The CBAM 50-tonne threshold: how the de-minimis exemption works

What does the 50-tonne rule say?

Article 2a of Regulation (EU) 2023/956, inserted by Regulation (EU) 2025/2083 and applicable from 1 January 2026, exempts an importer from the obligations under the Regulation where the net mass of its imported goods in a given calendar year does not cumulatively exceed the single mass-based threshold. Point 1 of Annex VII sets that threshold at 50 tonnes of net mass.

The boundary is inclusive: an annual total of exactly 50.000 tonnes does not exceed the threshold, while any amount above 50 tonnes does. Article 2a(1) applies the threshold to the total net mass of goods under all CN codes, aggregated per importer and per calendar year, and the exemption also covers an importer that already holds authorised CBAM declarant status.

The exemption is not silent. Article 2a(1) requires an importer relying on it to declare the exemption in the relevant customs declaration.

The 50-tonne value can be reviewed. Under Article 2a(3), the Commission assesses by 30 April each year whether the threshold keeps the exemption to no more than 1% of embedded emissions; where the recalculated value deviates from the applicable threshold by more than 15 tonnes, the Commission amends it by delegated act and the new value applies from 1 January of the following calendar year. As checked on EUR-Lex on 28 September 2026, Annex VII still sets 50 tonnes.

The UK uses a different threshold

This guide covers the EU CBAM 50-tonne threshold. UK CBAM uses a separate £50,000 value-based registration test from 1 January 2027 under the Finance Act 2026; read the UK CBAM guide before applying a threshold to UK imports.

What counts toward the annual total?

Scope comes first. The ordinary starting point is goods listed in Annex I, and whether a row is a CBAM good depends on the declared CN code, not the commercial description. Recital 3 of Regulation (EU) 2025/2083 and the Annex VII methodology describe the counted population as goods in the cement, iron and steel, aluminium and fertiliser sectors, added together across all their codes rather than tested product by product.

The counted quantity is net mass of goods, not tonnes of embedded emissions. Importation in the Regulation means release for free circulation (Article 3(4)), so goods held under transit, temporary admission or another suspensive procedure are not added while they remain under that procedure. Goods outside the Regulation's scope, such as goods originating in the countries and territories listed in point 1 of Annex III, do not enter the total (Article 2(4)).

Inward processing is a special case. Article 2(1) covers processed products resulting from inward processing of Annex I goods, and Article 6(3) requires the embedded emissions of the goods placed under that procedure to be reported even where the processed product is not itself listed in Annex I. Do not exclude such a row merely because the final product falls outside Annex I; take processed-product and other special-procedure rows to qualified customs review before settling their threshold treatment.

The Commission's CBAM Questions and Answers, last updated 27 May 2026, add two practical points; they are non-binding guidance, not law. For an assembled product declared under an Annex I code, the net mass declared for that code in the customs declaration is taken into account, not only the mass of its metal part (Q&A 4.30). Returned goods of non-EU origin under Article 203 of the Union Customs Code are also taken into account for the threshold, even though Article 6(5) has their embedded emissions reported as zero; returned goods under Article 205 are reported like any other CBAM import rather than as zero (Q&A 7.20).

Do electricity and hydrogen count toward the threshold?

No. Article 2a(4) states that the exemption does not apply to imports of electricity or hydrogen. Recital 4 of Regulation (EU) 2025/2083 explains that quantities, trade patterns and emission intensities in those sectors differ too much for a single mass-based threshold.

Two consequences follow. Electricity and hydrogen are never added to the 50-tonne total, and a small quantity of either does not create an exempt status. The Commission's Q&A 1.1 (non-binding) states that importers of hydrogen and electricity must always be authorised CBAM declarants. Keep those rows in their own records rather than dropping them from a tonnes view; electricity is recorded in megawatt-hours and should not be converted into a tonnes total.

Whose imports are added together?

