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CBAM: the 50-tonne threshold and the new monitoring function in the register

Since 1 January 2026 the CBAM obligations do not apply to an importer whose net mass for the calendar year does not exceed 50 tonnes. The exemption is not a settled position: it is measured over the whole year and, once the threshold is passed, the obligations reach back to every consignment imported since 1 January. By a notice of 6 August 2026 the Italian Customs Agency announced a new function in the CBAM register, which allows the running total to be followed as it builds, including by those who are not authorised declarants, subject to registration and a request for a dedicated profile.

The CBAM de minimis exemption is not a limit to be checked once the year is over: it is a threshold to be watched while the year runs. An importer of goods covered by the mechanism remains outside the obligations for as long as the total net mass imported in the calendar year does not exceed 50 tonnes; the moment it does, that importer becomes subject to every obligation under the regulation in respect of the embedded emissions in all goods imported that year, including those already cleared in earlier months. That is why the notice issued by the Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency on 6 August 2026, which opens a monitoring function in the CBAM register to all importers, matters in practice: it allows the running total to be followed as it builds, rather than discovered after the event.

The threshold: 50 tonnes of net mass, per importer and per calendar year

Regulation (EU) 2025/2083 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 October 2025, published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 17 October 2025, inserted a new Article 2a, headed «De minimis exemption», into Regulation (EU) 2023/956. It exempts importers — «including those having the status of authorised CBAM declarants» — from the obligations under the regulation where the net mass of goods imported in a given calendar year does not cumulatively exceed the single mass-based threshold set out in point 1 of Annex VII. That point sets it at 50 tonnes of net mass. The wording matters: the exemption is available to those who do not exceed 50 tonnes, not only to those who stay comfortably below. The date of application is not left to interpretation: Article 36(2)(b) of the CBAM Regulation, as amended, lists Article 2a among the provisions which «shall apply from 1 January 2026», together with, among others, Article 2(2), Articles 4, 6 to 9, 10a, 15, 19 and 21, Article 22(1) and (3), Articles 23 to 27 and Article 31.

The change of criterion from the original text is not a technicality. The former exclusion, in Article 2(3), looked at the intrinsic value of the individual consignment and fixed the limit by reference to Article 23 of Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 on goods of negligible value, currently 150 euro; the new one looks at quantity, and looks at it cumulatively. Article 2a(1) itself states that the threshold «shall apply to the total net mass of goods of all CN codes aggregated per importer and per calendar year»: not per consignment, not per tariff heading, not per supplier. An importer bringing in fifteen tonnes of steel sections four times a year does not have four allowances: the threshold is crossed during the fourth operation, not at the end of the year.

Two points prevent the most common counting errors. The first concerns the figure to use: net mass is the weight of the goods without packaging, as declared to customs, not the gross weight shown on the transport documents. The second concerns the person: the threshold is measured «per importer», that is, on the single entity lodging the customs declaration or on whose behalf it is lodged, and not on the group; two companies in the same group therefore have two separate running totals, provided each genuinely owns its own imports. On this point, however, the regulation has raised an express guard: Article 27(2)(b), as inserted by Regulation (EU) 2025/2083, treats as a circumvention practice the «artificial splitting of imports, including through non-genuine arrangements, to avoid exceeding the single mass-based threshold». A plurality of entities holds up where it reflects an organisational reality; it does not hold up where it is built in order to stay below 50 tonnes.

Not everything made of metal or cement counts towards the total. Only the goods listed in Annex I to the regulation, identified by CN code, are included: six sectors — cement, electricity, fertilisers, iron and steel, aluminium and hydrogen — together with the downstream products the annex sets out heading by heading, from steel screws and bolts to aluminium profiles. Outside the scope, under Article 2(4), are goods originating in the countries and territories listed in point 1 of Annex III: the annex names Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland as countries, and Büsingen, Helgoland, Livigno, Ceuta and Melilla as territories. Also outside the scope, under Article 2(3), are goods intended to be moved or used in the context of military activities; and, under the new Article 2(3a), electricity generated on the continental shelf or in the exclusive economic zone of a Member State or of a country or territory listed in points 1 and 2 of Annex III, together with hydrogen originating in those same areas. Origin is determined under the non-preferential rules of origin, Article 2(5) referring to Article 59 of the Union Customs Code: it is origin, not the place from which the consignment is shipped, that determines whether a batch counts towards the 50 tonnes. On the weight of documenting it, see our article «Origin of goods: whoever declares it must be able to prove it». Conversely, Article 2(1) brings within the scope processed products resulting from the inward processing procedure: an operator working under inward processing is not outside the mechanism.

