CN codes and CBAM sectors

The Combined Nomenclature (CN)is the EU’s goods-classification system. Every product crossing the EU border carries an eight-digit CN code that determines its customs treatment. CBAM defines its scope by listing specific CN codes in Annex I of the Regulation: if a good’s code is on that list, it is in scope; if not, it is out.

This makes the CN code the first thing to get right. Classification decides whether the obligation applies at all, which sector rules and emission factors are used, and which data the declaration must carry.

CBAM covers six sectors. Each maps to a set of CN chapters or specific codes:

Iron & steel and aluminium also bring precursors into scope — intermediate goods whose emissions are carried into the finished product — which is why those two sectors carry the most involved data requirements.

Not every import in a covered CN code triggers the obligation. A mass-based de minimis threshold of 50 net tonnes of CBAM goods per importer per year sits below it: importers under that volume are exempt. The threshold is assessed on cumulative annual volume, not per consignment.