CBAM: India working with the EU to secure recognition for accreditation body, verification agencies
India is engaging the European Union to secure formal recognition of Indian accreditation bodies and verification agencies under the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), so that Indian-accredited verifiers can certify embedded-emissions data for exporters without routing through EU-based agencies.
The effort centres on enabling India's National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB), a constituent board of the Quality Council of India (QCI), and Indian conformity-assessment bodies to be accepted as equivalent to EU National Accreditation Bodies (NABs) for CBAM verification purposes.
The push comes as CBAM's definitive (financial) phase is underway from 2026, with the European Commission having only recently begun accrediting the first CBAM verifiers, and India being a major exporter of CBAM-covered goods, particularly iron and steel, to the EU.
Domestic industry bodies and the Department of Commerce have been coordinating with exporters to build verification capacity ahead of full compliance obligations.
CBAM Verification and the Role of Accreditation
Under CBAM (EU Regulation 2023/956), embedded-emissions data submitted by non-EU exporters must be certified by an independent verifier accredited under EN ISO/IEC 17029 and 14065 standards by a National Accreditation Body (NAB) recognised by European Accreditation (EA), the EU-designated accreditation infrastructure body. For verifiers based outside the EU — including in India — accreditation must currently be sought from one of a limited set of EU member-state NABs willing to accredit third-country bodies, since India's own accreditation body is not automatically recognised for this specific EU regulatory purpose unless a mutual recognition arrangement covering CBAM is established.
Key Details
- Legal basis: Commission Implementing Regulation on CBAM verification, requiring accreditation under ISO/IEC 17029 (validation and verification bodies) and ISO 14065 (greenhouse gas validation/verification).
- As of mid-2026, only a subset of EU National Accreditation Bodies had agreed to accredit verification bodies established outside the EU, creating a bottleneck for exporting countries like India, China, and Turkey.
- India's NABCB is a member of international mutual recognition networks — the International Accreditation Forum/International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation successor body (now unified as one organisation) and the Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (APAC) — but this does not by itself grant automatic recognition under CBAM's EU-specific verification regime.
India's push for "recognition" is precisely aimed at closing this gap: getting NABCB and India-accredited verification/certification bodies (such as Bureau Veritas India, TÜV India, DNV India, SGS India) accepted under CBAM so Indian exporters can use domestic verifiers rather than costlier EU-based ones.
CBAM's Definitive Phase and India's Exposure
CBAM is the EU's mechanism to price the carbon embedded in imports of select carbon-intensive goods at a level equivalent to what EU domestic producers pay under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), to prevent "carbon leakage." Its transitional (reporting-only) phase ran from October 2023 to December 2025; the definitive phase, in which importers must purchase CBAM certificates for embedded emissions, began on 1 January 2026, with certificate sales through the EU's central platform starting February 2027 and the first declaration/surrender deadline of 30 September 2027 (for 2026 import emissions).
Key Details
- CBAM covers six sectors: iron and steel, cement, aluminium, fertilisers, hydrogen, and electricity.
- India accounted for roughly a tenth of EU iron and steel import value in 2024, making Indian steel and aluminium exporters among the most exposed to CBAM compliance costs.
- Industry estimates (cited by Indian trade research bodies) suggest CBAM-linked costs could force Indian exporters to absorb double-digit percentage price cuts to remain competitive if compliance costs are not managed efficiently.
Since certificate costs are reduced by the carbon price effectively "already paid" and correctly verified, timely, India-based accreditation and verification directly lowers compliance friction and cost for Indian exporters entering the definitive phase.
India's CCTS as a Parallel Domestic Carbon Market
India's own compliance carbon market, the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), was notified on 28 June 2023 under Section 14AA of the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2022, with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) as designated administrator under the Ministry of Power. CCTS issues Carbon Credit Certificates (CCCs), each representing one tonne of CO2-equivalent reduction/removal, initially covering energy-intensive sectors, and is being used by India both as a domestic decarbonisation tool and as a reference point in negotiations over how EU mechanisms like CBAM should treat carbon costs already incurred domestically.
Key Details
- Legal basis: Section 14AA, Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2022; scheme notified 28 June 2023.
- Administering body: Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), under the Ministry of Power; initial coverage from FY 2025-26 across roughly 800 industrial units in nine sectors including cement, aluminium, and textiles.
- India has argued at the WTO and in bilateral engagement that CBAM should account for carbon costs already borne under schemes like CCTS, to avoid effectively double-charging exporters.
India's request for accreditation-body recognition under CBAM runs parallel to its broader argument that its domestic carbon-pricing and verification architecture (CCTS plus NABCB-accredited bodies) should be trusted and factored into how CBAM assesses Indian exports.
- CBAM legal basis: EU Regulation (EU) 2023/956; definitive (financial) phase began 1 January 2026; certificate sales begin 1 February 2027; first declaration/surrender deadline 30 September 2027.
- CBAM covers six sectors: iron & steel, cement, aluminium, fertilisers, hydrogen, electricity.
- NABCB (National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies) is a constituent board of the Quality Council of India (QCI) and a signatory to international mutual recognition arrangements (IAF/ILAC successor body, APAC MLA).
- India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) was notified 28 June 2023 under the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2022, administered by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).
- India supplied roughly a tenth of the EU's iron and steel import value in 2024, underscoring its exposure to CBAM compliance costs.