9 January 2026 – According to our research, the hastily introduced EU CO2 tax CBAM has led to several serious errors in the CO2 default values published on 31 December 2025. Nickel prices in Asia and Europe are stabilising after Thursday’s correction.
Nickel Prices Stabilise
After nickel prices underwent a long-overdue correction yesterday, prices continued to stabilise on Friday. While further declines were recorded in Asia, nickel on the LME has already stabilised again and was up by more than 2% shortly after the start of trading on Friday.
Asian Stainless Steel Prices Stable to Higher
Chinese spot market prices for stainless steel reacted only marginally to the correction in nickel prices, moving largely sideways. Stainless steel futures on the SHFE were up by around 5% compared with the previous week.
EU CBAM: Serious Errors in the CO2 Default Values
According to our research, the rushed introduction of the EU CO2 tax CBAM has resulted in several substantial errors in the CO2 default values published on 31 December 2025.
Commission Overlooked Errors in the Default Values
An analysis of the default values for stainless steel of Taiwanese origin clearly shows that the Commission did not exercise the level of care that would normally be required when introducing such a far-reaching regulation. Many values contain incorrect or erroneous data or have been overwritten with meaningless placeholder text. In some cases, even error messages appear to have been copied directly from Excel into the regulation.
In certain instances, values originally assigned to Indonesian origin appear to have been simply transferred to Taiwan and left uncorrected.
The Directorate-General responsible for CBAM, DG TAXUD, must rectify these issues as a matter of urgency. In addition, the entire regulation must be immediately and comprehensively reviewed for further errors, which are likely to be hidden within the 2,400-page regulation on default values.
Can the Commission Be Held Liable for Damages Caused by CBAM?
Once again, the parties affected are European companies and consumers, who depend on fair, reliable, and valid regulations. Taken together, these errors could give rise to substantial claims for damages and legal action against the EU, as under Article 41 (Right to good administration) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the Union may be held liable for damage caused by poor administration.
“Every person has the right to have the Union make good any damage caused by its institutions or by its servants in the performance of their duties, in accordance with the general principles common to the laws of the Member States.”
Source: EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, Article 41 – Right to good Administration
Have you identified further errors in the “COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2025/2621 of 16 December 2025 laying down rules for the application of Regulation (EU) 2023/956 of the European Parliament and the Council as regards the establishment of default values“?
If so, please feel free to contact us at info@steelnews.biz
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