Competent authorities
1. Each Member State shall designate the competent authority to carry out the functions and duties under this Regulation and inform the Commission thereof.
The Commission shall make available to the Member States a list of all competent authorities and publish that information in the Official Journal of the European Union and make that information available in the CBAM registry.
2. Competent authorities shall exchange any information that is essential or relevant to the exercise of their functions and duties under this Regulation.
Commission
In addition to the other tasks that it exercises under this Regulation, the Commission shall assist the competent authorities in carrying out their functions and duties under this Regulation and shall coordinate their activities by supporting the exchange of, and issuing guidelines on, best practices within the scope of this Regulation, and by promoting an adequate exchange of information and cooperation between competent authorities as well as between competent authorities and the Commission.
Professional secrecy and disclosure of information
1. All information acquired by the competent authority or the Commission in the course of performing their duties which is by its nature confidential or which is provided on a confidential basis shall be covered by the obligation of professional secrecy. Such information shall not be disclosed by the competent authority or the Commission without the express prior permission of the person or authority that provided it or by virtue of Union or national law.
2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, the competent authorities and the Commission may share such information with each other, the customs authorities, the authorities in charge of administrative or criminal penalties, and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, for the purposes of ensuring compliance of persons with their obligations under this Regulation and the application of customs legislation. Such shared information shall be covered by professional secrecy and shall not be disclosed to any other person or authority except by virtue of Union or national law.
CBAM registry
1. The Commission shall establish a CBAM registry of authorised CBAM declarants in the form of a standardised electronic database containing the data regarding the CBAM certificates of those authorised CBAM declarants. The Commission shall make the information in the CBAM registry available automatically and in real time to customs authorities and competent authorities.
2. The CBAM registry referred to in paragraph 1 shall contain accounts with information about each authorised CBAM declarant, in particular:
(a)
the name, address and contact information of the authorised CBAM declarant;
(b)
the EORI number of the authorised CBAM declarant;
(c)
the CBAM account number;
(d)
the identification number, the sale price, the date of sale, and the date of surrender, repurchase or cancellation of CBAM certificates for each authorised CBAM declarant.
3. The CBAM registry shall contain, in a separate section of the registry, the information about the operators and installations in third countries registered in accordance with Article 10(2).
4. The information in the CBAM registry referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 shall be confidential, with the exception of the names, addresses and contact information of the operators and the location of installations in third countries. An operator may choose not to have its name, address and contact information made accessible to the public. The public information in the CBAM registry shall be made accessible by the Commission in an interoperable format.
5. The Commission shall publish, on a yearly basis, for each of the goods listed in Annex I, the aggregated emissions embedded in the imported goods.
6. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts concerning the infrastructure and specific processes and procedures of the CBAM registry, including the risk analysis referred to in Article 15, the electronic databases containing the information referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article, the data of the accounts in the CBAM registry referred to in Article 16, the transmission to the CBAM registry of the information on the sale, repurchase and cancellation of CBAM certificates referred to in Article 20, and the cross-check of information referred to in Article 25(3). Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 29(2).
Risk analysis
1. The Commission shall carry out risk-based controls on the data and the transactions recorded in the CBAM registry, referred to in Article 14, to ensure that there are no irregularities in the purchase, holding, surrender, repurchase and cancellation of CBAM certificates.
2. If the Commission identifies irregularities as a result of the controls carried out under paragraph 1, it shall inform the competent authorities concerned so that further investigations are carried out in order to correct the identified irregularities.
Accounts in the CBAM registry
1. The Commission shall assign to each authorised CBAM declarant a unique CBAM account number.
2. Each authorised CBAM declarant shall be granted access to its account in the CBAM registry.
3. The Commission shall set up the account as soon as the authorisation referred to in Article 17(1) is granted and shall notify the authorised CBAM declarant thereof.
4. If the authorised CBAM declarant has ceased its economic activity or its authorisation has been revoked, the Commission shall close the account of that authorised CBAM declarant, provided that the authorised CBAM declarant has complied with all its obligations under this Regulation.
Authorisation
1. Where an application for an authorisation is submitted in accordance with Article 5, the competent authority in the Member State in which the applicant is established shall grant the status of authorised CBAM declarant provided that the criteria set out in paragraph 2 of this Article are complied with. The status of authorised CBAM declarant shall be recognised in all Member States.
