The regulation on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), designed to prevent carbon leakage, does not currently allow goods to be suspended or withdrawn from its scope, a European Commission spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday 12 January, in connection with measures to prevent a rise in fertiliser prices affecting the incomes of EU farmers (see EUROPE 13781/4).
For this to be possible, the proposal (https://aeur.eu/f/k8h ) of 17 December must be adopted by the EU Council and the European Parliament, he explained (see EUROPE 13775/10).
“This proposal includes a new article, Article 27a, which would allow the Commission to temporarily withdraw goods from a list when it concludes that the inclusion of these goods would cause serious damage to the EU’s internal market, due to serious and unforeseen circumstances linked to the impact on product prices,” he added.
“This means that we are now waiting for the co-legislators to adopt this Article 27a, as well as the proposal as a whole. We could then assess whether we have evidence to show that the impact of CBAM on certain assets is so serious and unpredictable as to meet these criteria,” concluded the spokesman.
This article deals with “serious and unforeseen” circumstances and empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts in order to “remove a provision of Annex I until such circumstances have ceased”. This provision will enable the Commission to assess the fertiliser situation with a view to triggering a temporary suspension. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)