Who becomes the authorised Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) declarant for imported electricity, and how does explicit capacity allocation change the application?

The declarant is the person who puts their CBAM account number on the customs declaration: the importer or its indirect customs representative. Where capacity is allocated explicitly, Article 5(4) gives the importer a special authorisation route: supporting documents, then an automatic account number from the national authority.

Who applies

The Commission's Questions and Answers (Q&A) 6.9 say that, as for other CBAM goods, either the importer of electricity or the importer's indirect customs representative can apply to become an authorised declarant. For CBAM, the importer is the person lodging a customs declaration for release for free circulation or, where an indirect customs representative lodges it, the person on whose behalf it is lodged.

The special route in Article 5(4)

1. It covers electricity where transmission capacity is allocated through explicit capacity allocation. It is a special regime for authorisation, not for deciding who can be declarant.
2. Importers of electricity covered by Article 5(4) who are regarded as CBAM declarants submit supporting documents to the competent authority of the Member State where the customs declaration was lodged. Any previous customs declaration covering such electricity will do.
3. The documents must prove that explicit capacity was allocated to the importer and that the importer has nominated that capacity.
4. The authority then automatically allocates a CBAM account number, to be used in customs declarations covering CBAM goods from 1 January 2026.

When the standard process applies

• If the person who was allocated and nominated the capacity is not the importer as defined above, Article 5(4) does not apply and the importer follows the standard authorisation process.
• If that person is the importer but uses an indirect customs representative for CBAM purposes, the representative follows the standard process.
• Importers established in a third country must appoint an indirect customs representative, who also follows the standard process.

What Senseible does here

Senseible does not trade or declare electricity and does not check capacity nominations. It reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into dated, fingerprinted installation records for an Indian plant.

• Electricity imports under CBAM (CN 2716)
• CBAM electricity in transit and offshore zone power
• Check your EU buyer is an authorised declarant
• Authorised declarant

Sources: European Commission, CBAM Questions and Answers, last updated 15 October 2026, questions 6.8 and 6.9

Last reviewed 2026-11-05. Re-read Article 5(4) of Regulation (EU) 2023/956 and Q&A 6.9 if the amendment proposal on electricity is adopted.