its address of establishment and the EORI number from the EU country where it applies (Article 1(3) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/486).

What happens to the application:

• The authority has 120 calendar days from receipt to assess it. If you ask to adjust your application, it may add 30 days. If it asks you for more information, you answer within the deadline it sets, 30 days at most, and the whole assessment takes at most 180 days (Article 2(4), Article 4(1), Article 5(2), Article 5(3) and Article 5(4) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/486).
• The authority may consult other competent authorities and the Commission through the registry. The Regulation sets the consultation at no more than 15 calendar days (Art. 17(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 17, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The authority sets the deadline for the consulted parties at 15 calendar days or less. It may extend that deadline in two cases: you ask for adjustments that it accepts, or a consulted party asks for more time because of the examinations it must perform. An extension for more time does not exceed 15 further calendar days (Article 12(1) and Article 12(2) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/486). The Commission’s Q&A 2.2 says 15 working days; the Regulation says calendar days and prevails.
• It must refuse an applicant that is not established in its country, and an applicant that fails the criteria below or leaves out information listed in Art. 5(5)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 5, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.. The refusal states its reasons and the right to appeal (Art. 17(3)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 17, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.; Article 4(4) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/486).
• Before it refuses, it tells you and gives you a period of at most 30 calendar days to send observations (Article 6 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/486).
• The decision takes effect on the day it is registered in the CBAM registry and you are notified there. Where a guarantee is required, on the day the guarantee is registered (Article 7 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/486).
• The decision names your EORI number, your CBAM account number and the guarantee. The Commission opens your account in the registry and tells you (Art. 17(4)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 17, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 16(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 16, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 16(3)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 16, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The account number shows which EU country granted the status (Article 17(2) of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/486).

You can withdraw an application at any time (Art. 5(6)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 5, paragraph 6Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Once you hold the status, you tell the authority without delay of any change to what you applied with that could affect the decision (Art. 5(7)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 5, paragraph 7Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). You may hand the submission of your CBAM declarations to another person acting in your name, and you stay responsible for them (Art. 5(7a)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 5, paragraph 7aClick opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

What the authority checks before it grants the status

The authority grants the status when four criteria are met (Art. 17(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 17, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 17(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 17, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.):

The guarantee for a business that is new

An authority requires a guarantee where the applicant was not established throughout the two financial years before the year it applied. It sets the amount at the value of the certificates the applicant would have to surrender for the imports it estimated in the application, after the adjustment for EU free allocation. The guarantee is a bank guarantee payable at first demand by a financial institution operating in the EU, or another form that gives equal assurance (Art. 17(5)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 17, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The authority can ask for more, or a replacement, if the guarantee no longer covers the imports (Art. 17(6)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 17, paragraph 6Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). You then have the time it sets, at most 2 months from the request, and at most 3 months if it grants an extension on your reasoned request. If you miss that, it starts revocation (Article 16 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/486). It releases the guarantee immediately after 30 September of the second year in which you surrendered certificates (Art. 17(7)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 17, paragraph 7Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The route for a business outside the EU: an indirect customs representative

A business outside the EU is not established in an EU country, so no authority can authorise it (Art. 17(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 17, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., point (c)). The law gives it one route. Its indirect customs representative obtains the status, whatever the tonnage, and acts as its declarant (Art. 5(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 5, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

Under the Union Customs Code a customs representative acts in one of two ways: directly, in your name and on your behalf, or indirectly, in its own name but on your behalf (UCC Art. 18(1)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 18, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). For CBAM, the indirect one is the representative that counts. You remain the importer, and the representative stays the declarant (Art. 3(15)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 3, point 15Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). What that means:

• The representative must hold the status before it declares your listed goods. It applies in the EU country where it is established (Art. 5(1a)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 5, paragraph 1aClick opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 5(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 5, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• It carries your obligations for the goods it declares for you: the CBAM declaration, the surrender of certificates and the penalties (Art. 5(2a)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 5, paragraph 2aClick opens the article on EUR-Lex.; recital (8) of Regulation (EU) 2025/2083).
• A representative that declares your listed goods cannot decline the declarant role. Where the importer is not established in the EU, the importer must appoint an indirect representative that fulfils the CBAM obligations. Only for an EU importer may a representative decline to act as declarant (Commission Q&A 7.2).
• One representative per customs declaration. For goods on the same declaration, only one indirect representative acts as authorised CBAM declarant (Commission Q&A 7.1). You can use different representatives for different declarations, and each answers for the goods it declared (Commission Q&A 1.19).
• One annual CBAM declaration per representative. A representative acting for several importers files a single declaration for everything it declared that year (Commission Q&A 1.19).
• Your threshold counts everything you import. Imports count whether you declare them or a representative does. Where you pass 50 tonnes, each representative acting as declarant files for all the goods it imported for you, the goods under the threshold included (recital (7) of Regulation (EU) 2025/2083).
• Whoever puts the CBAM account number in the customs declaration is the declarant (Commission Q&A 1.18).

The representative needs your data to calculate the emissions. What it asks for, and why verified emissions data lowers the bill, is on CBAM.

Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, published on 19 September 2026, repeals the Union Customs Code and applies from 21 September 2027, with some provisions earlier (Art. 284(1), Art. 287(2) and 287(3) of Regulation (EU) 2026/2108). Its correlation table maps each reference to the old Code to the new one. The UCC articles named on this page are those in force today.