The exemption does not cover every CBAM good: Article 2a(4) provides that it «shall not apply to imports of electricity or hydrogen». Nor is the threshold fixed for good. Article 2a(3) requires the Commission to assess, by 30 April each year and on the basis of the preceding twelve months of import data, whether the level in force ensures that the exemption covers no more than 1 per cent of embedded emissions; where the resulting value differs from the applicable threshold by more than 15 tonnes, the threshold is amended by delegated act. An amendment made during the year does not disturb a count already under way: the amended threshold «shall apply from 1 January of the following calendar year»; and point 2 of Annex VII specifies that the threshold is in any event rounded to the nearest ten.

Who the importer is for CBAM purposes, and who must apply for authorisation

The definition is in Article 3(15) of the regulation: the importer is the person lodging the customs declaration for release for free circulation — customs clearance on import — or the bill of discharge referred to in Article 175(5) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 for inward processing, in that person’s own name and on that person’s own behalf; where the declaration is lodged by an indirect customs representative under Article 18 of the Union Customs Code, the importer is the person on whose behalf it is lodged.

The status of authorised CBAM declarant should not be confused with the role of customs declarant: it is a separate status, granted by the national competent authority within the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, and it is required in order to import CBAM goods above the threshold. Article 5 allocates the burden precisely. An importer established in a Member State applies for the status before importing the goods (paragraph 1); an indirect customs representative obtains it in turn before importing and, where appointed under Article 18 of the Code and agreeing to act in that capacity, acts as authorised CBAM declarant «irrespective of whether the importer is exempted or not» under Article 2a (paragraph 1a). The role once assumed, in other words, does not lapse because the represented party is below the threshold; and paragraph 2a adds that a representative acting as authorised CBAM declarant on behalf of an importer «shall be subject to the obligations applicable to that importer» for the goods imported on its behalf. The position differs where the importer is not established in a Member State: there the representative obtains the status in any event, exemption or no exemption (paragraph 2). Where instead the representative does not assume that role and the operation stays below the threshold, Article 25(1) opens with a «without prejudice to Article 2a» and imposes the status on no one. The Customs Agency has put this in writing in Circular No 36/2025: an indirect representative who agrees to act in that capacity «shall have to obtain the status of authorised CBAM declarant even where the represented importer, whether or not established in the EU, is exempt from CBAM obligations under Article 2a». Where instead the representative does not assume that role and the operation stays below the threshold, Article 25(1) opens with a «without prejudice to Article 2a» and imposes the status on no one: all the more reason to settle the point in the mandate rather than leave it to practice.

Article 5(1b) then supplies the rule of conduct businesses are looking for: «where Article 2a applies, the importer shall submit the application for authorisation in cases where it expects to exceed the single mass-based threshold». The trigger is therefore not the threshold having been crossed but the expectation of crossing it — which is why watching the running total and deciding whether to apply are one and the same problem.

The new monitoring function and the DRMCViewInformation profile

By a notice of 6 August 2026, the Customs Directorate announced that the Commission services have implemented in the CBAM register a function allowing all importers, «including those who have not applied for or obtained the status» of authorised CBAM declarant, to follow the progress of their own customs operations falling within CBAM, with the stated purpose of complying with the obligations before the Article 2a threshold — «currently set at 50 tonnes per year» — is exceeded.

Access is not automatic. The notice states that interested operators must enter the Agency’s authorisation system and request a new profile, called DRMCViewInformation; those not yet registered on the portal for the definitive CBAM register must first follow the instructions issued by the national competent authority. These are two separate steps, and the second takes time that is better not spent in the month when the threshold is approaching.