The legal unit is the importer, not the shipment, the border crossing or the broker. Article 3(15) defines the importer as the person lodging the customs declaration for release for free circulation in its own name and on its own behalf or, where an indirect customs representative lodges it, the person on whose behalf it is lodged. Under Article 3(18), that person can be a natural person, a legal person or a recognised association of persons.

Representation does not move the threshold. Recital 7 of Regulation (EU) 2025/2083 states that an importer's imports are taken into account whether the importer or an indirect customs representative declared them, so the representative does not become the owner of the represented importer's total. The representative's own duty to hold authorised CBAM declarant status applies separately and irrespective of the importer's exemption (Article 5(1a) and 5(2)).

Customs records identify the importer through the EORI number or other identification declared in the customs declaration (Article 25(2)), and the Commission's Q&A 1.20 (non-binding) notes that an economic operator has one EORI number, valid throughout the EU customs territory. That identifier helps attribute rows; the legal test remains the importer.

The Member State of entry does not reset the total. Article 2a(1) aggregates per importer and per calendar year without a split by country; customs authorities report import data to the Commission, and the competent authority of the Member State where the importer is established handles threshold decisions under Article 25a. When rows arrive from several countries, brokers or group entities, reconcile them with the multi-Member-State import controls before reading a total.

Splitting consignments does not reduce one importer's cumulative annual total. When deciding whether an importer has exceeded the threshold, Article 25a(4) requires the competent authority to disregard a practice or arrangement put in place for the main purpose or one of the main purposes of falling below the threshold and which is non-genuine, and Article 27(2)(b) lists artificially splitting imports, including via non-genuine arrangements, as a circumvention practice. This guide does not assess whether any real group structure is genuine; take specific cases to a qualified adviser or the competent authority.

How do you keep a running threshold view?

A threshold view is a narrow reading of the annual import file: one importer, one calendar year, the rows that may count and a running total. It is a preparation method, not a statutory form, not a declaration and not a CBAM Pulse feature that stores records. Supplier, installation, evidence and ownership details stay in the full import record.

Start with a short header: the importer, the EORI number or other identification used in its customs declarations, the calendar year, the threshold value applied (50 tonnes, Annex VII point 1) and the date that source was checked. Then give every row a threshold treatment instead of a yes/no flag.

45 tonnes is 90% of the current threshold. Article 25a(1) requires the Commission to share with competent authorities, through the CBAM registry, a list of importers that exceed 90% of the threshold, which for 50 tonnes means above 45 tonnes. That is an authority-side monitoring mechanism, not a deadline or a notice addressed to importers; an importer may choose to use the same level as an internal review point.

• Do not enter an unresolved row as zero to keep the total at or below 50 tonnes; carry it in the unresolved subtotal until it is resolved.
• Read two figures at each review: the confirmed total, and the confirmed total plus known unresolved mass.
• Record when a row changes treatment, for example when a corrected extract supplies the missing net mass.
• Re-check the threshold value and its source at the start of each calendar year, because an Article 2a(3) change applies from 1 January.

Worked example: one importer's 2026 threshold view

Every figure below is synthetic. Importer A is fictional, the codes are placeholders and the row outcomes illustrate record-keeping only; nothing here classifies a real product or decides a real importer's obligations.

The table is a retrospective, final-state view as known after 15 September 2026: each row shows its final treatment, and the cumulative column is the running total in customs-declaration date order once every row was resolved. It is not what was known on each row's date. On 30 June, only 38.000 t was confirmed; R6's 3.100 t was confirmed on 21 July, and only from then was the confirmed total 41.100 t. The dated reviews below show what was known at each date.

Confirmed rows: 6.400 + 12.250 + 8.000 + 11.350 + 3.100 + 5.200 + 9.000 = 55.300 tonnes. Row R5 is excluded only because its synthetic review outcome is outside Annex I.

