Question 1

By when must the CBAM declaration be submitted and certificates surrendered for goods imported in 2026?

Accepted Answer

By 30 September 2027. The annual CBAM declaration and the surrender of CBAM certificates both fall on 30 September of the year after the imports (Articles 6(1) and 22(1) of Regulation (EU) 2023/956, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2025/2083).

Question 2

How does the CBAM 50 tonne de minimis threshold work?

Accepted Answer

An importer is exempt for a calendar year while the net mass of the Annex I goods it imports in that year does not cumulatively exceed 50 tonnes (Article 2a(1) of Regulation (EU) 2023/956). Once it is exceeded, every tonne imported that year is in scope (Article 2a(2)).

Question 3

When can CBAM certificates be bought, how is the 2026 price set, and how many must be held each quarter?

Accepted Answer

Certificates go on sale on 1 February 2027 (Article 20(1)). Certificates for 2026 emissions are priced at the quarterly average EU ETS price of the quarter of import (Article 21(1a)). There is no quarterly holding for 2026; from 2027 the account must cover at least 50 percent of the emissions embedded in goods imported since the start of the year at each quarter end (Article 22(2)).

Question 4

Can we keep importing CBAM goods while our application for authorisation is pending?

Accepted Answer

Only if you applied by 31 March 2026. Article 4 lets only an authorised CBAM declarant import CBAM goods. Under Article 17(7a), an importer or indirect customs representative that applied for authorisation by 31 March 2026 may keep importing while the authority decides. That window has closed: an importer that did not apply by then must be authorised before importing above the threshold.

Question 5

What are the CBAM penalties for not surrendering certificates and for importing without authorisation?

Accepted Answer

There are two penalties and they are not interchangeable. An authorised declarant that fails to surrender certificates by 30 September pays the EU ETS excess emissions penalty for each certificate not surrendered (Article 26(1)). A person importing without authorisation pays three to five times that amount on the whole year's embedded emissions (Article 26(2) and (2a)).

Question 6

Are goods from Norway, Switzerland or Türkiye exempt from CBAM?

Accepted Answer

Goods originating in Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland are outside CBAM and do not count toward the 50 tonne threshold (Article 2(4) and Annex III of Regulation (EU) 2023/956). Türkiye is not in Annex III: the EU-Türkiye customs union gives no CBAM exemption.

Question 7

Are steel structures and lattice towers under CN heading 7308 listed in CBAM Annex I?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2023/956 lists iron and steel headings 7301 to 7311, 7318 and 7326, so 7308 structures, towers and their parts are CBAM goods and count toward the 50 tonne threshold.

Question 8

Do finished transformers (8504), motors (8501) or insulated cables (8544) count as CBAM goods?

Accepted Answer

No, not today. Chapter 85 goods are not in Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2023/956, so they carry no CBAM duty and do not count toward the 50 tonne threshold. A Commission proposal of 17 December 2025, COM(2025) 989, would extend CBAM to some downstream steel and aluminium intensive goods from 2028; it is a proposal, not law.

Question 9

Do indirect emissions from the electricity used in production count in the CBAM embedded emissions of steel or aluminium?

Accepted Answer

No. Annex II of Regulation (EU) 2023/956 lists iron and steel, aluminium, hydrogen and electricity (CN 2716 00 00, added by Regulation (EU) 2025/2083) as goods for which only direct emissions are taken into account (Article 7(1)). Indirect emissions count only for cement and fertilisers.

Question 10

If we declare embedded emissions with default values, can we deduct the carbon price our supplier paid?

Accepted Answer

Only through default carbon prices. Where default values are used, the deduction for a carbon price paid in the country of origin follows the default carbon prices route of Article 9(4) of Regulation (EU) 2023/956. Deducting the carbon price actually paid requires declared actual emissions and evidence of the payment (Article 9(1) and (2)).

Question 11

We export steel to an importer in the EU. Who declares under CBAM and surrenders certificates, us or them?

Accepted Answer

The EU side. The authorised CBAM declarant, normally the importer in the EU or its indirect customs representative, declares and surrenders certificates (Articles 4, 6 and 22). An operator outside the EU may ask to be registered in the CBAM registry (Article 10), and has its embedded emissions verified by an accredited verifier (Article 10(5) and Article 18).

Question 12

How does the phase-out of EU ETS free allocation change the number of CBAM certificates surrendered each year?

Accepted Answer

The CBAM obligation is reduced to reflect the free allocation EU producers of the same goods still receive (Article 31 of Regulation (EU) 2023/956), and that free allocation shrinks each year under Article 10a(1a) of Directive 2003/87/EC: the CBAM factor is 97,5 percent in 2026, 95 in 2027, 90 in 2028, 77,5 in 2029, 51,5 in 2030, 39 in 2031, 26,5 in 2032 and 14 in 2033, and from 2034 there is none. So the share of embedded emissions you pay for rises every year until it is the whole.

Question 13

From when can SF6 switchgear no longer be put into operation in the EU, by voltage?

