30 September 2026 – In a new consultation on the EU Steel Regulation, the Commission wants to know how the measure is working after its first quarter. But it has asked in a whisper: no announcement as with previous consultations, and an extremely short deadline of just ten working days. Is Brussels really looking for opinions, or merely for confirmation?
EU Steel Regulation: Consultation Without Announcement
The European Commission wants to know how the EU Steel Regulation is working after its first quarter. But it has asked in a whisper.
Since Monday, 28 September 2026, the Directorate General for Trade and Economic Security has been running a targeted consultation on the monitoring of Regulation (EU) 2026/1384. It asks about supply shortages, price developments, sourcing countries and the availability of specific grades. The deadline is Sunday, 11 October, at 23:59.
Consultation Without Announcement, Short Deadline
For both previous consultations on the Steel Regulation, the Directorate General for Trade published a dedicated announcement: on 4 June for Melt and Pour evidence, and on 30 July for product scope. Not this time.
On 28 September, the day the consultation opened, the Directorate General did find time to issue a press release, but it was about the benefits of EU trade agreements. The survey itself appears only in the consultation list.
The deadline is equally telling: 14 calendar days, just ten working days. The Melt and Pour consultation ran for 28 days, the consultation on product scope for 62 days. For the International Procurement Instrument, Brussels allows twelve weeks. And there is another detail. The consultation on product scope ends today. The new one started two days earlier, without any announcement.
Did Brussels once again want to keep the circle of participants small? It is a legitimate question, especially as this is hardly an isolated case.
A Questionnaire With the Answer Built In
The content fits the pattern. Steel producers are asked whether the quota system provides sufficient protection. Those who answer no are then asked only to explain why the protection is failing.
At no point does the questionnaire ask whether a 50 per cent out of quota tariff and quotas cut by around 47 per cent might perhaps be too much protection. Steel processors can at least report shortages and price increases, with the scale running up to “more than 30 per cent”.
Importers and traders, however, the companies actually drawing down quotas and paying the tariff, do not exist as a category in the questionnaire at all. They are placed under “Other”. In other words, precisely the businesses that feel the costs of the Steel Regulation first.
EU Steel Regulation: Silence Counts as Consent
The Commission sees every single import declaration, yet asks the market for impressions and price ranges. It is assessing a single summer quarter, while most of the official import data for that period will only be available after the consultation deadline. It measures whether goods arrive, not what they cost. And to this day, it has not assessed how the Regulation affects SMEs.
A consultation designed like this is not looking for insight. It is looking for confirmation.
The steel producer associations will submit their responses on time. Everyone else needs to do the same. Every processor, trader and buyer who has waited longer or paid more since July belongs in this file, separately for every affected product category. Whatever is not in that file by 11 October will not exist for Brussels when the next quotas are decided.
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