On 10 September 2025, the European Parliament gave the green light to the changes to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) agreed as part of the Omnibus I simplification package.
From now on, importers established in the EU whose expected imports of goods falling within the scope of the CBAM do not exceed 50 tons of net mass per calendar year will be able to continue importing without additional constraints. They will only have to obtain authorised CBAM declarant status and comply with the obligations laid down in Regulation (EU) 2023/956 (CBAM declarations, purchase and exchange of CBAM certificates, etc.) if their import forecasts exceed this new de minimis threshold, also during the year in question.
As for importers not established in the EU, they will not be able to import goods falling within the scope of the CBAM, unless they use a customs representative acting as an indirect representative and agreeing to be their authorised CBAM declarant, even if their imports are exempt from the CBAM because they do not exceed the de minimis threshold of 50 tons per year.
While the new de minimis threshold is a boon for importers, it will become a source of danger for customs representatives who choose to offer authorised CBAM declarant services. The application of the CBAM to almost all imports (i.e. to every shipment with a value exceeding €150, the former de minimis threshold) had the advantage of encouraging operators to be cautious, forcing them to use the services of professionals specialising in emissions calculation, whose involvement was a guarantee of the reliability of the data provided to customs representatives. This guarantee will no longer apply when importers instruct customs representatives to clear goods under the de minimis exemption. A customs representative unfamiliar with the subject may consider that using the de minimis exemption is a risk-free operation, but he or she would be wrong: no one can guarantee that this exemption will not be challenged at a later stage, either because the importer has exceeded the de minimis threshold during the year in question, or because the importer has attempted to circumvent the system (by cheating on the declared weight, splitting imports and using front men, etc.). The customs representative acting as the authorised CBAM declarant will then be the only person on the front line, as the regulation now expressly states that “where an indirect customs representative acts as an authorised CBAM declarant on behalf of an importer, the indirect customs representative should be subject to the obligations applicable to that importer pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2023/956, in particular the obligation to submit a CBAM declaration in respect of the goods imported by the indirect customs representative on behalf of that importer and to surrender the CBAM certificates in respect of emissions embedded in those goods. As a result, in the event of non-compliance, it should be the indirect customs representative that is subject to penalties under Regulation (EU) 2023/956” (recital 8 of the draft amending regulation).
Customs representatives who choose to assist their clients in managing the CBAM will need to pay particular attention to the contractual aspects of their offer and think carefully about the best way to cover the relevant risks.