The value of the tool deserves a measured description. It is not the only way of knowing one’s own running total, which can still be reconstructed from the customs declarations already lodged; it is, however, the most direct way of comparing the internal count — the one built from orders and invoices, which easily diverges from the net masses actually declared — with the data the register displays. Two cautions remain. The function is a consultation tool and does not amount to a formal position of the Agency: responsibility stays entirely with the importer. And the data is by definition downstream of customs clearance, so it should be read as a running total that builds rather than an alarm that goes off: an operator with consignments handled under indirect representation would do well to check, case by case, that the mass shown corresponds to the mass attributable to the CBAM importer.

On the day the threshold is crossed, the obligations reach back over the whole year

Article 2a(2) is the provision that deserves the closest attention: where the threshold is exceeded within the relevant calendar year, importers — and authorised CBAM declarants — «shall be subject to all obligations under this Regulation as regards all embedded emissions in all goods imported in that relevant calendar year». Compliance is therefore not confined to the excess over 50 tonnes: crossing the threshold recharacterises the entire year, starting from the January consignments.

Three obligations then open up, and they are worth distinguishing. The first is the CBAM declaration: Article 6(1), as amended, places it «by 30 September of each year, and for the first time in 2027 for the year 2026», while Article 6(2)(a) requires it to state the total quantity of each type of goods imported in the preceding calendar year «including goods imported below the single mass-based threshold». The second is the surrender of certificates, which Article 22(1) fixes on the same date of 30 September, and likewise for the first time in 2027 for 2026: one deadline therefore covers two distinct obligations. «Surrender» is a term of art: it means buying the certificates and handing them over to the authority through the CBAM registry, in a number corresponding to the embedded emissions declared under Article 6(2)(c) and verified — that is, already net of the reduction for the carbon price actually paid in the third country and of the free allocation adjustment. Sales of certificates, Article 20(1) specifies, begin on 1 February 2027.

The number of certificates to be surrendered does not, however, match the declared embedded emissions, and anyone estimating the cash impact of crossing the threshold needs to know this. Article 31 requires it to be adjusted to reflect the EU ETS allowances still allocated free of charge to European producers of the same goods; Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2620 of 16 December 2025 sets out the calculation, which multiplies the imported mass by the specific embedded free allocation of the goods, built on the CBAM benchmarks and graduated by the CBAM factor in Article 10a(1a) of Directive 2003/87/EC. That factor is 97.5 per cent for 2026, 95 for 2027 and 90 for 2028, and falls to zero from 2034: in the early years the reporting obligation covers the whole imported mass, but the outlay in certificates is measured against a reduced fraction of the embedded emissions. It is not a fixed percentage, because the adjustment turns on the comparison between the emissions of the goods and the benchmark, and for electricity it is zero. Nor is the unit price a settled figure: Article 21 ties it to the weekly average of the closing prices of EU ETS auctions and, for emissions declared for 2026, to the quarterly average for the quarter of importation.

Anyone who obtains authorisation as a precaution and then stays below the threshold does not lose the purchase, but has to move in time. Article 23(2), second subparagraph, provides that where an authorised declarant has bought certificates expecting to exceed the threshold and then does not exceed it, all those certificates are repurchased on request; the request must be made by 31 October of the year in which certificates were surrendered (paragraph 1) and, for those bought in 2027 against 2026 emissions, repurchase is possible only in 2027 (paragraph 2a). The repurchase price is the price paid on purchase, without uplift. Miss those dates and the value is gone: on 1 November 2027 the Commission cancels without compensation the certificates bought for 2026 emissions (Article 24(2)), and the ordinary rule in paragraph 1 does the same every 1 November for certificates older than a year.

The third obligation is the one that bears on cash and is often overlooked: Article 22(2) provides that «from 2027» an authorised CBAM declarant must ensure that the number of certificates in its account at the end of each quarter corresponds to at least 50 per cent of the embedded emissions in all goods imported since the beginning of the calendar year. It needs to be placed precisely, so as not to alarm anyone looking at 2026: Article 36(2)(c) makes that paragraph applicable only from 1 January 2027, and Article 36(2)(d) puts the start of certificate sales at 1 February 2027. For 2026 imports the outlay is therefore a single one, falling with the surrender due on 30 September 2027; the quarterly constraint bites on 2027 imports. For those crossing the threshold during the year, paragraph 2a fixes the moment by which the obligation must be met: by the end of the quarter following the one in which the threshold was exceeded. Nor is the 50 per cent measured by eye: point (a) of paragraph 2 refers to the default values in Annex IV without the mark-up in point 4.1, point (b) allows, on stated conditions, reference to the certificates surrendered for the preceding year, and in both cases the Article 31 adjustment is taken into account.

