Since 1 July 2026, the EU’s new safeguard measures addressing the negative trade-related effects of global overcapacity on the Union steel market have been applied (Regulation (EU) 2026/1384). The previously applicable safeguard measures expired on 30 June 2026. In Schlagbaum 06/2026, we reported on the new measures.
The new Steel Regulation opened tariff-rate quotas totalling 18,345,922 tonnes for certain steel products in 26 product categories and laid down an out-of-quota duty at the rate of 50% ad valorem. Annex II of the Regulation sets out the allocation of the annual total quantity of 18,345,922 tonnes among the respective product categories. The quota volume is determined annually and applies in each case from 1 July to 30 June of the following year.
Structure of the tariff-rate quotas
The allocation of the tariff-rate quotas is fairly complex. One part is available to all third countries on a most-favoured-nation basis, while the other part is reserved for countries with an existing or future free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union. The Commission laid down the precise allocation of the quotas between the most-favoured-nation portion and the free-trade portion in a further regulation, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1457. The allocation in Annex I must be read in conjunction with Annex II, which contains a list of the countries with an existing or future free trade agreement with the Union and breaks down the various quota categories by country and product category. The following categories apply:
- Country-specific quotas: Quotas applicable to goods originating in specified countries.
- FTA Quota – CSQ (country-specific quota): This quota may be used for imports from countries that have an existing or future free trade agreement with the EU (these countries are listed in Section 1 of Annex II) and have a country-specific quota (point 1). If the country-specific quota has been exhausted and the country is listed in Section 2 of Annex II, the FTA Quota – CSQ may be used for imports from that country in the product category concerned. This therefore constitutes a “second fallback pool” for those countries and product categories; here too, however, allocation among all FTA countries concerned is on a first-come, first-served basis.
- FTA Quota – Other countries: This quota is open to countries that have an existing or future free trade agreement with the EU but do not have a country-specific quota. These countries are listed by product category in Section 4 of Annex II.
- Other countries: The quota is open to all countries, except those listed in Section 3 of Annex II. This “residual pool” may therefore also be used by FTA countries that do not have their own country-specific quota, provided they are not excluded under Section 3.
The Regulation applies from 1 July 2026 to 31 December 2026. The limited period of application is due to the particular urgency underlying the adoption of the Steel Regulation. We will continue to monitor the further or definitive implementation of the Regulation for the period from January 2027 onwards and provide updates.
As if this system were not already complex enough, there is yet another regulation, Regulation (EU) 2026/1930 of 4 August 2026, which entered into force on 6 August 2026. Under Article 1 of the Regulation, imports of the product categories listed in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2026/1384 and originating in certain countries with which the EU has concluded free trade agreements may be subject to the 50% duty once the tariff-rate quota available to the country concerned (either country-specific or in competition with other FTA countries) has been exhausted. The countries concerned are Albania, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, North Macedonia, Switzerland, Serbia, Tunisia, and Türkiye. By means of Regulation (EU) 2026/1930, the EU ensures that the out-of-quota duty at the rate of 50% is applied after the respective quotas have been exhausted, on the basis of the bilateral safeguard measures permitted under the respective free trade agreement.
It should be noted that, under all these provisions, the origin of the goods must be determined in accordance with the rules on non-preferential origin laid down in Article 60 of the Union Customs Code (UCC).
Country of melt and pour: evidence requirements
Among businesses, the new requirement that importers must, as from 1 October 2026, provide “verifiable appropriate evidence” of the country of melt and pour of the goods at the time of importation caused considerable concern (Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2026/1384). This means the original location in which raw steel or iron is initially produced in liquid form within a steel- or iron-making furnace and subsequently cast into its first solid state (“country of melt and pour,” Article 4). That first solid state can encompass either a semi-finished product, including slabs, billets, or ingots, or a finished steel mill product (recital 22). By adopting Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1963 of 28 August 2026, the Commission specified the requirements governing the evidence to be provided. Under Article 1 of the Regulation, importers are to provide a Mill Test Certificate containing the country of melt and pour and the heat number of the imported steel. If this information is not included in the certificate, the customs authorities “may” consider the following evidence as complementary to the Mill Test Certificate, provided that it contains either the missing information on the country or the missing heat number:
- Invoices
- Delivery notes
- Quality certificates and clauses in implemented purchase orders or contracts
- Long-term supplier declarations
- Cost accounting and production documents
- Customs documents from the exporting country
- Commercial correspondence; or
- Production descriptions
If no Mill Test Certificate can be provided, the customs authorities “may” also accept these documents as standalone evidence if they contain both pieces of information (Article 1(3)). Under Article 2(3), however, this concession applies only on a transitional basis from 1 October 2026 to 30 September 2027.
The country of melt and pour must be declared at importation using a TARIC document code. Under Article 2(1), the information and evidence provided are subject to a documentary check.
In case the country of melt and pour cannot be declared on the basis of appropriate verifiable evidence, the import can be rejected, Article 2(3). If importers are unable to provide these documents at the time of importation, the goods are therefore effectively subject to an import prohibition. Importers of the product categories concerned are advised to use September to coordinate the provision of evidence with their suppliers. Ideally, this should take the form of Mill Test Certificates containing the country of melt and pour and the heat number; alternatively, the evidence listed above may be used, provided that it contains the necessary information.