Accepted Answer

Article 13(9) of Regulation (EU) 2024/573 prohibits putting into operation switchgear that uses fluorinated greenhouse gases in its insulating or breaking medium: from 1 January 2026 up to and including 24 kV; from 1 January 2030 above 24 kV up to and including 52 kV; from 1 January 2028 above 52 kV up to and including 145 kV and up to 50 kA; from 1 January 2032 above 145 kV or above 50 kA.

Question 14

Can we avoid the 2026 medium voltage ban by switching to a C5 fluoroketone with a GWP below 1?

Accepted Answer

No. The medium voltage bands of Article 13(9)(a) and (b) of Regulation (EU) 2024/573 carry no GWP threshold: they cover switchgear using any fluorinated greenhouse gas, and Article 2(a) brings in the gases of Annexes I to III. The C5 fluoroketone (Annex III, GWP 0,29) and heptafluoroisobutyronitrile (Annex I, GWP 2 750) are caught as squarely as SF6 (GWP 24 300). Only the high voltage bands are limited to a GWP of 1 or more.

Question 15

Is it illegal to make, sell or export SF6 switchgear to EU customers from 2026?

Accepted Answer

No. Article 13(9) of Regulation (EU) 2024/573 prohibits putting switchgear into operation, not making, selling, importing or exporting it. Annex IV, which carries the placing on the market prohibitions of Article 11(1), has no entry for electrical switchgear. The prohibition binds the operator who puts the switchgear into operation in the EU, by voltage band.

Question 16

Does SF6 switchgear need periodic leak checks, and how often?

Accepted Answer

Article 5(1) of Regulation (EU) 2024/573 requires leak checks on equipment with 5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent or more, but switchgear is exempt where it has a tested leakage rate below 0,1 percent a year and is labelled so, or a pressure or density monitor with an automatic alert, or less than 6 kg of gas. Otherwise Article 5(6) sets the frequency: every 12 months below 50 t CO2 equivalent, every 6 months from 50 to 500 t, every 3 months from 500 t (24, 12 and 6 months with a leakage detection system). One kilogram of SF6 is 24,3 t CO2 equivalent (GWP 24 300).

Question 17

Can existing switchgear still be topped up with SF6 after 2035?

Accepted Answer

Yes, but only with reclaimed or recycled SF6. From 1 January 2035, Article 13(7) of Regulation (EU) 2024/573 prohibits using SF6 for the maintenance or servicing of switchgear unless it is reclaimed or recycled, except where that gas cannot be used on technical grounds or is not available in an emergency repair, with the justification given to the authority on request. Until then virgin SF6 may still be used for servicing.

Question 18

What are the penalties for breaching the F-gas Regulation (EU) 2024/573?

Accepted Answer

The penalties are set by each Member State, not by the Regulation (Article 31(1)); Member States had to notify their rules before 1 January 2026. They must include fines (or equally effective criminal penalties), confiscation of illegally obtained goods and temporary bans for serious or repeated infringements (Article 31(3)). For unlawful production, import, export, placing on the market or use, the maximum fine must be at least five times the market value of the gases or equipment concerned, and at least eight times for a repeat within five years (Article 31(4)).

Question 19

The Ecodesign Directive was repealed. Do Regulation (EU) No 548/2014 on transformers and the motor regulation still apply?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR) repealed Directive 2009/125/EC from 18 July 2024, but not the regulations adopted under it: Regulation (EU) No 548/2014 on power transformers and Regulation (EU) 2019/1781 on motors and drives still bind until they are repealed or replaced (Article 79(1)(b)). 31 December 2026 is not an end date for them and not a start date for ESPR. ESPR sets requirements for a product only through a delegated act under Article 4.

Question 20

Do we need a digital product passport for our products from 2026?

Accepted Answer

Only once a delegated act for your product group requires one. Under Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 a product needs a digital product passport only where the delegated act under Article 4 for that product group says so, and that act sets the data and the data carrier. The registry rules in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778, in force since 6 August 2026, organise registration; they do not by themselves require a passport.

Question 21

Does the ESPR ban on destroying unsold products apply to cables, meters, transformers or other electrical equipment?

Accepted Answer

No. The ban in Article 25(1) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 applies from 19 July 2026 only to the consumer products in Annex VII: apparel, clothing accessories and footwear. Components and intermediate products are not consumer products (Article 2(36)), and no grid equipment is in Annex VII. Micro and small enterprises are exempt; medium-sized enterprises are covered from 19 July 2030.

Question 22

Which product groups does the ESPR working plan cover, and in which years?

Accepted Answer

The Commission's first working plan under Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, COM(2025) 187 of 16 April 2025, gives indicative years for adopting delegated acts: iron and steel 2026, aluminium 2027, textiles and apparel 2027, tyres 2027, furniture 2028, mattresses 2029, repairability (horizontal) 2027, recycled content and recyclability of electrical and electronic equipment (horizontal) 2029, and among the energy-related products carried over, electric motors and variable speed drives 2028 and EV chargers 2028. These are adoption years, not dates the requirements apply; the plan itself imposes nothing.

EU Energy Regulation, Answered from the Act

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