One practical difficulty remains unresolved by the regulation: an importer crossing the threshold in November must also account for the embedded emissions of goods that arrived in January, from suppliers under no contractual duty to provide that data after the event. The ordinary fallback is the set of default values determined by the Commission, which are by design conservative and rarely favourable. That is a further reason to ask the supplier for the figure when the order is placed, not when the year closes. The fallback does carry one procedural advantage worth knowing: Article 8(1) requires verification by an accredited verifier only where embedded emissions are determined on the basis of actual emissions. Anyone using default values does not also have to find a verifier at the last minute; the fallback is more workable, not more advantageous.

How a breach of the threshold is established

Crossing the threshold is not left to the importer’s own account of it. Article 25a, inserted by Regulation (EU) 2025/2083, builds a monitoring system that starts from customs data: the Commission periodically and automatically exchanges the necessary information with the competent authorities through the CBAM registry, including «a list of importers exceeding 90 % of the single mass-based threshold». Anyone consulting their own running total in the registry is therefore looking at the same figure the administration is already looking at.

What follows is a procedure, not an automatic consequence. Where, on the basis of a preliminary assessment and of the information communicated by the customs authorities under Article 25(2), the Commission considers that an importer has exceeded the threshold, it informs the competent authority of the Member State where the importer is established; that authority may require the importer to produce the necessary documentary evidence and, if it concludes that the threshold has been exceeded, adopts a reasoned decision without undue delay, stating the right of appeal and notifying it to the customs authorities and to the Commission through the registry. The decision also informs the importer of the obligations that apply, including that of obtaining the status of authorised CBAM declarant before importing further goods; where the importer is represented, the indirect customs representatives appointed under Article 5(1a) or (2) are informed. One detail changes the shape of any defence: an appeal against that decision «shall not have suspensory effect».

Paragraph 4 of the same article is the specific anti-abuse rule on the threshold, and for a business it weighs more than the general anti-circumvention clause. In assessing whether the threshold has been exceeded, the competent authority «shall not take into account» a practice, an arrangement or a series of practices or arrangements the main purpose, or one of the main purposes, of which is to fall below the threshold and which are not genuine; not genuine means those which, having regard to all relevant facts and circumstances, cannot be regarded as having been put in place for valid commercial reasons connected with the importer’s economic activity. The consequence is twofold: for the purposes of Article 17(2)(a) and Article 26(2a), «the importer shall be considered to have been involved in a serious infringement of this Regulation», which bars both the authorisation and any reduction of the penalty. Paragraph 5 adds that the Commission identifies risk factors and points of attention linked to the threshold at least once a year and communicates them to the competent authorities.

The exemption does not operate by itself: it must be declared to customs

The final sentence of Article 2a(1) is peremptory: where the exemption applies, importers «shall declare that exemption in the relevant customs declaration». Staying within 50 tonnes is not enough; it has to be stated, operation by operation. Table 1 of Circular No 36/2025 governs every case, not only this one: Y128 for the CBAM account number of an authorised declarant, Y134 for goods originating in the countries and territories in point 1 of Annex III, Y135 for goods intended for military activities, Y136 for the electricity and hydrogen excluded by Article 2(3a), Y237 for goods of EU origin and Y238 for those who applied by 31 March 2026 — the last is the code that gives effect, in the declaration, to the tolerance in Article 17(7a), and the Circular states that it «may be used until 27 September 2026». One caution on Y134: the description in the table names only Büsingen, Helgoland and Livigno, while a footnote to the same Circular also refers it to Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Ceuta and Melilla; the inconsistency is in the source and is worth knowing before filing. For the de minimis exemption the code is Y137 for that purpose, to be entered in the declaration for release for free circulation.

