Returned goods, as defined in Article 203 of the Union Customs Code (Regulation (EU) No 952/2013), refer to items exempted from duty because they were previously EU goods and meet specific criteria outlined in customs legislation.

During the transitional phase, CBAM reporting requirements do not extend to returned goods, exempting their embedded emissions from quarterly CBAM reports. However, in the definitive phase, reporting declarants must include returned goods of non-EU origin* in their annual CBAM declaration, indicating ‘zero’ for total embedded emissions of such goods.

* 2 The customs status refers to the status of goods as Union or non-Union goods, according to Art. 5(22) of the Union Customs Code (Regulation EU 952/2013). The customs status is independent from and does not affect the origin of the goods.