Parliament amendments on CBAM scrap: steel out, aluminium wider

On 15 September 2026 the European Parliament adopted 97 amendments, in 91 blocks, to the Commission's proposal to extend CBAM. Inside them, the treatment of CBAM scrap precursors sends the two metals in opposite directions: ferrous scrap is struck out, and aluminium scrap is widened. The proposal extends CBAM to downstream goods and adds anti-circumvention measures (COM(2025)0989 – C10-0352/2025 – 2025/0419(COD)).

Most coverage reports this vote as "Parliament backs the CBAM extension". That is true, but it is not the most useful point. The scrap change will reach a specific group of producers long before the headline does.

How the precursor list treats scrap

The Commission's proposal added metal scrap to Annex VIII, the precursorPrecursorUpstream CBAM good consumed as input to a complex-good process; listed per route; quantities always monitored per Annex II pt E. list. A material on that list carries its embedded emissionsEmbedded emissionsThe greenhouse-gas emissions released producing a good — direct emissions plus, where applicable, indirect (electricity) emissions — expressed per tonne of good; electricity uses kWh legally and may be converted to MWh operationally. This i into the goods made from it. This one question therefore decides whether scrap-fed output looks clean on paper.

The Commission drew the line at pre-consumer scrap. Its entries read ex 7204 Ferrous waste and scrap … except post-consumer scrap and ex 7602 Aluminium waste and scrap except post-consumer scrap. Metal that had been through a product life and come back stayed outside.

Parliament did not adjust that line. It moved the line in both directions at once.

Steel struck out, aluminium widened

Iron and steel, Amendment 84: the row is deleted. Ferrous waste and scrap does not enter the precursor list at all. This applies to the narrow version and to any wider version.

Aluminium, Amendments 112 and 136: the carve-out is removed. The entry ex 7602 … except post-consumer scrap becomes plainly 7602 Aluminium waste and scrap. The entry now covers all aluminium scrap. It pulls in the post-consumer aluminium that the Commission deliberately excluded.

If these amendments survive negotiation, a scrap-fed steel producer and a scrap-fed aluminium producer face opposite regimes. The steel producer has no scrap precursor obligation. The aluminium producer faces the widest obligation on the table.

Why this is the part to watch

Scrap-fed production is how a large share of European and third-country metal is actually made. Whether scrap carries embedded emissions is not an annex technicality. It decides whether a secondary aluminiumsecondary aluminiumAluminium produced predominantly by remelting and refining aluminium scrap. route counts as low-carbon.

Importers now have a concrete question to put to suppliers: what proportion of their input is scrap, and whether it is pre-consumer or post-consumer. Most importers do not know, because no rule has required it. Under the Commission's text, the answer would have mattered for both metals. Under Parliament's amendments, it stops mattering for steel and matters much more for aluminium.

Nobody should restructure a supply chain on a negotiating position. However, the question costs little to ask a supplier today, and the answer takes months to arrive.

What has not changed

The amendments do not change the application date. The years 2027 and 2028 do not appear in them, because the adopted text contains only the provisions Parliament amended. Parliament did not amend the application provision, so the start date of 1 January 2028 stands as in the Commission and Council texts. Negotiation can still move dates.

Your 2026 obligations do not change, because the definitive regime runs on Regulation (EU) 2023/956 as it stands. Certificates for 2026 imports go on sale from 1 February 2027. The first annual declaration and surrender fall due on 30 September 2027. That is the date that binds you, and the vote of 15 September did not touch it.

What happens next

The file was referred back for interinstitutional negotiations. Parliament has its mandate, and the Council reached a general approach in June 2026. The final law will match neither text exactly. Scrap treatment is the kind of provision that changes during negotiation, because the two institutions currently disagree about it in both directions at once.

Watch for a provisional agreement. Until then, this is a position, and we will say so every time we write about it.

What it means for importers

Nothing changes for your 2026 imports. The scrap treatment matters only if these amendments survive negotiation into the final law. If they do, scrap-fed steel carries no scrap precursor obligation, and scrap-fed aluminium carries the widest one, including post-consumer scrap.

What to do

• Ask your steel and aluminium suppliers what proportion of their input is scrap.
• Ask whether that scrap is pre-consumer or post-consumer.
• Keep your 2026 planning on Regulation (EU) 2023/956 as it stands, with the first declaration and surrender due on 30 September 2027.
• Wait for a provisional agreement before you change any supply decision.

Stuck on this in your own import data? Write to us and we will look at it with you.

This article explains a Parliament negotiating position. It is not legal, tax or customs advice.