The regulation does not say what happens if the entry is missing, and on this it is better not to promise comfort: the exemption depends on the quantity imported rather than on a constitutive declaration, but the omission remains an inaccuracy in the customs declaration, relevant as such, and it is on the presence or absence of that code that the first check will be built. Where the code has been omitted, the route is amendment of the declaration after release: Article 173(3) of the Union Customs Code provides that, on the declarant’s application and within three years of the date of acceptance, the amendment «may be authorised» after release in order to enable the declarant to comply with its obligations relating to the placing of the goods under the customs procedure. Two points prevent the request going to the wrong door. The first concerns the person: the party entitled is the declarant, and under indirect representation the declarant is the representative, not the importer for CBAM purposes; the application must therefore be made by the representative, on the documented instruction of the represented party. The second concerns the nature of the act: the amendment «may be authorised», it is not a right the declarant can simply exercise. Domestically the instrument is the revision of the declaration on the party’s application, operating within the national provisions supplementing the Code laid down by Legislative Decree No 141 of 26 September 2024, on whose interplay with voluntary correction the Agency has issued Circulars No 38/2025 and No 19/2026. In any event it is better taken before the office identifies the error. The same applies in reverse: if the running total exceeds 50 tonnes in November, the declarations of the preceding months carry an exemption code that is no longer due, and those are the ones to be amended.

Those who applied by 31 March 2026

Regulation (EU) 2025/2083 inserted a paragraph 7a into Article 17: «by way of derogation from Article 4, where an importer or an indirect customs representative has submitted an application pursuant to Article 5 by 31 March 2026, that importer or indirect customs representative may temporarily continue to import goods until the competent authority takes a decision pursuant to this Article». Circular No 36/2025 places the outer limit of that tolerance at 27 September 2026; the decision, however, may come earlier, so what has to be watched is the status of the individual application.

The same provision governs the worst case. If authorisation is refused, the competent authority determines, within one month of the decision, the embedded emissions in the goods imported between 1 January 2026 and the date of that decision, on the basis of the information communicated under Article 25(3), by reference to the default values under the methods in Annex IV and on the basis of any other relevant information; and those emissions, the provision states, «shall be used for the calculation of penalties pursuant to Article 26(2a)». The application must state the number of the authorised economic operator certificate where the declarant has obtained that status under Article 38 of the Code: Article 5(5)(ga) so provides.

One thing should be said plainly to anyone reading this in August 2026 who lodged no application by 31 March: that person has neither the tolerance under Article 17(7a) nor the mitigation of the penalty which is tied to it. Lodging the application now remains both proper and useful, since it is the condition for operating lawfully once authorisation is granted, but it affords no cover in the meantime: until the competent authority decides, Article 4 applies, and importing CBAM goods above the threshold exposes the importer to the penalty under Article 26(2a). Where the running total is close to 50 tonnes, From here on there are two routes, and both belong on the same spreadsheet. The first is to lodge the application anyway, obtain the status and comply for the whole calendar year under Article 2a(2), meanwhile scheduling clearances so as not to cross the threshold before the decision. The second is set out in the provision itself: payment of the penalty under Article 26(2a) «shall release the importer from the obligation to submit a CBAM declaration and to surrender CBAM certificates in relation to those imports». It is not a route to take lightly — the penalty runs at three to five times the ordinary one, and a finding of serious infringement then bars authorisation — but it is a benchmark to be costed rather than ignored. There is also a consequence that precedes any penalty and shows up at once: Circular No 36/2025 instructs offices that «goods whose importation is not permitted must be stopped» and that the competent authority is to be informed immediately for the purposes of Article 26. The first effect of crossing the threshold without the status is not a decision arriving months later: it is the goods held at the border. And the same Circular warns that all of this «is without prejudice to any further penalties for other purely customs failures»: the Article 26 regime and the national customs regime do not exclude one another.

Penalties, and the room for mitigation

Article 26(1) penalises an authorised declarant who fails to surrender, by 30 September, the number of certificates corresponding to the embedded emissions in the goods imported in the preceding year: the penalty is identical to the excess emissions penalty under Article 16(3) of Directive 2003/87/EC — 100 euro per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent, adjusted for inflation under Article 16(4) — and applies «for each CBAM certificate» not surrendered. Article 26(2) raises the figure to «three to five times» that amount for a person bringing goods in without the required status, having regard to the duration, gravity, scope, intentional or repeated nature of the non-compliance and to the level of cooperation shown.

