EU Commission visits Korea to directly promote Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism

Ministry of Industry and KOTRA Hold 'Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism Info Session'

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA jointly held a 'Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) Info Session' with the European Union (EU) Commission on the 15th in Seoul.

This briefing was conducted for about 140 domestic companies and related organizations. CBAM officials from the EU Commission, including Yerasimos Thomas, Director-General of the Taxation and Customs Union, visited Korea to directly explain the related system and held a Q&A session focusing on inquiries from domestic companies.

Yerasimos Thomas, Director-General of Taxation and Customs Union at the European Commission (second from the left in the front row), at the 'Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) Info Session' event venue / Photo by KOTRA

Once CBAM is implemented, non-EU countries including South Korea will be required to impose carbon costs equivalent to those of EU-produced products when exporting six items (steel, aluminum, cement, fertilizer, electricity, hydrogen) to the EU. Since last month, there has been an obligation to submit reports containing carbon emission information related to CBAM, and CBAM is scheduled to be fully implemented from January 2026.

Lee Ji-hyung, Head of KOTRA's Economic and Trade Cooperation Division, said, "We hope this info session will serve as an opportunity for our companies entering the EU to respond without trial and error," adding, "We will continue to support our companies to proactively respond to the rapidly changing global trade environment."

Today's trade environment is rapidly changing with the emergence of new trade paradigms such as economic security, ESG and carbon neutrality, and digital globalization. KOTRA has trade offices (Economic and Trade Cooperation Desks) specialized in investigating global issues located in Washington, USA; Brussels, EU; Beijing, China; and Tokyo, Japan.

Each desk disseminates information through ▲in-depth and issue reports ▲handbooks ▲videos ▲newsletters. They support related briefings and consulting to help domestic companies adapt to the new trade environment and discover business opportunities.

In September, KOTRA also published a CBAM Q&A book. Additionally, through the KOTRA Brussels Trade Office, a CBAM hotline was established jointly with the German certification body (TUV SUD) to respond to additional inquiries from companies.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.