(Finance) – The implementation modalities of the law were adopted today by the European Commission Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)valid to regulate its transitional phase which will start on October 1st and end at the end of 2025. Published today, the executive regulation establishes the transitional declaration obligations for European importers of goods subject to the CBAM and the provisional calculation method for emissions intrinsic deriving from the production of such goods.
During the transitional phase of the CBAM, economic operators will simply have to declare the inherent emissions of their imports subject to the Mechanism without having to pay any financial adjustment. In this way, importers will have the necessary time to prepare and familiarize themselves with the methodology which will definitively enter into force in 2026.
To help importers and producers from third countries, the European Commission has published, also today, a guide on the practical implementation of the new rules. Also in order to support importers in carrying out, and therefore in declaring, the required calculations, specific IT tools are being developed. To support companies until the Mechanism becomes operational, training cycles, webinars and tutorials are also planned.
Importers are being asked to collect Q4 data starting October 1 but will have until January 31, 2024 to submit their first declaration. Before being adopted by the EU Commission, the executive regulation was the subject of a public consultation and was subsequently approved by the CBAM Committee, made up of representatives of EU member states. The CBAM, which represents one of the central pillars of the ambitious “Fit for 55” programme, is a crucial tool for achieving climate neutrality in 2050 and aims to prevent the risk of carbon leakage outside the EU (carbon leakage), resulting from the increased level of ambition of European climate targets, encouraging partner countries to establish carbon pricing policies to combat climate change.