The new Article 26(2a) expressly extends paragraph 2 «to importers other than authorised CBAM declarants, where they exceed the single mass-based threshold», and specifies that for that purpose «all embedded emissions in the goods imported by that importer in the relevant calendar year shall be taken into account». For them the provision adds, in terms, that «payment of the penalty shall release the importer from the obligation to submit a CBAM declaration and to surrender CBAM certificates in relation to those imports»; that discharging effect, however, is theirs alone. For an authorised CBAM declarant, Article 26(3) provides the opposite: payment of the penalty does not release it from the obligation to surrender the missing certificates.

There are two avenues of mitigation, and they are addressed to different persons. For the authorised declarant, Article 26(1a) allows a reduction where the shortfall in surrendered certificates is due to inaccurate information supplied by a third party, namely the verifier or the person certifying the carbon price documentation. For an importer left without authorisation, Article 26(2a) allows a reduction in two alternative cases: where the threshold has been exceeded «by no more than 10 per cent of that threshold» — today, five tonnes — or where the pending application under Article 17(7a) is in point. An importer stopping at fifty-five tonnes therefore falls within the first case; beyond that figure a reduction remains possible, but only on the second ground, namely an application already lodged and still under examination. In every case the reduced penalty may not fall below the one under paragraph 1.

In practice

• Straight away — request the DRMCViewInformation profile in the Agency’s authorisation system and, if it is missing, registration on the portal for the definitive CBAM register. These are two separate steps and the second is not instantaneous.
• Before counting — set the perimeter correctly: only the goods in Annex I, identified by CN code, count, and goods originating in Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, as well as goods intended for military activities, fall outside. Processed products under inward processing, by contrast, do count.
• At each clearance — think in net mass rather than in value: the figure is the weight without packaging shown in the declaration, aggregated across all CN codes and over the whole calendar year. The intrinsic value of the consignment, which was the criterion of the former 150-euro allowance, is now irrelevant.
• In the declaration — enter document code Y137 whenever the de minimis exemption is relied on, operation by operation. If it has been omitted, apply for amendment of the declaration before the error is picked up by the office.
• With the freight forwarder — record in writing whether it acts under direct or indirect representation. Under indirect representation the CBAM importer is the represented party, but a representative agreeing to act as authorised CBAM declarant must hold the status even where the represented party is exempt.
• When exceeding is expected — submit the application for authorised CBAM declarant status: this is the rule in Article 5(1b), which ties the step to the expectation rather than to the event. Enter the AEO number, where held, to speed up the procedure.
• If an application is pending — check its status: according to Circular No 36/2025 the tolerance does not run beyond 27 September 2026, and the decision may arrive sooner.
• If no application was lodged by 31 March 2026 — take note: neither the tolerance under Article 17(7a) nor the mitigation of the penalty tied to it is available. Lodge the application all the same, and in the meantime schedule clearances so as not to cross the threshold before the decision.
• If the threshold has already been crossed during the year — amend the earlier declarations carrying code Y137, now no longer due, using the post-release amendment under Article 173(3) of the Union Customs Code.
• If the threshold has been crossed — ask suppliers at once for embedded emissions data, including for consignments in earlier months: failing that, the less favourable default values apply. And budget for the quarterly 50 per cent commitment under Article 22(2) from 2027.
• To keep on file — register extracts, customs declarations and net mass documentation from the first month of the year: if the threshold is crossed in November, the January figures will be needed too.

Frequently asked questions

Is the 50-tonne threshold calculated per CN code or across all CBAM goods?

Across all of them that fall within the scope. Article 2a(1) provides that the threshold applies «to the total net mass of goods of all CN codes aggregated per importer and per calendar year»: the goods in Annex I feed into one and the same running total. Electricity and hydrogen, however, are outside the exemption by the express terms of paragraph 4, and goods originating in the countries listed in point 1 of Annex III are outside the scope of the regulation altogether.

If I cross the threshold in November, must I account for goods cleared in January as well?