Before granting the status of authorised CBAM declarant, the competent authority shall conduct a consultation procedure on the application for an authorisation via the CBAM registry. The consultation procedure shall involve the competent authorities in the other Member States and the Commission and shall not exceed 15 working days.
2. The criteria for granting the status of authorised CBAM declarant shall be the following:
(a)
the applicant has not been involved in a serious infringement or in repeated infringements of customs legislation, taxation rules, market abuse rules or this Regulation and delegated and implementing acts adopted under this Regulation, and in particular the applicant has no record of serious criminal offences relating to its economic activity during the five years preceding the application;
(b)
the applicant demonstrates its financial and operational capacity to fulfil its obligations under this Regulation;
(c)
the applicant is established in the Member State where the application is submitted; and
(d)
the applicant has been assigned an EORI number in accordance with Article 9 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013.
3. Where the competent authority finds that the criteria set out in paragraph 2 of this Article are not fulfilled, or where the applicant has failed to provide information listed in Article 5(5), the granting of the status of authorised CBAM declarant shall be refused. Such decision to refuse the status of authorised CBAM declarant shall provide the reasons for the refusal and include information on the possibility to appeal.
4. A decision of the competent authority granting the status of authorised CBAM declarant shall be registered in the CBAM registry and shall contain the following information:
(a)
the name, address and contact information of the authorised CBAM declarant;
(b)
the EORI number of the authorised CBAM declarant;
(c)
the CBAM account number assigned to the authorised CBAM declarant in accordance with Article 16(1);
(d)
the guarantee required in accordance with paragraph 5 of this Article.
5. For the purpose of complying with the criteria set out in paragraph 2, point (b), of this Article, the competent authority shall require the provision of a guarantee if the applicant was not established throughout the two financial years preceding the year when the application in accordance with Article 5(1) was submitted.
The competent authority shall fix the amount of such guarantee at the amount, calculated as the aggregate value of the number of CBAM certificates that the authorised CBAM declarant would have to surrender in accordance with Article 22 in respect of the imports of goods reported in accordance with Article 5(5), point (g). The guarantee provided shall be a bank guarantee, payable at first demand, by a financial institution operating in the Union or another form of guarantee which provides equivalent assurance.
6. Where the competent authority establishes that the guarantee provided does not ensure, or is no longer sufficient to ensure, the financial and operational capacity of the authorised CBAM declarant to fulfil its obligations under this Regulation, it shall require the authorised CBAM declarant to choose between providing an additional guarantee or replacing the initial guarantee with a new guarantee in accordance with paragraph 5.
7. The competent authority shall release the guarantee immediately after 31 May of the second year in which the authorised CBAM declarant has surrendered CBAM certificates in accordance with Article 22.
8. The competent authority shall revoke the status of authorised CBAM declarant where:
(a)
the authorised CBAM declarant requests a revocation; or
(b)
the authorised CBAM declarant no longer meets the criteria set out in paragraph 2 or 6 of this Article, or has been involved in a serious or repeated infringement of the obligation to surrender CBAM certificates referred to in Article 22(1) or of the obligation to ensure a sufficient number of CBAM certificates on its account in the CBAM registry at the end of each quarter referred to in Article 22(2).
Before revoking the status of authorised CBAM declarant, the competent authority shall give the authorised CBAM declarant the possibility to be heard and shall conduct a consultation procedure on the possible revocation of such status. The consultation procedure shall involve the competent authorities in the other Member States and the Commission and shall not exceed 15 working days.
Any decision of revocation shall contain the reasons for the decision as well as information about the right to appeal.
9. The competent authority shall register in the CBAM registry information on:
(a)
the applicants whose application for an authorisation has been refused pursuant to paragraph 3; and
(b)
the persons whose status of authorised CBAM declarant has been revoked pursuant to paragraph 8.
10. The Commission shall adopt, by means of implementing acts, the conditions for:
(a)
the application of the criteria referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, including that of not having been involved in a serious infringement or in repeated infringements under paragraph 2, point (a), of this Article;
(b)
the application of the guarantee referred to in paragraphs 5, 6 and 7 of this Article;
(c)
the application of the criteria of a serious or repeated infringement referred to in paragraph 8 of this Article;
(d)
the consequences of the revocation of the status of authorised CBAM declarant referred to in paragraph 8 of this Article; and
(e)
the specific deadlines and format of the consultation procedure referred to in paragraphs 1 and 8 of this Article.
