European Commission defines steel melt-and-pour rules for importers

The European Commission has clarified the evidentiary requirements for importers surrounding its new steel melt-and-pour rules, according to regulations published in the EU’s Official Journal on Aug. 31.

The rules, applicable across all member states from Oct. 1, 2026, were originally established in the EU’s Steel Regulation and aim to address the “root causes of global overcapacity” through monitoring steel imports and their place of origin — the original place where raw steel or iron is initially produced in liquid form and then cast into its first solid state.

By doing this, the Commission will gain a more accurate overview of the EU’s steel supply chain, allowing it to assess future policy developments within the sector.

The regulation states that a failure to declare the country of melt-and-pour with verifiable evidence would constitute non-compliance with the transparency requirements of the Steel Regulation, ultimately resulting in a rejection of the imported material by customs authorities.

Importers of steel categories covered by the Steel Regulation must provide a Mill Test Certificate that includes both the country of melt-and-pour and the heat number of the steel when available.

Where a Mill Test Certificate is available but does not contain either of these elements, customs authorities may assess complementary evidence such as invoices, delivery notes, quality certificates or contractual clauses, long term supplier declarations, cost accounting or production documents, customs documents from the exporting country, commercial correspondence or production descriptions.

If no Mill Test Certificate can be provided at all, then customs authorities can consider the same types of information as evidence so long as it entails the the melt-and-pour country and heat number during a transitional period from Oct. 1, 2026 to Sept. 30, 2027, after which the Commission may limit the types of admissible evidence. The list will remain under continuous review and may be adjusted at any time. The regulation states that there may be a delay in access to the relevant tariff-rate quotas until the evidence provided by the importer is officially verified.

Since the Steel Regulation entered into force on July. 1, steel prices have risen amid tighter quotas for importers and additional cost pressures from the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and anti-dumping duties where relevant. The new import landscape has provided domestic producers with firm support despite weak underlying demand, with market expectations on future price trajectory largely bullish.

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, last assessed domestic hot-rolled coil at €725/mt ex-works Ruhr Aug. 28, and in Southern Europe at €715/mt ex-works Italy, both up €45/mt since July. 1.

Platts assessed imported HRC in Northern Europe at €585/mt CIF Antwerp, unchanged from July. 1, and in Southern Europe at €575/mt CIF S. Europe, down €10/mt over the same period.