On 18 September 2026 the European Commission published a draft list of non-OECD countries that could be authorised to import non-hazardous waste from the EU after 21 May 2027. The Directorate-General for Environment opened a consultation on that draft until 16 October, with the first adopted list due by the end of 2026. Reuters, reporting on the published proposal the same day, said India is among the destinations that would not be authorised to import EU metal waste, including aluminium scrap.

The draft is the first public country-and-stream assessment after the export-restriction debate moved from a planned aluminium customs duty to waste-shipment law. Shipments that are lawful today remain lawful until the 2027 dates apply. The commercial task for yards and traders is to map which 2027 books still have a lawful outlet.

What the Commission published

Regulation (EU) 2024/1157, the revised Waste Shipment Regulation, already sets the rule. From 21 May 2027 the EU will generally stop exporting non-hazardous waste for recovery to non-OECD countries. A country can remain a destination only if it asked to receive specified streams and showed that it can manage them in an environmentally sound manner. The Commission says 32 countries applied. Authorisation is by country and by waste type, covering streams such as paper, plastics, rubber, metal and glass.

The 18 September package is that assessment in draft form, together with a separate report on plastic waste sent to Türkiye. Plastic exports to non-OECD countries are already scheduled to stop on 21 November 2026. Metal scrap sits on the later, May 2027 timetable. The Commission told Reuters that metal waste faces stricter scrutiny because of a “higher hazard profile” from persistent and toxic heavy metals.

The first list will be updated at least every two years, and countries that are left off can reapply. An earlier Commission note of 24 February 2025 said the first list would be established by 21 November 2026. Reuters described the exemptions list as a delegated act. Until the list is adopted, the draft is a signal for 2027 planning, not a loading ban.

How this sits with the dropped aluminium duty

Earlier in September the Commission set aside a planned export duty on aluminium scrap. Reuters reported that a draft of that measure had set a 15 percent duty for three years, and that internal negotiations had left the levy covering only about half of aluminium scrap after India was carved out. Recycling Europe welcomed the retreat on 10 September. The association said European recyclers produce about 6.2 million tonnes of recycled aluminium a year, of which around 80 percent is already used in Europe, and that export is the outlet for the rest. Recycling International recorded the same relief among metal recyclers.

The Commission’s public line, reported by Reuters on 11 September, was that the waste-shipment rules could meet the same industrial objective. European Aluminium’s director general, Paul Voss, said the industry would work with the Commission but expected to return to a trade measure. The 18 September draft is the first public test of whether waste law can close the India aluminium-scrap route that the duty was meant to squeeze.

India is the largest buyer of EU aluminium scrap. Reuters put India’s share of EU scrap exports at about a third and recorded EU aluminium scrap shipments at a record 1.26 million tonnes in 2025, 51 percent above 2019. Those figures describe the book that would have to re-route if the metal-waste finding stands.

Who it affects among yards, traders, mills and processors

Yards and traders that sell waste-classified aluminium or other metal scrap to Indian buyers need a 2027 plan. If the adopted list follows the published proposal as Reuters described it, those cargoes cannot leave the EU as waste for India from 21 May 2027. The metal can still move to OECD destinations such as Turkey and the United Kingdom, to any non-OECD country that is authorised for the relevant stream, or as end-of-waste product where the criteria are actually met. A mixed lot labelled as product without a statement of conformity does not change its legal status.

European remelters and smelters are the intended beneficiaries. If Indian demand is cut off and domestic mills lift the metal, more extrusion, used beverage cans and mixed aluminium stay inside the Union. Recycling Europe’s warning remains in force: if EU demand does not take the surplus, values fall and collection shrinks. Processors that produce a specification a European remelter will charge have a clearer home market than yards that only prepare export mixes for South Asia.

Ferrous exporters are less exposed on the India aluminium story, but they are not outside the list. Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Vietnam were among the 24 countries that had applied by 21 February 2025. Turkey, the main seaborne buyer of EU ferrous scrap, is an OECD member and is not decided by this list. A Reuters account of an earlier draft also named Thailand and Malaysia as failing the metal-waste test; those names were not repeated in the 18 September report of the published proposal, so they should be checked against the consultation documents rather than assumed.

What to do before the list is adopted

The consultation is open until 16 October 2026. Trade associations and companies that ship metal waste can file comments through the online consultation opened with the Commission’s 18 September Environment news release. The comments that matter are stream-specific: whether a named country is authorised for metal waste, not whether it appears somewhere on a paper or glass line.

For the 2027 book, split existing counterparts into OECD, authorised non-OECD, and unauthorised. Record whether each lot is waste or end-of-waste, and which recovery facility is named. Do not stem a May 2027 cargo to a non-OECD port on the hope that the destination will be added later. Later applications can be considered, but the Commission has already said there is no guarantee they will be decided before the first list.

Intra-EU sales and OECD exports continue under the existing shipment procedures. CBAM still prices carbon on steel and aluminium entering the Union; it does not replace the waste-export list.

Name the grade the buyer can melt, the tonnes, the city or load port, and whether the material is waste or claimed as end-of-waste. If the intended recovery is outside the OECD, name the country and keep a copy of its status on the authorised list once that list is adopted. Verified companies can place the parcel on live lots or post a wanted enquiry. Request access if you need a member account.