Until now, the main task of a company’s customs department has been the rapid and smooth handling of imports and exports while complying with the associated customs and foreign trade regulations. An essential component of this is the use of various simplifications and authorizations. Increasingly, however, the extensive regulations of the European Union, which focus on sustainability, are coming to the forefront and playing a decisive role in imports and exports.
Green Deal
Although the topic of “Green Deal” is not located in the customs department, customs officials in the company will sooner or later be involved in the process and asked for data and support. However, they are also dependent on the information resulting from compliance with the various laws in order to be able to submit customs declarations completely and in compliance with the law in the future. For example, this affects the reference number in the area of the deforestation regulation or the necessary document coding for the de minimis threshold in the CBAM area. Building knowledge, internal coordination, and consistent compliance with sustainability regulations are essential to be able to trade globally in the future. Depending on the legislation, this affects a wide variety of industries and customs processes and even supplies within the European Union.
CBAM
A major issue currently is the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). Following the entry into force of CBAM on October 1, 2023 with a transitional period until December 31, 2025, regular operations commence on January 1, 2026. All importers based in the EU who import iron, steel, cement, aluminum, electricity, fertilizers, and hydrogen can only introduce goods into free circulation as CBAM declarants from January 1, 2026 onward. For this purpose, affected companies must submit an application for authorization via the CBAM Register in the EU Trader Portal – not to be confused with the CBAM Transitional Register – no later than March 31, 2026. Even if the decision on the authorization application is not yet available as of January 1, 2026, goods may be imported into the EU on a transitional basis.
From 2026, quarterly reporting obligations will be replaced by annual ones. This means that the CBAM declaration for the calendar year 2026 must be submitted by September 30, 2027. The use of standard values remains permitted!
Important changes result from the amended Regulation (EU) 2023/956 of October 20, 2025. These changes were initiated in February 2025 by the Omnibus I package of the European Commission.
CERTEX
This results in important adjustments from January 1, 2026. Below a total weight of 50 tons per year – the so-called de minimis threshold – importers are not subject to CBAM obligations. Presumably, the corresponding document coding must be specified in the import declaration for these goods. The status as an authorized CBAM declarant is not required for imports below the de minimis threshold. The exception here is indirect representation! If the threshold is exceeded during the current calendar year, importers will be requested by the authorities to submit an application for authorization as a CBAM declarant. The import of the goods will be stopped and no goods can be imported into the EU until authorization is granted. To verify compliance with the regulations, the authorities will introduce CERTEX. Excluded from this simplification is the import of electricity and hydrogen. This is directly subject to CBAM. The sale of CBAM certificates has been postponed from January 1, 2026 to February 1, 2027.
The European Commission expects that through this de minimis threshold, approximately 90 percent of previously reporting-liable declarants will no longer fall within the scope of application, but 99 percent of emissions will still be captured.
Deforestation Regulation
The application start date of the deforestation regulation for medium and large enterprises is also expected to remain on December 30, 2025. The current proposal from the EU Commission provides exclusively for a postponement of the application start date for small and micro enterprises to December 2026. The proposal also includes a postponement of the supervisory obligations of the competent national authorities and the introduction of new categories of “Downstream Operators” and “micro and small primary operators” with a corresponding reduction of obligations. Through the proposed changes, the submission of the due diligence declaration is only required prior to market entry!
So for this topic as well, the only option remains to prepare for compliance with the regulations, to keep an eye on developments at the EU level, and to respond appropriately to possible legal adjustments.
Further laws, such as the import ban for goods made with forced labor or the Circular Economy Plan, will follow! The review of whether the corresponding regulations are complied with will also most likely be reflected in customs processes here, such as through document codings. Therefore, building internal processes and risk assessment systems with appropriate expertise is critical to continue to conduct business smoothly on a global basis for imports and exports.
You will also find this specialist article in the ahv nrw magazin 2026.