The LME issued Notification No. 26/052 last Friday. The summary is as follows. Please refer to the original text for details.
Starting from February 26, 2026, Russian aluminum entering the EU must strictly abide by the "February Restrictive Measures". From December 31, 2026, Russian aluminum will be completely prohibited from being imported into the EU.
Since the EU sanctions came into effect on February 2025, no Russian aluminum has been received by any LME warehouse within the EU. Therefore, LME expects that the restrictions introduced in this notice will not have a significant impact on the market. However, the end of the transition period requires LME to take further actions to ensure that its warehousing network and related trading activities continue to comply with EU sanctions regulations. This notice adds the requirement for registered warehouse receipts based on the announcement in 2024, but only for all warehouses in the EU region.
From February 26th, 2026 to December 31st, 2026
If it is necessary to register Russian aluminum as a warehouse receipt at the LME warehouse in the EU region
(The specific brand names can be found in Annex 1 of LME Notice No. 26/052)
The LME requires the owners and members of the metals to provide an attestation letter (refer to Annex 2 of Notice No. 26/052 of the LME for the template) (if the member is applying for the warehouse receipt on their own, the metal holder's joint signature is not necessary), confirming that the metals meet the requirements.
Imported metals are used to fulfill the contracts (including necessary subsidiary contracts) signed before February 25, 2025. And
2) The total import volume across the entire European Union must not exceed 50,000 tons.
If Russian aluminum is imported into the EU before February 25, 2025 and is in an unregistered warehouse status, and the metal owner wishes to register this batch of Russian aluminum as a warehouse receipt from February 26, 2026 to December 31, 2026
The LME will require the metal owners and the guarantee members to provide proof that the Russian aluminium was imported before the "February Restrictive Measures" came into effect (for the template, refer to Annex 3 of LME Notice No. 26/052).
The registration of warehouse receipt application and certificate must be sent to the designated email address: metalwarranting@lme.com
The LME has the absolute right to request additional materials, and the approval process may take a long time.
The metal warehouse receipts that have been generated before February 26, 2026 are not subject to the above new requirements. When the already generated warehouse receipts are cancelled and re-registered, no additional steps other than the 24/171 notification are required.
After December 31, 2026
As mentioned above, the sanctions prohibit the import of Russian aluminium into the EU from December 31, 2026. If the metal has been imported before December 31, 2026 but no warehouse receipts have been generated, the LME will conduct a case-by-case assessment starting from December 31, 2026.
The 26/052th notice from LME explains LME's understanding of the laws on which its decisions are based, but does not constitute legal advice or guidance. No one should rely on or borrow from this understanding. Individuals and/or entities should seek independent legal advice and assess for themselves the applicability of the sanctions measures to their businesses. This notice does not cover any restrictions imposed by other jurisdictions or other sanctions measures of the EU.
