The corrected CBAM default values are finally available in working form. On August 10, 2026, DG TAXUD posted the corrected "Default values definitive period" Excel file on its CBAM legislation and guidance page, ten days after Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1740 appeared in the Official Journal with retroactive effect from January 1, 2026. Three days later, a data analysis published by the Stainless Espresso market briefing on steelnews.biz on August 13 delivered the finding that reframes the whole episode: of the 46 genuine numerical replacements in the correction, all 46 lowered the default value. Importers who provisioned their 2026 CBAM costs on the January tables set aside too much money, not too little.
The Excel file closes the gap the July 31 publication left open
DG TAXUD posted the corrected "Default values definitive period" Excel file on the CBAM legislation and guidance page on August 10, 2026, giving declarants a downloadable version of the values set by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1740. The upload answers the loudest criticism from two weeks ago, when the Commission quietly corrected the CBAM default values with no press release and no corrected Excel tables, leaving companies to reconstruct the changes from the Official Journal text while Finnish Customs issued the first practical warning.
The page now also flags that a consolidated version of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2621 will be available soon, sparing declarants the job of reading two regulations side by side. The legal hierarchy is unchanged: the binding values remain those of IR 2025/2621 as corrected by IR 2026/1740, and a VATupdate briefing of August 14, 2026 notes that the spreadsheet is "provided for convenience only and does not replace the legal provisions contained in the published regulations." The same TAXUD page received a second major update this week, the ten guidance documents for the CBAM definitive period published on August 14, which makes it the single most consequential download destination for compliance teams this month.
Certificate price alerts and the regulatory changes that matter. Get weekly updates on what happens regarding anything CBAM-related. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
We store only your email address for these alerts. Privacy policy
What the correction actually changed: 46 replacements, all of them lower
All 46 genuine numerical replacements in IR 2026/1740 reduced the default value, according to the Stainless Espresso analysis published on steelnews.biz on August 13, 2026. The analysis dissects the correction into its component parts: 487 country-code combinations were touched, 79 total default values changed, and 415 production-route entries were modified. Roughly 48 percent of those route changes (200 of the 415) were the Commission filling in previously empty fields rather than correcting wrong ones, with North Macedonia alone gaining 141 newly added route entries.
The table below summarizes the anatomy of the correction as reported by the analysis.
| Element of the correction | Figure | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Country-code combinations touched | 487 | n/a |
| Total default values altered | 79 | Mixed changes, additions, and replacements |
| Genuine numerical replacements | 46 | All 46 lower |
| Largest steel correction | 0.088 tCO₂ per tonne | Down |
| Production-route changes | 415 | ~48% filled previously omitted data |
| New route entries for North Macedonia | 141 | Added |
| Aluminium precursors, Annex IV (two CN codes) | ~+47.5% | The only genuine increases |
The steel reductions top out at 0.088 tCO₂ per tonne, and that number deserves translation into money. For an importer bringing in 10,000 tonnes of an affected steel product, the largest correction removes 880 tCO₂ of declared embedded emissions, which at the 2.5 percent CBAM factor for 2026 works out to 22 certificates, roughly €1,660 at the Q2 certificate price of €75.28. That is the worst case among the steel lines, and it points down, not up. The exceptions run the other way in one place only: two aluminium precursor CN codes in Annex IV rise by roughly 47.5 percent, the sole genuine increases the analysis found anywhere in the correction.
A data rebuttal to six-figure fear marketing
The same analysis turns its findings against consultants who marketed the correction as a large cost risk, noting that social media posts had warned about outdated calculations and "additional costs running into six figures." The data supports the opposite conclusion. In the words of the Stainless Espresso briefing, "Anyone who calculated using the old values set aside too much, not too little." The briefing draws a sharp line between legitimate correction work and opportunism: "It is something else entirely to turn predominantly reduced and completed data into a scare scenario and then sell recalculation, data reconciliation and audit consulting on the back of it."
The criticism does not spare Brussels. The analysis points out that the Commission itself now acknowledges transcription errors and missing production routes, and that "For seven months, the legally binding CBAM dataset remained in force despite known deficiencies." Both things are true at once: the Commission ran a flawed dataset for seven months, and part of the advisory market inflated the consequences of fixing it. Importers weighing external help against that backdrop can benchmark provider categories and typical fees in the CBAM consultants guide before paying for a recalculation the corrected Excel now makes straightforward to run in-house.
Re-run the provisioning anyway, and expect the number to fall
Advisers still recommend that importers re-run their CBAM cost provisioning against the corrected values and prioritize verified actual emissions over defaults, per the VATupdate briefing of August 14, 2026. A downward correction is not a reason to skip the recalculation. The corrected values apply retroactively from January 1, 2026, they feed the first annual declaration due September 30, 2027, and certificate purchases begin February 1, 2027, so the provision on the books should match the annexes that are actually law. Money released by lower defaults is only usable once the recalculation documents it, and the certificate side of the equation is moving in the opposite direction, with the Q3 certificate price tracking six to eight euros above Q2.
Four steps put the corrected file to work:
- Download the August 10 "Default values definitive period" Excel from the TAXUD legislation and guidance page and retire every locally saved copy of the January tables
- Re-run the CBAM calculation for every 2026 import line that relies on defaults, then adjust the certificate budget and release any excess provision
- Prioritize verified actual emissions where suppliers can deliver them, since VATupdate notes the default values are "intentionally conservative" and the mark-up mechanics detailed in the CBAM default values guide mean defaults rise to a 30 percent mark-up from 2028
- Document which file version and which regulation state each calculation used, so the September 2027 declaration shows the corrected values were applied
What lower defaults mean for exporters
Lower default values narrow the gap that justifies a supplier's verification spend. Non-EU producers win EU customers on the difference between their verified actual emissions and the default their buyer would otherwise pay, a dynamic explained in why default values hurt exporters, and 46 downward corrections shrink that difference across the affected product lines. The calculation flips for the two Annex IV aluminium precursor codes, where a roughly 47.5 percent increase makes verified data more valuable, not less. Exporters who priced a verification project against the January tables should re-check it against the August 10 file before committing.
The episode ends better than it began. The correction that surfaced as an unannounced note in July now exists as a downloadable file, a consolidated regulation is on the way, and the numbers point in the importers' favor. The declarants who lose from here are the ones still calculating from tables saved in January.