The implementing acts referred to in the first subparagraph shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 29(2).
Accreditation of verifiers
1. Any person accredited in accordance with Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2067 for a relevant group of activities shall be an accredited verifier for the purpose of this Regulation. The Commission is empowered to adopt implementing acts to identify relevant groups of activities by providing an alignment of the qualifications of an accredited verifier that are necessary to perform verifications for the purpose of this Regulation with the relevant group of activities listed in Annex I to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2067 and indicated in the accreditation certificate. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 29(2) of this Regulation.
2. A national accreditation body may, on request, accredit a person to be a verifier for the purpose of this Regulation where it considers, on the basis of the documentation submitted to it, that such person has the capacity to apply the verification principles referred to in Annex VI when performing the tasks of verification of the embedded emissions pursuant to Articles 8 and 10.
3. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 28 in order to supplement this Regulation by specifying the conditions for granting of accreditation referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, for the control and oversight of accredited verifiers, for the withdrawal of accreditation and for mutual recognition and peer evaluation of accreditation bodies.
Review of CBAM declarations
1. The Commission shall have the oversight role in the review of CBAM declarations.
2. The Commission may review CBAM declarations, in accordance with a review strategy, including risk factors, within the period ending with the fourth year after the year during which the CBAM declarations should have been submitted.
The review may consist in verifying the information provided in the CBAM declaration and in verification reports on the basis of the information communicated by the customs authorities in accordance with Article 25, any other relevant evidence, and on the basis of any audit deemed necessary, including at the premises of the authorised CBAM declarant.
The Commission shall communicate the initiation and the results of the review to the competent authority of the Member State where the CBAM declarant is established, via the CBAM registry.
The competent authority of the Member State where the authorised CBAM declarant is established may also review a CBAM declaration within the period referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph. The competent authority shall communicate the initiation and the results of a review to the Commission, via the CBAM registry.
3. The Commission shall periodically set out specific risk factors and points for attention, based on a risk analysis in relation to the implementation of the CBAM at Union level, taking into account information contained in the CBAM registry, data communicated by customs authorities, and other relevant information sources, including the controls and checks carried out pursuant to Article 15(2) and Article 25.
The Commission shall also facilitate the exchange of information with competent authorities about fraudulent activities and the penalties imposed in accordance with Article 26.
4. Where an authorised CBAM declarant fails to submit a CBAM declaration in accordance with Article 6, or where the Commission considers, on the basis of its review under paragraph 2 of this Article, that the declared number of CBAM certificates is incorrect, the Commission shall assess the obligations under this Regulation of that authorised CBAM declarant on the basis of the information at its disposal. The Commission shall establish a preliminary calculation of the total number of CBAM certificates which should have been surrendered, at the latest by the 31 December of the year following that in which the CBAM declaration should have been submitted, or at the latest by 31 December of the fourth year following that in which the incorrect CBAM declaration has been submitted, as applicable. The Commission shall provide to competent authorities such a preliminary calculation, for indicative purposes and without prejudice to the definitive calculation established by the competent authority of the Member State where the authorised CBAM declarant is established.
5. Where the competent authority concludes that the declared number of CBAM certificates to be surrendered is incorrect, or that no CBAM declaration has been submitted in accordance with Article 6, it shall determine the number of CBAM certificates which should have been surrendered by the authorised CBAM declarant, taking into account the information submitted by the Commission.
The competent authority shall notify the authorised CBAM declarant of its decision on the number of CBAM certificates determined and shall request that the authorised CBAM declarant surrender the additional CBAM certificates within one month.
The competent authority’s decision shall contain the reasons for the decision as well as information about the right to appeal. The decision shall also be notified via the CBAM registry.
Where the competent authority, after receiving the preliminary calculation from the Commission in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 4 of this Article, decides not to take any action, the competent authority shall inform the Commission accordingly, via the CBAM registry.
6. Where the competent authority concludes that the number of CBAM certificates surrendered exceeds the number which should have been surrendered, it shall inform the Commission without delay. The CBAM certificates surrendered in excess shall be repurchased in accordance with Article 23.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
