On Monday, 31 August, EUROFER, the European Steel Association, welcomed the introduction of the transparency requirement for the ‘melt and pour’ country (see EUROPE 13927/4): “a critical step towards stopping steel from being routed through third countries to disguise its true origin.”
As of 1 October, the ‘melt and pour’ origin [of steel] will have to be declared, and by the end of June 2028, the European Commission will decide whether country-specific tariff quotas should be introduced. “With global overcapacity at unprecedented levels, Europe needs to know where the steel entering its market was actually made,” adds EUROFER. “The new rules will establish the Mill Test Certificate (MTC) as the evidence [of] ‘melt and pour’ origin. Additional administrative paperwork should be the exception, not a loophole.”
For steel products that undergo limited further processing, “there is little justification for an MTC not to be available: producers issue them as part of normal business. The principle should be simple: the producer that makes the steel should prove where it was made, not leave that responsibility to the importer.”
In a recent compromise on the Industrial Accelerator Act, Dublin also introduced a reference to this regulation in the article defining the concept of ‘content of Union origin’.
The text states, “The origin of steel products shall be determined on the basis of the country of ‘melt and pour’, as defined in Article 4 of [the] Regulation [...] addressing the negative trade-related effects of global overcapacity on the Union steel market”.
Link to the compromise: https://aeur.eu/f/n7h (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)