If your imports stay at or under 50 tonnes

An importer whose listed goods, other than hydrogen and electricity, do not cumulatively exceed 50 tonnes of net mass in a calendar year is exempt from the obligations of the Regulation. That holds even for one that already has the status. The 50 tonnes count all CN codes together, per importer, per calendar year (Art. 2a(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 2a, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Annex VII, point 1). In practice:

• You do not apply, unless you expect to pass the line (Art. 5(1b)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 5, paragraph 1bClick opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• You claim the exemption in each customs declaration (Art. 2a(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 2a, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The Commission gives the TARIC document code Y137 for an importer that does not expect to exceed 50 tonnes. From the moment it is foreseeable that it will, the code is Y128 with the CBAM account number (Commission Q&A 7.23).
• You count from 1 January. Once you pass the line, all obligations apply to all the emissions in all the goods you imported that year, the first 50 tonnes included (Art. 2a(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 2a, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• Someone is watching the count. The Commission monitors imports, the authority of your country may too, and the authorities receive a list of importers past 90% of the threshold (Art. 25a(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 25a, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Customs report to the Commission your EORI number, the eight-digit CN code, the quantity and the origin of each listed import (Art. 25(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 25, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• Splitting does not work. An authority disregards an arrangement made mainly to fall below the threshold that has no valid commercial reason, and treats it as a serious infringement (Art. 25a(4)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 25a, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 27(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 27, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., point (b)). A serious infringement is a ground to refuse the status later.
• A business outside the EU still needs an authorised representative. The exemption does not release the indirect customs representative from holding the status (Art. 5(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 5, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The Commission reviews the figure each year and changes it only by delegated act, from the next 1 January (Art. 2a(3)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 2a, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Where it stands is on CBAM.

What happens if you import without the status

Customs do not allow the importation of listed goods by anyone other than an authorised CBAM declarant, except an importer within the threshold (Art. 25(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 25, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The Commission’s Q&A confirms it: from 2026 customs prohibit that import (Commission Q&A 2.3). For goods that reach free circulation without the CBAM requirements met, it says Article 198(1)(b)Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, Union Customs CodeArticle 198, paragraph 1, point (b)Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. of the Union Customs Code applies, which lets customs take any necessary measures, including confiscation and sale, or destruction (Commission Q&A 7.6).

The penalty depends on who you are:

• A person other than an authorised declarant that brings listed goods in without meeting the Regulation pays three to five times the penalty below, for each certificate not surrendered. An importer within the 50-tonne exemption has no obligations to fail. The authority picks the multiple from the duration, gravity, scope, intent and repetition, and your cooperation (Art. 26(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 26, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• An importer that passes 50 tonnes without the status pays the same three-to-five-times penalty on the whole emissions of that year’s imports. Paying releases it from the duty to declare and surrender for those imports. The authority may go lower where the importer went over by no more than 10% of the threshold, 5 tonnes, or in the provisional-import cases, but never below the penalty an authorised declarant pays (Art. 26(2a)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 26, paragraph 2aClick opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 17(7a)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 17, paragraph 7aClick opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• An authorised declarant that surrenders too few certificates by 30 September pays the EU Emissions Trading System excess emissions penalty, EUR 100 per tonne of CO2 equivalent, raised in line with the European index of consumer prices. Paying does not release it from surrendering the certificates (Art. 26(1)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 26, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 26(3)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 26, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.; Article 16(3) and Article 16(4) of Directive 2003/87/EC).

The authority counts the missing certificates from the net mass imported and the default emission values, after the free allocation adjustment (Art. 26(4a)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 26, paragraph 4aClick opens the article on EUR-Lex.). It tells you its conclusion, its reasons, the amount, the date it is due and your right to appeal (Art. 26(4)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 26, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

Where an importer without the status passes the threshold, the authority of its country decides that it has, gives its reasons and tells it to get the status before importing any more. It also tells customs and the Commission. An appeal does not suspend the decision (Art. 25a(3)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 25a, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Customs then do not allow further imports by that importer until the end of the calendar year or until it gets the status (recital (9) of Regulation (EU) 2025/2083).

Where an indirect customs representative acts as the declarant, it is subject to the importer’s obligations for the goods it declared, penalties included (Art. 5(2a)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 5, paragraph 2aClick opens the article on EUR-Lex.; recital (8) of Regulation (EU) 2025/2083). One that acts for an importer established in the EU and has not agreed to act as declarant is not (same recital). The status can also be taken away: an authority revokes it where the declarant asks, no longer meets the criteria, or is involved in a serious or repeated failure to surrender certificates (Art. 17(8)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 17, paragraph 8Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

What you can set aside

What the law leaves open

• The euro figure of a penalty. The Regulation sets the range, not the sum: EUR 100 per tonne of CO2 equivalent, raised by the consumer price index, times three to five, and the authority of each country chooses the multiple (Art. 26(2)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 26, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.; Article 16(3) and Article 16(4) of Directive 2003/87/EC). The text names no indexed amount for a given year.
• The size of the guarantee. The Regulation gives the formula and leaves the amount to the authority (Art. 17(5)Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Carbon Border Adjustment MechanismArticle 17, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The tax and customs rules beside CBAM are listed on sell into the EU.