Brussels dropped the duty and reached for the waste rules
The European Commission has withdrawn the trade instrument it spent a year preparing to restrict aluminium scrap exports, according to information from Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné's cabinet reported by Reuters on Friday. The measure was due to be presented on September 23. Internal discussions reportedly found it would have covered only about half of EU scrap exports. The 15% export duty should now be treated as superseded.
What replaces it
The Commission is working on a delegated act under the Waste Shipments Regulation that would ban exports of waste, including aluminium scrap, to non-OECD countries, with an exception for some EU candidate countries.
India and China are both non-OECD, and both are major destinations for EU scrap. A duty raises the cost of a shipment; a destination ban removes the route.
The proposal goes to public consultation first, with adoption expected by the end of 2026.
What is still unsettled
The Commission has not published the delegated act or formally confirmed the change, so covered scrap grades, eligible destinations and exemptions all remain open.
Existing rules already tighten non-OECD waste exports from May 21, 2027, but allow shipments to countries that meet environmental conditions and sit on an approved list. India has formally applied to stay on that list.
European producers are unhappy too: one ingot producer told Fastmarkets that scrap could still reach Asia through OECD countries, calling the approach a disaster compared with an all-destinations duty.
Why this reaches Indian furnaces
India sources 80 to 85% of its aluminium scrap feedstock from overseas, imported roughly 366,000 tonnes from the EU in 2025, and was the bloc's largest buyer in early 2026. Scrap imports already fell by about 16% year on year in the first quarter, with some secondary plants operating well below nameplate capacity following the UAE's own export ban in June. The approved-list question now decides more than the tariff ever would have.