CBAM importer obligations beyond the annual declaration

By Ahmed Medhat · Published17 October 2026

Most guidance on CBAM importer obligations stops at two dates: the CBAM declaration and the surrender of certificates, both due by 30 September each year, the first time in 2027 for 2026 (Regulation (EU) 2023/956, Articles 6(1) and 22(1)). Our dates article and our eleven importer questions cover those, and the quarterly holding.

This piece covers the rest: the duties that come with the status of authorised CBAM declarant and have no 30 September date. An article with no act named is in Regulation (EU) 2023/956. "IR 2025/486" means Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/486 on the status, as amended by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2549.

Who carries them

The importer is the person that lodges the customs declaration for release for free circulation (or a bill of discharge) in its own name and on its own behalf, or, where an indirect customs representative lodges it, the person on whose behalf it is lodged (Article 3(15)). An importer established in a Member State applies for the status before importing (Article 5(1)). An importer whose imports do not exceed 50 tonnes net mass in a calendar year, summed across all CN codes, is exempt from the obligations (Article 2a(1) and Annex VII); this does not apply to electricity or hydrogen (Article 2a(4)). An importer that crosses the threshold during the year is subject to all the obligations for all goods imported in that year, not only those above it (Article 2a(2)). An exempt importer must apply where it expects to exceed the threshold (Article 5(1b)).

An indirect customs representative that acts as the authorised CBAM declarant for an importer carries the importer's obligations for the goods it imports on that importer's behalf (Article 5(2a)). If the importer is not established in a Member State, the indirect customs representative must hold the status (Article 5(2)).

A declarant may have someone else submit its CBAM declarations. It "shall remain responsible for compliance with the obligations applicable to it" (Article 5(7a)).

Keep the registry information current

The application gives the competent authority the declarant's details, its EORI number, its financial and operational capacity, and its estimated imports for the year of application and the next (Article 5(5)). After the status is granted, the declarant "shall inform without delay the competent authority, via the CBAM registry, of any changes" to that information that may influence the decision or the content of the authorisation (Article 5(7)).

A change of that kind is one of the cases in which the competent authority reassesses the status. The others it names are information that the quarterly holding under Article 22(2) might no longer be met, information that the criteria for the status might not be met, and an invalidated EORI number (IR 2025/486, Article 18(1)).

The guarantee, for recently established applicants

The competent authority "shall require the provision of a guarantee if the applicant was not established throughout the two financial years preceding the year" of the application (Article 17(5)). The amount is the value of the CBAM certificates the declarant would have to surrender for the imports it estimated in its application, after the adjustment for free allocation under Article 31. The guarantee is "a bank guarantee, payable at first demand, by a financial institution operating in the Union or another form of guarantee which provides equivalent assurance" (Article 17(5)).

It does not stay fixed. The declarant must keep it at a level sufficient to cover the certificates it would have to surrender for the goods it actually imports, compared with its estimate, "at any time" (IR 2025/486, Article 14(2) and (3)). Where the competent authority asks for an adjustment, the declarant provides it within the time limit the authority sets, which "shall not exceed 2 months", extendable on a reasoned request to no more than 3 months from the request (IR 2025/486, Article 16(3) and (4)). An adjustment not provided in time starts the revocation procedure (IR 2025/486, Article 16(5)).

The guarantee is released "immediately after 30 September of the second year in which the authorised CBAM declarant has surrendered CBAM certificates" (Article 17(7)).

Keep the records for four years

The declarant keeps the information needed to calculate the embedded emissions, as set out in Annex V (Article 7(5)). For every import that means its name and CBAM account number, and the type and quantity of each type of goods, their country of origin, and the actual emissions or default values (Annex V, section 1). Where it declares actual emissions, it also keeps the identification of the installation, the operator's contact information, the verification reports, the specific embedded emissions of the goods, and the information and method used to calculate them (Annex V, section 2).

The records are kept "until the end of the fourth year after the year in which the CBAM declaration has been or should have been submitted" (Article 7(6)). For the 2026 declaration, due in 2027, that is the end of 2031. Where the declarant claims a reduction for a carbon price effectively paid in a third country (Article 9(1)), the documentation showing it was paid, certified by a person independent of the declarant and of that country's authorities, and the evidence of the actual payment, are kept for the same period (Article 9(2) and (3)). A claim by reference to yearly default carbon prices under Article 9(4) is a derogation from these paragraphs.

A declaration stays open to review

The Commission, and the competent authority of the Member State where the declarant is established, may review a CBAM declaration "within the period ending with the fourth year after the year during which the CBAM declarations should have been submitted" (Article 19(2)). The review may include an audit "at the premises of the authorised CBAM declarant".

If the competent authority concludes that the declared number of certificates is wrong, it determines the right number and asks the declarant to surrender the additional certificates "within one month" (Article 19(5)). If too many were surrendered, the excess is repurchased (Article 19(6)). This is why the records above run for the same four years.

Special cases in the declaration

Three customs situations change what goes into the declaration:

• Inward processing. Where processed products from inward processing are imported, the declarant reports the emissions embedded in the goods that went into the processing, "even where the processed products are not goods listed in Annex I" (Article 6(3)).
• Outward processing. Where the imported Annex I goods are processed products from outward processing, the declarant reports "only the emissions of the processing operation undertaken outside the customs territory of the Union" (Article 6(4)).
• Returned goods. The declarant reports "'zero' for the total embedded emissions" of returned goods, separately (Article 6(5)).

If the status is revoked

The competent authority revokes the status on the declarant's request, or where the declarant no longer meets the criteria, or has been involved in a serious or repeated infringement of the surrender or of the quarterly holding (Article 17(8)). Before revoking, it gives the declarant the possibility to be heard, with a time limit for observations of no more than 15 calendar days, or 5 calendar days for an immediate revocation (IR 2025/486, Article 27(2), as amended). An appeal does not suspend the revocation decision (IR 2025/486, Article 27(5)).

Revocation does not end the obligations for goods already imported. The person "shall comply with the obligation to submit a CBAM declaration … for goods imported prior to the revocation" (IR 2025/486, Article 20(1)). That declaration is filed within one month of the revocation date, where the declarant asked for revocation, or of the notification of the decision, where the authority revoked, and the certificates it calculates are surrendered within 15 calendar days (IR 2025/486, Articles 21(4) and (7), 23(4) and (7)). What it covers depends on the date:

• Revocation date (on request) or notification of the revocation decision (by the authority) on or before 30 September: the goods imported before that date and not otherwise covered by a CBAM declaration (IR 2025/486, Articles 21(2) and 23(2)).
• Revocation date or notification after 30 September: the goods imported between 1 January of that year and that date (IR 2025/486, Articles 21(3) and 23(3)).

For a revocation that takes effect in 2026, the certificates are surrendered by 15 February 2027 (IR 2025/486, Articles 21(10) and 23(8)). If the person cannot file the declaration, it gives the competent authority the quantities of goods imported, and the authority establishes the declaration itself on default values (IR 2025/486, Articles 21(5) and (6), 23(5) and (6)).

The CBAM account stays "closed" until the fifth year after revocation, and the competent authority reopens it so that certificates found owing on a review are surrendered (IR 2025/486, Article 24(3) and (4)). The person may apply again "at any time, where the obligations in paragraph 1 were fulfilled" (IR 2025/486, Article 20(2)).

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For the importer's side of the product, see the declarant module for importers and authorised CBAM declarants.