CBAM

CBAM 50-tonne threshold: who is exempt

Under CBAM, importers of 50 tonnes a year or less are exempt, but the count is the importer’s, not yours. How it works, what happens above the line and what exporters should ask their customers.

By Brahim Eloidii, Co-Founder, ESG & CSR Lead

Published 29 October 2026 · Sources last checked 23 October 2026

What the threshold is

The CBAM Regulation now has a de minimis exemption, set out in a new Article 2a introduced by Regulation (EU) 2025/2083. An importer is exempt from the obligations of the Regulation when the net mass of the goods it imports in a calendar year does not cumulatively exceed a single mass-based threshold. Annex VII sets that threshold at 50 tonnes of net mass.

It replaced the earlier approach, which exempted consignments below a set value. The Regulation explains the change: only a small share of importers account for most of the emissions embedded in imported goods, so exempting small quantities by mass leaves the mechanism covering the emissions that matter.

How the 50 tonnes are counted

• Per importer, not per supplier and not per consignment. Everything your customer imports in the calendar year is added together, whoever supplied it.
• Across all customs (CN) codes of the covered goods. Article 2a says the threshold applies to the total net mass of goods under all CN codes, aggregated per importer and per calendar year. The recitals explain that this means iron and steel, aluminium, fertilisers and cement together.
• By net mass. The weight that counts is the net mass of the goods, in tonnes.
• Electricity and hydrogen are outside it. Article 2a(4) says the exemption does not apply to imports of electricity or hydrogen.

The importer is the person who lodges the customs declaration in its own name, or the person on whose behalf an indirect customs representative lodges it. Who that is depends on how your sale is set up, so it is worth confirming with your customer.

What happens above the threshold

Article 2a(2) is the part that surprises people. Once an importer exceeds the threshold within a calendar year, it is subject to all the obligations of the Regulation for all the emissions embedded in all the goods it imported in that year. The 50 tonnes are not a free allowance and the obligations do not apply only to the excess.

• The importer must hold the status of authorised CBAM declarant. An importer established in an EU Member State applies for it before importing goods, and Article 5(1b) says an importer that expects to exceed the threshold must submit the application.
• Where the importer is not established in a Member State, an indirect customs representative has to obtain the status of authorised CBAM declarant (Article 5(2)).
• The declarant files an annual CBAM declaration and surrenders certificates. The first declaration, for 2026 imports, is due by 30 September 2027.
• An importer that stays below the threshold declares the exemption in the relevant customs declaration (Article 2a(1)).

Splitting imports does not work

The Regulation anticipates attempts to stay under the line. Because the threshold is counted per importer, the recitals note that it removes the risk of avoiding it by splitting consignments. Article 27, on anti-circumvention, also names artificially splitting imports, including through non-genuine arrangements, to avoid exceeding the threshold. The Commission shares with national authorities, through the CBAM registry, a list of importers that exceed 90% of the threshold.

The 2026 transition

The Regulation recognised that many importers would apply for authorisation at the start of 2026. An importer or indirect customs representative that had submitted an application by 31 March 2026 may provisionally continue to import until the authority decides. If the application is refused, the embedded emissions of the goods imported since 1 January 2026 are established, using default values where needed, and penalties are calculated on them. That deadline has passed, so any importer that still has not applied and goes over the threshold should speak to its customs adviser straight away.

The threshold can move

Fifty tonnes is the initial level, not a fixed one. By 30 April each year the Commission checks, using the preceding 12 months of import data, that the exempt imports account for no more than 1% of the emissions embedded in imported goods. If the threshold that follows from the method in Annex VII differs from the current one by more than 15 tonnes, the Commission adopts a delegated act to change it, and the new value applies from 1 January of the following year. Check the current figure before you rely on 50.

What this means for exporters

1. Do not assume a small customer is exempt. Ask each EU customer whether it expects to exceed 50 tonnes across all its suppliers in the year, and whether it is applying for, or already has, the authorised declarant status.
2. If you sell to a customer that is below the threshold today, ask how it will track its total, because a change of supplier or a larger order elsewhere can move it over.
3. For customers that are over, find out whether they will declare on default values or actual data, and what they need from you and by when. That is where verified installation data makes the difference.
4. Check who the importer is in your contracts and delivery terms, because the threshold, the declaration and the obligations sit with that person.
5. Keep a simple record of what you shipped to each EU customer by CN code and by month. It helps your customer count its total and answers most questions a customer or verifier will ask.

The free CBAM Compass Report shows how ready your installation is and the cost per tonne your buyers may face on default values, in about three minutes.