• 30 June review: the confirmed total is 38.000 t, with 4.500 t unresolved (R5) and one row of unknown mass (R6). Expected July–December imports, taken from the importer's open orders, are a synthetic 15.000 t. Even leaving every unresolved row out, 38.000 + 15.000 = 53.000 t, above 50 t. The threshold has not been exceeded yet; the forecast is the trigger to review the Article 5(1b) authorisation question now.
• 21 July update: a corrected extract confirms R6 at 3.100 t, so the confirmed total becomes 41.100 t. R5 later leaves the count through its synthetic review outcome.
• 12 August review: the confirmed total of 46.300 t is above 45 t, so it meets the numerical criterion Article 25a(1) uses for the Commission's list of importers that exceed 90% of the current threshold. That does not establish that Importer A appears on any list actually exchanged with competent authorities, and it is not a statutory deadline and does not mean the importer will be notified; for Importer A it is an internal review point.
• 15 September review: the confirmed total of 55.300 t exceeds 50 t. Under Article 2a(2) the obligations concern all goods imported in 2026, meaning the full 55.300 t across R1–R4 and R6–R8, including the January row, not only the 5.300 t above the threshold.

What should happen when exceeding becomes foreseeable?

A forecast does not show that the threshold has been exceeded: that happens only when the importer's actual imports in the calendar year exceed 50 tonnes. An expectation is nonetheless legally relevant, because the law attaches an application duty to it. Article 5(1b) provides that, where Article 2a applies, the importer shall submit the application for an authorisation in cases where it expects to exceed the single mass-based threshold, and recital 10 of Regulation (EU) 2025/2083 states that such an importer should obtain authorised CBAM declarant status before the single mass-based threshold is exceeded.

That makes expected remaining imports a review trigger worth recording with its basis, such as open orders or supply plans. Route the application itself through the authorisation process described in the authorised declarant guide and the competent authority's own procedure.

If an authorised CBAM declarant bought certificates because it expected to exceed the threshold and the year ends without exceeding it, Article 23(2) provides that all those certificates are repurchased on request; the certificate lifecycle guide covers the mechanics.

What happens once the annual total exceeds 50 tonnes?

Under Article 2a(2), where an importer exceeds the threshold within the calendar year, the importer or the authorised CBAM declarant is subject to all obligations under the Regulation in respect of all emissions embedded in all goods imported in that calendar year. Earlier imports are included: the amount above 50 tonnes is not the relevant population, and Article 6(2)(a) requires the annual CBAM declaration to cover the imported goods below the threshold too. The Commission's Guidance No. 1 (non-binding) makes the same point about goods imported before the threshold was exceeded.

For an importer that is not an authorised CBAM declarant, the Regulation provides an authority-led route. The Commission monitors imports against the threshold using customs data; where the competent authority of the Member State where the importer is established concludes that the importer has exceeded the threshold, it adopts a reasoned decision, informs the importer of its obligations, including obtaining authorised status before importing further goods, and notifies customs (Article 25a(2) and (3)). An appeal against that decision does not have suspensive effect. Article 26(2a) applies the Article 26 penalty regime to such importers, taking into account the entirety of the emissions embedded in that year's imports. This guide does not calculate or predict any penalty.

For authorised CBAM declarants, the crossing also affects in-year certificate timing from 2027: Article 22(2a) sets the first quarter-end holding compliance at the end of the quarter following the one in which the threshold is exceeded.

At year end, carry the threshold outcome into the full annual record. If the year's total exceeded 50 tonnes, the whole-year population, not the overshoot, is the starting point for the annual declaration work in the import file and reporting workflow. CBAM Pulse does not decide authorisation status, penalties, declaration scope or the action required for a particular importer; route those questions to the national competent authority or a qualified adviser.

How to check where you stand

Use the tools in order and keep their jobs separate. They are informational and do not decide your obligations; verify anything that matters with your national competent authority or a qualified adviser.

• Check whether a specific code is in current Annex I scope with the goods checker.
• Add up annual net mass for one importer with the threshold checker; it does the arithmetic, while this guide explains what to include and how to treat unresolved rows.
• Work through the wider preparation steps with the readiness checklist.