What is UK CBAM?
Understand the mechanism, the goods it may cover, who could be responsible and the dates worth preparing for.
Read the introduction
Carbon Verify guides
UK CBAM, one practical question at a time.
Eleven plain-English guides for finding the right imports, building a reliable record and knowing when specialist advice is needed.
Library updated · Each guide shows its own source-check date
Choose the question in front of you
No customs or carbon expertise assumed.
Start at the beginning, or go directly to the job you have been given. Each guide links to the official sources behind it.
Start here
Understand what may be in scope
Which imports should we check?
Turn a broad concern about aluminium, steel or another CBAM sector into a traceable list of transactions.
Build the first listDecide and monitor
Resolve the three scope questions
How do UK CBAM commodity codes work?
Find the 8-digit code already used for customs, compare it with HMRC’s lists and keep uncertainty visible.
Check the code processWho is the importer for UK CBAM?
Work out which legal person holds the responsibility when brokers, agents and group companies are involved.
Confirm the liable personHow does the £50,000 threshold work?
Understand the forward-looking and backward-looking tests, customs value and when an import may not count.
Understand the two testsBuild the evidence
Create a record an adviser can follow
What should we ask suppliers for?
Start gathering emissions information and supporting evidence without treating an incomplete response as a finished answer.
Prepare supplier requestsWhat records must importers keep?
Use a practical checklist for transaction details, source documents, weight, exemptions and retention.
See the records checklistActual or default emissions?
Understand the two permitted routes and why supplier data is not the same thing as verified actual emissions.
Compare the two routesWhat if a supplier cannot provide emissions data?
Follow up missing evidence, understand the official default-values route and keep your import records moving.
Handle the missing dataReport and pay
Know what comes after the record
What are the UK CBAM dates and deadlines?
See the start date, first registration and return deadlines, and the move to quarterly accounting periods.
See the timelineWhat is Carbon Price Relief?
Learn when an overseas carbon price may reduce UK CBAM and what verified evidence the importer will need.
Understand the relief
These guides organise the questions; they do not decide them for you.
General information only—not tax, customs, commodity-classification or legal advice. Rules checked 2 September 2026. Always check the current HMRC CBAM guidance collection ↗.