On Tuesday 27 May, the EU’s European Affairs ministers adopted the EU Council’s position on the ‘omnibus’ regulation simplifying the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The Commission’s proposal presented in February (see EUROPE 13588/4) was broadly acceptable to them and it only took a few weeks to agree on a text. They supported the main idea of exempting from CBAM operators whose combined imports of steel, aluminium, fertiliser and cement do not exceed 50 tonnes in any one year.
The adjustments made by the Member States are minor and concern, for example, the procedures around “accredited verifiers”, which they wish to bring into line with other existing texts.
On another aspect of the text, the EU Council provides for adjusted treatment for importers who have not declared themselves as “CBAM importers” and who have just exceeded the 50-tonne import threshold. The simple payment of a fine should exempt these operators from the obligation to obtain CBAM certificates. In addition, fines should be lower where the import threshold has been exceeded by less than 10%, according to the EU Council.
See the approved text: https://aeur.eu/f/h2k (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)