What does a French importer's CBAM authority mean for an Indian supplier?

In France CBAM is called MACF. An importer above 50 tonnes a year needs authorised declarant status, and the competent authority is the Directorate General for Energy and Climate (DGEC). If a French buyer's email mentions MACF, it is asking for the same CBAM emissions data.

How the French set-up works

• MACF stands for mécanisme d'ajustement carbone aux frontières, the French name for CBAM.
• The DGEC's climate action sub-directorate is the competent authority and takes questions by email.
• Declarations and certificate purchases still go through the EU-wide CBAM Registry, not a French system.

What your buyer will ask you for

• The installation that made the goods and the calendar year of production.
• Specific embedded emissions per tonne, with a verification report from an EU-accredited verifier if actual data is used.
• The data for the free allocation adjustment and, where one applies, the carbon price paid in India.

If you cannot send verified data

Your buyer can still declare using the Commission's default values, which carry a mark-up and usually cost more. A French buyer facing that bill will push for your actual figures or compare you with suppliers who have them.

What Senseible does here

Senseible keeps supplier invoices and the emissions data that comes with them in one dated, fingerprinted record per shipment, and its CBAM cost calculator estimates certificate cost from 2026 to 2034. Senseible does not verify emissions, register declarants or file CBAM declarations.

• What an authorised declarant is
• Which EU authority handles your buyer
• What Indian exporters send and when

Sources: European Commission, list of national competent authorities for CBAM (26 June 2026), European Commission, CBAM Guidance No. 1, introduction to CBAM concepts (definitive period), European Commission, CBAM definitive regime

Last reviewed 2026-10-23.