Brussels corrects the CBAM default values: check your numbers
On 31 July the European Commission published Regulation (EU) 2026/1740, correcting the default values and production route indicators used in the CBAM definitive period. The corrections apply retroactively, which means they reach back over imports already made this year.
What changed
Default values are the fallback numbers importers use when they cannot obtain actual emissions data from their suppliers. The definitive-period set, first published in February, contained errors in certain values and production indicators, and the new regulation puts them right. Alongside the corrections, the mark-ups applied to default values are now calculated dynamically within the CBAM registry rather than taken from static tables, so the figure you see in the registry is the figure that counts.
Why it matters
If your 2026 liability estimate rests on default values, the number you calculated in the spring may no longer be right. The sensible response is short: re-run the figures against the corrected values and check what the registry now shows for your goods. For some importers the correction will be favourable, for others not, but either way the finance forecast should reflect it before certificate purchases begin in February 2027.
There is a broader lesson. Default values have now been revised in February and corrected in July, and mark-ups on them will climb in the years ahead. They are a moving target, and a liability built on them inherits every movement. Actual emissions data from suppliers, once verified, belongs to you and does not change when Brussels reissues a table.
What to do
Check whether any of your covered goods rely on defaults, re-estimate the accrued liability using the corrected values, and log the registry's dynamic mark-up figures as part of your quarterly routine. Then ask, product by product, whether obtaining actual supplier data would now cost less than the defaults will.
CBAM-Assured helps importers move from default values to verified actual data. Contact us to find out what that would take for your supply chain.