CBAM GN-Code Checker — EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism

Check in seconds whether a product falls under CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, the EU's carbon border tax) by GN/CN customs code or free-text product description — and whether the 2025 50-tonne/year de-minimis threshold applies.

When should an AI agent use this?

• "Does GN code 7601 10 00 (aluminium bars) fall under CBAM?"
• "Check whether 'Portland cement' triggers a CBAM obligation."
• "We import 30 tonnes of steel tubes per year — does the CBAM de-minimis threshold apply?"
• "Which of these 20 imported product codes are subject to CBAM, and under which category (cement, steel, aluminium, fertiliser, electricity, hydrogen)?"
• "Is urea (GN 3102 10) covered by CBAM?"
• "Given a direct GN code, what CBAM category applies and is there a known exception?"

Why this matters

CBAM became financially tangible for the first time in 2026, with a further Omnibus simplification (Regulation (EU) 2025/2083) in effect since October 2025 that introduced a new cumulative 50-tonne/year de-minimis threshold — replacing the old per-shipment €150 rule. Checking whether a specific customs code is in scope, and whether your import volume clears the new threshold, is a recurring compliance task for every importer of steel, aluminium, cement or fertiliser.

What this Actor does

• Maps a GN/CN customs code (or a free-text product description as fallback) to 1 of 6 CBAM categories: cement, iron & steel, aluminium, fertilisers, electricity, hydrogen
• Matches hierarchically: a full 8-digit code matches if its 4-digit heading is listed, exactly like the real CBAM scope rules work
• Applies the 50-tonne/year cumulative de-minimis threshold (2025 Omnibus simplification) when a quantity is supplied — correctly excluded for electricity and hydrogen, which have no such exemption
• Flags a known explicit exclusion (GN 3105 60 00 — phosphorus/potassium-only fertiliser, no nitrogen)
• Flags match confidence (hoog/middel/laag) per result — some codes have nuances (partial heading coverage, recent scope changes) that this Actor shows honestly instead of pretending certainty
• Supports bulk classification of an entire import list in one run
• 100% static rule engine — no scraping, no external API calls at runtime

What this Actor does NOT do

It does not check whether a trading partner is a registered/authorised CBAM declarant. The official EU CBAM Registry (Authorisation Management Module) is a closed system, accessible only via EU Login to registered importers/customs representatives and national authorities — there is no public API or searchable list (verified 2026-07-12). If you need that check, it has to go through your own CBAM Registry access.

Input

Field	Type	Description
gnCode	string	Customs GN/CN code, e.g. "76011000" or "7601 10 00". Matches on the code or any longer code starting with it (heading-level match)
productomschrijving	string	Free-text product description, used as fallback when gnCode is empty or doesn't match
jaarlijkseHoeveelheidTon	number	Your cumulative annual CBAM import quantity in tonnes, for the 50-tonne de-minimis check. No effect on electricity/hydrogen (no exemption)
producten	array	Bulk mode: a list of objects with the same fields above (plus an optional label per item)
toonEmissieIndicatie	boolean	Optional, separately charged: adds an indicative CO2-intensity range (tCO2e/tonne) per CBAM category when the result is onder_cbam. See "Emission indication" below. Default false

Output

{
  "input": { "gnCode": "76011000" },
  "genormaliseerdeCode": "76011000",
  "matches": [
    {
      "code": "7601",
      "codeTitel": "Aluminium product, heading 7601",
      "categorie": "aluminium",
      "matchZekerheid": "hoog",
      "toelichting": "Hoofdstuk 76-post 7601 (aluminiumproduct) valt onder CBAM. ...",
      "zoektermen": "aluminium"
    }
  ],
  "status": "onder_cbam",
  "toelichting": "Match gevonden met CBAM-categorie(ën): aluminium.",
  "disclaimer": "Dit is een indicatieve classificatie ... GEEN juridisch bindend advies.",
  "emissieIndicatie": null,
  "rapportage": {
    "volgendeDeadline": "Jaarlijkse CBAM-aangifte over het voorafgaande kalenderjaar, uiterlijk 31 mei ...",
    "boeteHint": "Bij het niet, te laat of onjuist indienen van de CBAM-aangifte ... generiek indicatief in de orde van €10-50 per ton niet-aangegeven embedded emissions ..."
  }
}

• status: onder_cbam, onder_drempel (matched, but below the 50-tonne threshold), buiten_scope, or onbekend (no usable gnCode/productomschrijving, or an invalid GN-code format — see "GN-code format validation" below)
• matches: can contain more than one rule for a code (e.g. a heading-level rule plus a more specific sub-code rule), and can even span more than one CBAM category if a code or free-text description genuinely matches more than one (rare, but not excluded)
• rapportage: a static calendar field — the next CBAM reporting deadline and a generic penalty hint. Only filled when there's an actual CBAM import (onder_cbam or onder_drempel), null otherwise. This is informational, not a per-case legal calculation — see the shared disclaimer field.

