MACF: End of tolerance period and certificate price for 1st quarter 2026

Since 1 January 2026, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBM) has been fully in force. From 1 April 2026 only operators with the status of « declaring MACF authorised » or having filed an application to that effect before March 31, 2026, may release their goods. Customs recalls that the tolerance period for unregistered importers ended on 31 March 2026.

When making the import declaration for products subject to MACF, customs registrants using provision Y238 shall be liable to their customer for information that a status application is being validated. Any importer who has failed to take the necessary steps is now prohibited from importing, under penalty of penalties equivalent to the importation of prohibited products and thus liable to constitute customs offences.

On Monday, the European Commission published the price of the MACF certificate for imports in the first quarter of 2026, set at 75.36 €. Importers can now estimate the cost of MACF for their January, February and March 2026 imports by following these steps:

• Record the volume of goods concerned (net weight) from customs declarations.
• Define the intrinsic value of product emissions, either from actual data provided by manufacturers or suppliers, or using the default values available in Excel format on the dedicated page European Commission.
• Calculate the cost by multiplying these elements, taking into account the share of free allowances and the price of carbon already paid in the country of manufacture by a formal mechanism.

A calculator, made available by the DGEC, allows this calculation to be carried out quickly. It is necessary to update the cell corresponding to the carbon price with the official value. This allows importers to make provision for the additional cost of MACF, which will be charged in February 2027 when certificates are put on sale.

We advise you to download the calculator every time you use it to make sure the data is up to date.

European Commission (https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/carbon-border-adjustment-mechanism en)