Yes. Article 2a(2) subjects to all obligations under the regulation «all embedded emissions in all goods imported in that relevant calendar year». Crossing the threshold does not operate for the future only: it reopens the year from 1 January. That is why documentation on imports made below the threshold should be kept from the start of the year.

Does an importer staying below the threshold have to do anything at all?

Two things. It must declare the exemption in the customs declaration, using code Y137, and it must watch the annual running total, now also through the register’s monitoring function. It need not apply for authorisation, buy certificates or submit a CBAM declaration. It remains prudent, however, to act early where the annual projection approaches the threshold, because Article 5(1b) ties the application to the expectation of exceeding it and the procedure is not instantaneous.

If I exceed the threshold only slightly, is the penalty reduced?

It may be, but that is a power of the competent authority and not an entitlement. Article 26(2a) provides for a reduction where the excess does not exceed 10 per cent of the threshold — today, five tonnes — or where an application lodged by 31 March 2026 is still pending. In every case the reduced penalty cannot fall below the one under paragraph 1. For an importer without authorisation the unsurrendered certificates do not physically exist, but they are reconstructed by the authority: Article 26(4a) requires the competent authority to calculate the total number of certificates that should have been surrendered, on the basis of the net mass imported, by reference to the default values under the methods in Annex IV and taking account of the free allocation adjustment under Article 31; the perimeter is all embedded emissions in the goods imported in the relevant calendar year. On that number the penalty in paragraph 2 applies for each certificate, that is three to five times the one in paragraph 1. The underlying unit figure is the one in Article 16(3) of Directive 2003/87/EC — 100 euro per tonne of CO2 equivalent at its original value — increased under Article 16(4) of that directive and referred to the year of importation: it must therefore be checked year by year, because the current figure is appreciably higher than the nominal one.

The overall reading is straightforward: CBAM has ceased to be a subject reserved to large import flows and now turns on a figure that any business buying metal or cement outside the Union can measure for itself, namely weight. That said, the framework is not settled: the threshold can be amended by delegated act — albeit with effect from 1 January of the following year — the default values have already been corrected by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1740 of 20 July 2026, which applies from 1 January 2026, and the first CBAM declaration, the one due in 2027 for the year 2026, has yet to be tested in practice. Operational assessments should therefore be revisited whenever the Commission intervenes, rather than treated as settled. On the general working of the mechanism and on importers’ obligations, see our article «CBAM in force: the carbon border mechanism and importers’ obligations»; the Studio follows this field in its section on business taxation and in the other articles of the Tax Observatory.

• Regulation (EU) 2023/956 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 establishing a carbon border adjustment mechanism — consolidated text as at 20 October 2025: Articles 2, 2a, 3(15), 5, 6, 8, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 25a, 26, 27, 31 and 36, and Annexes I, III, IV and VII.
• Regulation (EU) 2025/2083 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 October 2025 amending Regulation (EU) 2023/956 as regards simplifying and strengthening the carbon border adjustment mechanism (OJ, 17 October 2025).
• Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency, Customs Directorate, Circular No 36/2025 of 24 December 2025 (ref. 869339), on CBAM customs obligations in the definitive period.
• Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency, Customs Directorate, notice of 6 August 2026, «New functionality in the CBAM register — Reg. (EU) 2023/956 of 10/05/2023».
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2620 of 16 December 2025, on the calculation of the free allocation adjustment to the number of CBAM certificates to be surrendered; Directive 2003/87/EC, Article 10a(1a) (CBAM factor).
• Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency, Circulars No 38/2025 of 30 December 2025 and No 19/2026 of 21 July 2026, on voluntary correction and revision of the declaration on the party’s application; Legislative Decree No 141 of 26 September 2024 (national provisions supplementing the Union Customs Code).
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1740 of 20 July 2026 correcting Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2621 on default values; it applies from 1 January 2026.
• Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 (Union Customs Code), Articles 18, 59, 173(3) and 256, and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, Article 175(5).
• Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009, Article 23 (goods of negligible value), referred to by the former text of Article 2(3) of the CBAM Regulation.
• Directive 2003/87/EC, Article 16(3) and (4), referred to by Article 26 of the CBAM Regulation for the measure of the penalty.