GN-code format validation

gnCode is normalised by stripping everything except digits. Only a result of 2, 4, 6 or 8 digits (chapter/heading/sub-heading/full breakdown) is treated as a plausible GN/CN code. Anything else — a typo, or digits embedded in unrelated text (e.g. an 11-digit paste error) — returns status onbekend with an explicit "ongeldig GN-code-formaat" explanation instead of being silently prefix-matched against the rule set. This does not fall back to productomschrijving, so a malformed code can't mask itself behind a coincidental free-text match.

Emission indication (optional, separately charged)

Set toonEmissieIndicatie: true to add a rough tCO2e/tonne intensity range per matched CBAM category, only when status is onder_cbam. emissieIndicatie is an array — one entry per matched category. In the overwhelming majority of cases a product matches exactly one category, so the array has 1 entry; if a code or free-text description genuinely matches more than one category (rare, but not excluded), every matched category gets its own entry instead of only the first one being shown:

{
  "emissieIndicatie": [
    {
      "categorie": "cement",
      "indicatieveTonCo2ePerTonMin": 0.6,
      "indicatieveTonCo2ePerTonMax": 0.9,
      "toelichting": "Cement/clinkerproductie: circa 0,6-0,9 ton CO2e per ton product, ...",
      "disclaimer": "Dit is een GROVE, illustratieve orde-van-grootte ... GEEN officiële EU CBAM-default-waarde ..."
    }
  ]
}

This is a broad, illustrative order-of-magnitude compiled from generally published industry averages — not the official EU CBAM default value (which requires a product/installation-specific calculation under the CBAM implementing regulation). It's meant to give importers a first-order feel for how much certificate costs might weigh, not a number to file with. Always read the disclaimer field on each entry. The separately charged emissie-indicatie-resultaat event is billed once per result regardless of how many entries the array has — the price is unchanged from before this array shape.

Bulk runs (more than 1 product) also get one free summary record at the end, on top of the per-product results — not charged, no extra event:

{
  "type": "cumulatieve_samenvatting",
  "aantalProducten": 3,
  "totaalTonPerCategorie": { "cement": 55, "elektriciteit": 0, "waterstof": 0, "kunstmest": 0, "ijzer_staal": 0, "aluminium": 10 },
  "categorieenBovenDrempel": ["cement"],
  "drempelTon": 50
}

This makes the 50-tonne de-minimis threshold's cumulative nature (per importer per year, not per shipment — see the FAQ) directly actionable: two products that are each individually onder_drempel can still push a category's cumulative total over the threshold, which this summary flags. elektriciteit and waterstof are never included in categorieenBovenDrempel — the threshold doesn't apply to them at all.

Use cases

• Importers of steel, aluminium, cement or fertiliser: check new product codes against CBAM before the first shipment
• Customs/compliance consultants: bulk-classify a client's full import list in one run
• Procurement teams: flag which new supplier product lines will trigger CBAM reporting
• AI agents: structured JSON output, ideal as an MCP tool for import-compliance workflows

Pricing

This Actor uses Apify's Pay-Per-Event (PPE) pricing model.

• Actor Start: $0.00005 (Apify default)
• classificatie-resultaat: $0.003 per classified product
• emissie-indicatie-resultaat: $0.006 extra, only with toonEmissieIndicatie enabled and only when the result is onder_cbam

Legal

• The GN/CN-code-to-category mapping is compiled from Regulation (EU) 2023/956 Annex I as amended by Regulation (EU) 2025/2083, cross-checked against 2 independent secondary compliance sources (2026-07-12) because the literal EUR-Lex annex text could not be extracted as parseable text during development. Verify against the official EUR-Lex text before relying on this for a filing decision.
• This is an indicative classification, not legal advice, and it is not a CBAM declarant-registry check (see "What this Actor does NOT do" above).
• The optional emissieIndicatie is a rough illustrative range, not the official EU CBAM default value and not usable for an actual CBAM filing — see its own disclaimer field.
• No personal data is processed — only product/customs-code classification data.

FAQ

Q: My GN code didn't match anything — does that mean I'm not covered? A: Probably, but the rule set isn't exhaustive and is based on secondary sources rather than the literal official annex. Verify against the official EUR-Lex text of Regulation (EU) 2023/956 if in doubt.

