Gerber Group Calls on EU Commission: Melt and Pour Evidence Requirement Must Not Become a New Bureaucracy Trap for SMEs
Riegel/Brussels, 2 July 2026 – The Gerber Group has submitted clear demands as part of the EU consultation on evidence requirements for the country of melt and pour of steel. Existing commercial documents must be sufficient. Anything else systematically discriminates against small and medium sized enterprises.
Melt and Pour: The Background
Under the new EU Steel Regulation, EU 2026/1384, importers will have to prove the country of melt and pour of imported steel products from 1 October 2026. The Commission has until 31 August 2026 to define the specific evidence requirements. What it decides will determine whether this mechanism remains manageable or becomes the next bureaucracy trap for small and medium sized traders and importers.
Gerber Group’s Demands
Thorsten Gerber, CEO of Gerber Group, makes the point unmistakably clear in the submitted statement: “Existing commercial documents, such as invoices, packing lists and mill test certificates, must be sufficient as melt and pour evidence. New standalone certificates, mill audits or documentation obligations for every single customs declaration are disproportionate and simply not feasible for SMEs.”
Where no MTC is available, for example for standard commercial goods or mixed inventories, a simple self declaration referring to the heat number should be sufficient. This model has worked in the United States for years without any obligation to submit documents.
Criticism of the Commission
In its statement, Gerber Group explicitly points out that with Article 4(2) of Implementing Regulation EU 2026/1457, the Commission has already violated the rules of origin under the Union Customs Code and clearly exceeded its powers.
“The Commission is legally obliged to take the specific situation of SMEs into account and to avoid disproportionate administrative burdens. Parliament and Council have repeatedly made this clear with the Steel Regulation. It is time for Brussels to comply with this obligation and end its biased clientelism in favour of large steel producers,” said Thorsten Gerber.
What Is at Stake
If the requirements for melt and pour are excessive, SMEs without their own legal and compliance departments face concrete disadvantages. Supplier contracts will have to be renegotiated, smaller suppliers and mixed inventories will effectively be excluded, customs delays will increase, and all of this within an implementation period of barely two months. Vertically integrated large producers that fully control their own supply chains will remain largely unaffected.
About the Gerber Group
The Gerber Group, headquartered in Riegel am Kaiserstuhl, is a mid-sized stainless steel and aluminium trader with offices in Germany, Italy, Asia and the United States. For more than 20 years, under the leadership of founder and CEO Thorsten Gerber, the company has exclusively served small and medium-sized enterprises in trade and production.
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