Brescia, 10/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - European aluminium users said, on Thursday at a press conference in Brescia (Italy), that they may take legal action before the Court of Justice against the European Commission with a view to suspension of an EU import duty that they blame for lost revenues amounting to hundreds of millions of euros a year. Robert Bertozzi, spokesman for the Federation of Aluminium Consumers in Europe (FACE), denounced the Commission's attitude and stressed that it has done nothing to suspend the 6% duty on imports of primary aluminium, even though 12 EU Member States opposed it. "Every day we suffer intensely from this distortion", he said, adding that the situation could lead to the closure of several aluminium processing plants in Europe, especially SMEs. FACE therefore plans to send a recommended letter to the Commission President, Romano Prodi, to ask him to respect Article 26 of the Amsterdam Treaty which stipulates that the EU Council of Ministers may decide tariff suspensions. The procedure gives the Commission two months in which to respond to the request made, either by taking measures, or by justifying its refusal to act. In the latter case, FACE does not hide its intention to take the matter before the Court.