Brussels, 29/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - One of the items of 'any other business' at Monday's Competitiveness Council in Brussels was the question of customs duties on imports of aluminium from Russia, raised by Poland, which gave rise to much debate. Introduced in May 2004 at the same time as the most recent round of EU enlargement, customs duties are levied on 6% of Russian aluminium exports to the EU, causing problems for Polish industry which uses the aluminium as a raw material, explained the Polish delegation. Polish companies using huge quantities of aluminium have seen theirs costs rise as a result of customs duty. Russia supplies half of Poland's aluminium imports. Several other Member States supported Poland's stance since many of their industries use aluminium as a raw material and have the same problem, arguing that not enough aluminium is produced in the EU, and therefore joined Poland in calling for a reduction or scrapping of aluminium import duty to take account of the interests of aluminium users. Germany produces a lot of aluminium and faces international pressure and therefore opposes the move. EU Industry Commissioner Gunter Verheugen told the Council that it was a complex problem because the interests of EU aluminium producing companies had to be taken into account with their loss of competitiveness (they are protected by the import duties), along with the interests of companies importing aluminium which want a reduction in the import duty to increase their own competitiveness. A spokesperson for Verheugen, Gregor Kreuzhuber, told our reporter that it was not possible to unilaterally reduce customs duties. He said the question was under discussion with Russia and the Commission was closely monitoring changes at the World Trade Organisation (Russia may join the WTO this year). The Commission is carrying out an impact study into the effect of import duty on Russian aluminium imports on EU aluminium production and the aluminium trade within the EU. The question of duty levied on imports of aluminium from Russia will be discussed at the 2 June meeting of the 133 Committee of Member States' trade experts. Poland wants the European Commission to rapidly publish a draft regulation to suspend customs duty on aluminium imports from Russia and ensure fair conditions for all aluminium industry stakeholders in the EU market.