Council sets EU line on EEA EFTA funding for CBAM systems

The Council of the European Union adopted Decision (EU) 2026/2256 on 24 September 2026, fixing the position the EU will take in the EEA Joint Committee on amendments to Protocol 10 and Protocol 31 of the EEA Agreement so that the EEA EFTA states contribute financially to the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). The decision was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, L series, No 2026/2256 of 8 October 2026.

What the decision does

The decision, taken under Article 192(1) in conjunction with Article 218(9) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 1(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2894/94, bases the EU position on a draft decision of the EEA Joint Committee annexed to it. That draft amends Protocol 10, on simplification of inspections and formalities in respect of carriage of goods, and Protocol 31, on cooperation in specific fields outside the four freedoms.

The amendments follow the incorporation of Regulation (EU) 2023/956, which established CBAM, into the EEA Agreement. Because the EFTA states lie outside the EU customs territory, they have by default no access to the customs information systems used for CBAM, and the CBAM Registry and the common central platform require specific adjustments. The draft states that, as the EFTA states should contribute financially to those systems, they should in return enjoy the right of access to and use of them.

Who pays and how much

The financial arrangements cover the CBAM Registry, the common central platform, the customs risk management system (CRMS), the Common Communication Network 2 (CCN2), the Customer Reference Services system (CRS), the Datalab analytics system and the Uniform User Management and Digital Signature platform (UUM&DS).

• Iceland and Norway cover the one-off costs of the EFTA-specific adjustments, sharing them by the standard proportionality factor, except CCN2 delivery costs, borne only by Iceland.
• From 2027 they cover 0.625 % of the operational costs of the communication and customs systems, with annual indexation of 2 %; for UUM&DS and CRS operational costs are covered from 2026.
• Indicative amounts annexed to the decision include EUR 500 000 for the CBAM Registry in 2025, EUR 700 000 in 2026 and EUR 250 000 in 2027, with 2028 still to be determined.
• Datalab delivery costs are put at EUR 50 000 in 2026 and EUR 40 000 a year from 2027 to 2030; UUM&DS at EUR 135 000 delivery plus EUR 20 000 operational in 2026 and EUR 20 000 a year thereafter.
• CRS delivery costs are estimated at EUR 150 000 with EUR 12 500 a year in operational costs; CCN2 at EUR 100 000 delivery and EUR 10 000 a year.
• The cost of EFTA-specific features for the common central platform for 2026-2030 is “not yet identified at this stage”.

Timeline, payments and exclusions

Under Protocol 31, the EFTA states participate from 1 January 2025 in budget line 9.20.04.01, “Carbon border adjustment mechanism”, for the 2025, 2026 and 2027 financial years. The decision applies from 1 January 2025 and enters into force the day after the last notification under Article 103(1) of the EEA Agreement.

The European Commission must request payment of the one-off costs by 30 June each year, starting in 2026, on the basis of a documented debit note; payments fall due within 60 days, with interest on arrears at the rate applied by the European Central Bank plus one and a half points. Costs may be reviewed in 2028 at the Commission’s initiative. The arrangements do not apply to Liechtenstein, since Regulation (EU) 2023/956 does not apply there. The decision was signed in Brussels by P. BURKE as President of the Council.

The decision matters because it extends CBAM’s IT backbone to Iceland and Norway, so importers there will operate through the same registry and certificate platform as EU declarants, while the two states take on a defined and annually indexed share of the bill.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, L series, No 2026/2256, 8 October 2026 (official reference: Decision (EU) 2026/2256).