Goods manufactured before the European Union’s definitive Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) regime began may still fall within its scope if they enter EU free circulation during 2026. The European Commission has clarified that the customs release date, rather than the production date or the date of the sales contract, determines whether these imports are subject to CBAM.
The clarification appears in the Commission’s updated CBAM Questions and Answers and is relevant to importers holding pre-2026 inventories of steel, aluminium, fertilisers and cement.
Under the Commission’s guidance, goods produced in 2025 but imported into the EU in 2026 are subject to CBAM. The decisive event is the acceptance by an EU customs authority of the customs declaration releasing the goods for free circulation.
Customs release determines CBAM applicability
The clarification addresses the treatment of inventories accumulated before the definitive CBAM regime entered into force on 1 January 2026. Manufacturing, purchasing or signing a sales contract before that date does not, by itself, exempt goods subsequently released into EU free circulation during the definitive regime.
Importers holding materials in warehouses, ports, consignment stocks or other inventory locations must therefore assess their exposure by examining customs movements, rather than relying exclusively on production records or procurement dates.
The timing of economic ownership, invoicing and physical production may differ from the customs event that determines whether CBAM applies. This distinction is particularly relevant for trading companies and distributors whose goods remain in storage for several months before import clearance.
The 2026 reporting period applies to earlier production
The Commission has established a specific reporting-period rule for goods imported during 2026. Their embedded emissions must be determined using the legally prescribed 2026 reporting period, even where the goods were physically manufactured in an earlier year.
According to the Commission, this approach reduces the administrative burden associated with proving the actual production year of every imported item.
However, emissions data relating to production before 1 January 2026 cannot be submitted as actual verified production-year emissions for these imports. The Commission explains that no CBAM verification regime or accredited CBAM verifiers were available for those earlier production periods.
Actual verified emissions or applicable default values
Pre-2026 inventories do not automatically have to be assessed using default values. Where appropriate actual verified emissions for the 2026 reporting period are available for the relevant installation and goods, those values can support the CBAM declaration.
If acceptable verified emissions corresponding to the required reporting period are unavailable, the importer must apply the applicable default values.
This distinction could have financial consequences for companies importing older stocks. For example, an importer bringing steel produced in late 2025 into EU free circulation during 2026 cannot simply use the mill’s historical 2025 emissions figures as verified CBAM actual values for that shipment.
Instead, the importer must follow the specific 2026 reporting-period framework. Uncertainty may arise where the producer has ceased operations, changed production technology, modified its energy mix or cannot provide an appropriate verified dataset for 2026.
Pre-regime purchases may still create carbon-cost liabilities
The customs-timing rule also affects commercial agreements concluded before the definitive regime began. An EU buyer that purchased materials in 2025 may still face a CBAM liability when the goods are released into free circulation in 2026.
Contracts negotiated before the regime started may not specify clearly whether the exporter, intermediary trader or EU importer bears the resulting carbon cost. Disputes could emerge where prices were fixed without a carbon-cost adjustment but customs release took place after 1 January 2026.
Importers should therefore assess CBAM exposure at shipment and customs-entry level and ensure that contractual provisions address the allocation of carbon-related costs.
Inventory and trade strategies face customs-timing constraints
For suppliers in Serbia, Türkiye, Ukraine and other neighbouring markets, the clarification reinforces the importance of maintaining records that connect production, sales, inventory movements and customs declarations.
It also establishes that pre-2026 production does not provide a general exemption from CBAM. Goods manufactured or exported before the definitive regime began may still fall within its requirements if they remained outside EU free circulation until 2026.
The distinction is also relevant when interpreting trade flows. Increased production or exports in late 2025 cannot automatically be regarded as successful front-loading ahead of CBAM if the goods were not released into EU free circulation before the regime became applicable.
For importers, the Commission’s guidance links CBAM applicability to the customs release event and requires a specific approach to embedded-emissions reporting for 2026 imports, regardless of when the goods were physically produced.
