HMRC Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM): Technical Consultation and webinars

The CBAM will apply a carbon price to certain imported, carbon‑intensive goods. It is designed to prevent carbon leakage and align imports with the UK ETS. It is proposed to start on 1 January 2027

The Initial sectors in scope:

• • Aluminium
  • Cement
  • Fertilisers
  • Hydrogen
  • Iron and steel

Key point: Fresh fruit and vegetables are not CBAM goods

Today, 9th April 2026, the government has published the second of two sets of draft secondary legislation for technical consultation, alongside supporting notices which will have force of law.

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

• embodied emissions

• monitoring and verification of emissions data

You can access the draft secondary legislation and supporting notices here. The government has also published a System Boundaries document, available at the same link.

About this technical consultation

This technical consultation seeks to ensure that the secondary legislation delivers the policy correctly and effectively. It is not a further consultation on the policy design.

The consultation will be open for 6 weeks and invites views from interested parties, including importers and their agents, verifiers of environmental information and accreditation bodies, individuals, tax advisors, trade and professional bodies and other interested parties, including those overseas.

How to respond

Feedback on the draft secondary legislation, including the Systems Boundaries document should be sent to cbampolicyteam@hmrc.gov.uk by 11:59pm on 21 May 2026. Please use the subject line ‘CBAM technical consultation response’ and clearly reference the relevant parts of the legislation in your response.

Previous consultation

The first set was published on 10 February 2026 for a 6-week technical consultation, alongside draft notices which will have force of law.

You can find further information on the earlier consultation, including an overview of the legislation, here.

Supporting information

Alongside the draft legislation and notices, the government has updated the CBAM Policy Summary. This provides an overview of CBAM as set out in the primary and draft secondary legislation, to help businesses understand how they may be affected. You can access the CBAM Policy Summary here.

Further engagement

If you would like to learn more about the detail set out in the current consultation, you can register for one of the livestream sessions listed below. These sessions will be delivered by UK CBAM policy officials and will provide an opportunity for Q&A.

Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM): Draft secondary legislation overview

Thursday May 7th 09.30 - 10.30am Sign up here

Thursday May 7th 15.00 - 16.00pm Sign up here