Italian trade association Assofermet has urged the European Commission to raise the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) exemption threshold from 50 to 500 tonnes per importer per year. The proposal comes as the mechanism is set to expand to finished and semi-finished steel and aluminium products.
The request was sent to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the directorates-general for taxation and customs union and for climate action. A copy was also sent to the Italian government.
According to Assofermet, amendments approved by the European Parliament on September 15 would add about 500 product categories to CBAM. These include tools, machinery components and metal fittings for construction. The expansion could bring new administrative requirements for small and medium-sized businesses, distributors and importers, even when they handle relatively small volumes.
The association says the total weight of a finished product can differ substantially from the weight of the materials covered by CBAM, making a single threshold potentially disproportionate. It cites earlier European Commission analysis indicating that a 500-tonne threshold would exempt about 97% of importers while still covering 96.43% of embedded emissions in the sectors initially included in the mechanism.
Assofermet is also calling for a new impact assessment that considers the characteristics of downstream products, import volumes and administrative costs. It proposes category-specific thresholds and monitoring and anti-circumvention measures to ensure CBAM is applied proportionately without compromising its environmental objectives.
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