Q: Does this check if my trading partner is an authorised CBAM declarant? A: No — the official CBAM Registry has no public API or searchable list. This Actor only classifies goods, not counterparties.

Q: What's the 50-tonne threshold? A: Since the October 2025 CBAM Omnibus simplification, importers with less than 50 cumulative tonnes of CBAM goods per year are exempt — replacing the old per-shipment €150 de-minimis rule. It does not apply to electricity or hydrogen.

Q: Why do some results show matchZekerheid: "middel" instead of "hoog"? A: A handful of CBAM headings (e.g. ferro-alloys under 7202, or certain fertiliser sub-codes under 3102/ 3105) are only partially covered at the 8-digit level, or the available secondary sources disagreed on the exact sub-code boundary. This Actor shows that honestly rather than guessing.

Related Actors

• ../upv-classificatiechecker and ../nis2-sbi-sector-mapper — the same shared rule-engine approach, for Dutch/EU compliance classification in other domains (extended producer responsibility, cybersecurity law sector scoping).

Combined EU compliance scan (manual orchestration suggestion)

These 3 Actors target the same buyer (importers, customs/compliance consultants) and share the same static rule-engine approach, but each classifies against a different legal scope. There is no combined workflow Actor — running them together today means calling each one separately and merging the results yourself (e.g. in an n8n/Make flow, a script, or an AI agent that calls all 3 as tools):

1. CBAM GN-Code Checker (this Actor) — is this product/GN-code subject to the carbon border tax?
2. ../upv-classificatiechecker — does this same product trigger extended producer responsibility (UPV) obligations?
3. ../nis2-sbi-sector-mapper — does the importing company's SBI sector fall under NIS2 cybersecurity-law scope?

Feeding the same product/company identifiers into all 3 gives a broader "which EU compliance regimes apply to us" picture than any single Actor covers. This is a documentation pointer only, not a built integration — a genuine combined-workflow Actor (shared input schema, single run, merged output) would be a separate product with its own pricing.

Keywords

cbam, carbon border adjustment mechanism, eu carbon tax, gn code, cn code, customs classification, steel, aluminium, cement, fertiliser, compliance, import

Changelog

0.3.2

• Added a static rapportage field (next CBAM reporting deadline + a generic penalty hint) to each result, filled only when there's an actual CBAM import (onder_cbam/onder_drempel). No pricing change — enrichment of the same result object.
• emissieIndicatie is now an array (one entry per matched CBAM category) instead of only ever showing the first matched category when a code matched more than one. No pricing change — same already-charged emissie-indicatie-resultaat event, billed once per result regardless of array length.
• Added GN-code format validation: only 2/4/6/8-digit normalised codes are treated as plausible GN/CN codes; anything else now returns onbekend with an explicit explanation instead of being silently prefix-matched. No pricing change — bugfix on an existing, already-priced event.
• Expanded the "Related Actors" section with a manual combined-workflow suggestion for UPV Classificatiechecker and NIS2 SBI Sector Mapper. Documentation only, no built integration.

0.3.1 - Bugfix

• classificatie-resultaat is no longer charged when the result status is onbekend (empty/meaningless request) — the customer received nothing to classify, so they aren't billed for it.

0.3.0

• Added optional toonEmissieIndicatie input: when the result is onder_cbam, adds an indicative tCO2e/tonne intensity range per CBAM category (illustrative industry-average order of magnitude, not the official EU default value). New charged event emissie-indicatie-resultaat ($0.006), confirmed by the user (2026-07-14).

0.2.0

• Added a free cumulatieve_samenvatting record at the end of bulk runs (2+ products), totalling jaarlijkseHoeveelheidTon per CBAM category so a cumulative de-minimis breach can be spotted even when every individual product is below the 50-tonne threshold. No pricing change.

0.1.0 - Initial release

• GN/CN-code and free-text classification against 6 CBAM categories (cement, iron & steel, aluminium, fertilisers, electricity, hydrogen).
• Hierarchical code matching (heading-level rules match any longer code starting with them).
• 50-tonne/year cumulative de-minimis threshold (2025 Omnibus simplification), correctly excluded for electricity/hydrogen.
• Explicit known-exclusion handling (GN 3105 60 00).
• Bulk classification via the producten input field.
• Built on the shared shared-rule-engine package (also used by NIS2 SBI Sector Mapper and UPV Classificatiechecker), extended with a new vindMatchesOpCodePrefix function for hierarchical customs-code matching.