Consultation: Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)

Share your thoughts on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism

HMRC is seeking to gather feedback from stakeholders on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and the drafting of the draft secondary legislation to ensure that it delivers the policy correctly and effectively for the tax to operate as intended and provide for administrative matters.

What is CBAM?

The government confirmed on 30 October 2024 that a UK CBAM will be introduced on 1 January 2027 and introduced primary legislation for CBAM in Finance Bill 2025 to 2026.

CBAM will place a carbon price on specified goods imported to the UK from sectors that are at risk of carbon leakage. It takes effect from 1 January 2027.

Consultation details

This technical consultation sets out the draft secondary legislation that will come into effect on 1 January 2027 alongside Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) being introduced.

The draft secondary legislation includes the legislative requirements associated with the administration of the tax, including but not limited to:

• administrative requirements relating to registration for CBAM
• tax returns and required content
• reimbursement arrangements
• weight of CBAM goods
• record keeping

This is of interest to:

• UK importers of goods from the aluminium, cement, fertilisers, hydrogen, and iron and steel sectors and downstream producers that use these goods in their supply chains
• respondents to the previous consultation
• international partners with an interest in CBAM policy

Respond to the consultation

Any responses to or queries about this consultation should be sent by email to cbampolicyteam@hmrc.gov.uk by 11:59pm on 24 March 2026, using the subject line ‘CBAM technical consultation response’ and clearly referencing the relevant parts of the legislation.

Find out more and respond to the consultation.

First published 19 February 2026