The European Commission has clarified the proof requirements for importers related to its new rules for melting and casting steel, in accordance with the provisions published in the Official Journal of the EU on August 31.
The rules applicable to all member states from October 1, 2026, were originally established in the EU. EU steel production regulation aims to address the "root causes of global overcapacity" by monitoring steel imports and its place of origin — the original place where raw steel or cast iron is initially produced in liquid form and then cast into solid form.
By doing this, the Commission will gain a more accurate understanding of the steel supply chain in the EU, which will allow it to assess future policy changes in this sector.
The resolution states that failure to provide verifiable evidence about the country of production of the melt and casting would constitute a failure to comply with the transparency requirements established by the Steel Production Regulations, which would eventually lead to the rejection of imported material by customs authorities.
Importers of steel categories subject to the Steel Production Regulations must provide a Rolling Mill Test Certificate indicating the country in which the smelting and casting is performed and the steel smelting number, if any.
If a rolling mill test certificate is available but does not contain any of these elements, Customs authorities may evaluate additional evidence such as invoices, delivery notes, quality certificates or contract terms, declarations from long-term suppliers, cost accounting or production documents, customs documents from the exporting country, commercial correspondence or product descriptions.
If the mill test certificate cannot be provided at all, the Customs authorities may consider the same types of information as evidence if it concerns the country of melting and casting and the furnace number during the transition period from October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027, after which the Customs authorities may consider the same types of information in as evidence. The Commission may limit the types of evidence allowed. The list will be constantly reviewed and can be adjusted at any time. The decree states that access to the relevant tariff quotas may be delayed until the evidence provided by the importer is officially confirmed.
Since the decree on steel production came into force on July 1, steel prices have risen amid tighter quotas for importers and additional
