Following the announcement of the proposed EU Critical Raw Materials Act (see The Crucible, September 2022), the European Commission invited views on the proposed legislation (see The Crucible, October 2022) This consultation closed on 25 November. MMTA partner association, the CRM Alliance has published the following position paper on the Critical Raw Materials Act.
The CRM Alliance (CRM-A) welcomes the European Commission’s proposal of a legislative action for critical raw materials (CRMs) – the European Critical Raw Materials Act (CRM Act) – and would like to make the following comments:
Expediting permitting processes
Permitting is one of the main obstacles companies face when developing extractive projects in most EU Member States. Extremely long timeframes (five to ten years to achieve permits), political opposition, and complex permitting procedures are only a few of the challenges faced by industry. The CRM Act should, therefore, favour the simplification and expedition of the permitting processes via a bottom-up approach of mineral policies at different levels (local, regional, and state-level) where these have not been revised and/or a decoupling of permitting authorities from the political level has not occurred.
International sourcing
For those resources that the EU can source from within its own borders, partnership agreements and free trade agreements should ensure that the development of and investments in these EU resources are not jeopardized by such agreements. Unfair trade practices should continue to be addressed through the appropriate trade defense tools.
However, acknowledging that the EU cannot achieve open strategic resilience relying exclusively on its own geological resources, certain raw materials will inevitably be sourced from partners outside of the EU.
The Communication accompanying the Act should outline concrete steps to ensure that the EU sources these raw materials from partners considered reliable, responsible, and sustainable, including via the coordinated use of the EU’s diplomatic levers, trade agreements, and spending commitments (like Global Gateway).
Realistic recycling initiatives
To reduce the EU’s dependency on third country imports and limit exports, thus keeping more recyclable material in the EU, the Green Deal encourages a more circular economy based on the principle reduce, re-use and recycle. Secondary production of CRMs, coupled with the enhancement of primary production securing maximum strategic resilience, would reduce this dependency. However, the CRM Act should refrain from focusing exclusively on recycling, as for some CRMs and in certain applications recycling is not an option, technically and/or economically not feasible at this stage.
A lifecycle approach to CRMs and their products should be adopted as the specific properties of these materials and the advantages they bring to the durability and performance in products can outweigh the benefits of regulatory-induced recycling. Recycling content and recycling efficiency requirements should be adequate between all critical minerals in order to avoid regrettable substitution.
Investment framework for CRMs
Securing the supply of the necessary critical materials for the EU industry will require further private and public investments, including R&D. More attention should be given to the funding of CRM projects, both in the EU and outside the EU, that is supporting European companies when investing in projects abroad. The development of an Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) dedicated to CRMs should be considered. Moreover, the CRM-A encourages the European Commission to consider production of CRMs as “strategic/enabling investments”, given the undeniable contribution of CRMs to the digital and green transition.
The CRM Alliance (CRM-A) welcomes the European Commission’s proposal of a legislative action for critical raw materials (CRMs) – the European Critical Raw Materials Act (CRM Act) – and would like to make the following comments:
Expediting permitting processes
Permitting is one of the main obstacles companies face when developing extractive projects in most EU Member States. Extremely long timeframes (five to ten years to achieve permits), political opposition, and complex permitting procedures are only a few of the challenges faced by industry. The CRM Act should, therefore, favour the simplification and expedition of the permitting processes via a bottom-up approach of mineral policies at different levels (local, regional, and state-level) where these have not been revised and/or a decoupling of permitting authorities from the political level has not occurred.
International sourcing
For those resources that the EU can source from within its own borders, partnership agreements and free trade agreements should ensure that the development of and investments in these EU resources are not jeopardized by such agreements. Unfair trade practices should continue to be addressed through the appropriate trade defense tools.
However, acknowledging that the EU cannot achieve open strategic resilience relying exclusively on its own geological resources, certain raw materials will inevitably be sourced from partners outside of the EU.
The Communication accompanying the Act should outline concrete steps to ensure that the EU sources these raw materials from partners considered reliable, responsible, and sustainable, including via the coordinated use of the EU’s diplomatic levers, trade agreements, and spending commitments (like Global Gateway).
Realistic recycling initiatives
To reduce the EU’s dependency on third country imports and limit exports, thus keeping more recyclable material in the EU, the Green Deal encourages a more circular economy based on the principle reduce, re-use and recycle. Secondary production of CRMs, coupled with the enhancement of primary production securing maximum strategic resilience, would reduce this dependency. However, the CRM Act should refrain from focusing exclusively on recycling, as for some CRMs and in certain applications recycling is not an option, technically and/or economically not feasible at this stage.
A lifecycle approach to CRMs and their products should be adopted as the specific properties of these materials and the advantages they bring to the durability and performance in products can outweigh the benefits of regulatory-induced recycling. Recycling content and recycling efficiency requirements should be adequate between all critical minerals in order to avoid regrettable substitution.
Investment framework for CRMs
Securing the supply of the necessary critical materials for the EU industry will require further private and public investments, including R&D. More attention should be given to the funding of CRM projects, both in the EU and outside the EU, that is supporting European companies when investing in projects abroad. The development of an Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) dedicated to CRMs should be considered. Moreover, the CRM-A encourages the European Commission to consider production of CRMs as “strategic/enabling investments”, given the undeniable contribution of CRMs to the digital and green transition.
Strategic vs. critical raw materials
In combination with the CRM Act and the development of the strategic list of raw materials, the European Commission is currently reviewing the Critical Raw Materials List 2023. Clear guidance on the relationship between the two lists is needed. Indeed, while the strategic list of raw materials could prompt regulatory and non-regulatory support for these materials, it is important to avoid that the list is used as a barrier for other materials. Factors describing the strategic importance of materials should be well-defined, and a clear methodology of assessment is required.
Specifically, given the likely more dynamic nature of the strategic list and its potential relevance in terms of regulatory action, the CRM-A encourages the European Commission to carefully consider all materials under the CRM List in the frame of strategic list, given their critical and strategic nature, and avoid that the materials considered “critical” but not “strategic” are penalised. Indeed, the dynamic nature of the geopolitical context has clearly demonstrated that all raw materials could be strategic when certain conditions arise. A regular review is therefore necessary.
In combination with the CRM Act and the development of the strategic list of raw materials, the European Commission is currently reviewing the Critical Raw Materials List 2023. Clear guidance on the relationship between the two lists is needed. Indeed, while the strategic list of raw materials could prompt regulatory and non-regulatory support for these materials, it is important to avoid that the list is used as a barrier for other materials. Factors describing the strategic importance of materials should be well-defined, and a clear methodology of assessment is required.
Specifically, given the likely more dynamic nature of the strategic list and its potential relevance in terms of regulatory action, the CRM-A encourages the European Commission to carefully consider all materials under the CRM List in the frame of strategic list, given their critical and strategic nature, and avoid that the materials considered “critical” but not “strategic” are penalised. Indeed, the dynamic nature of the geopolitical context has clearly demonstrated that all raw materials could be strategic when certain conditions arise.
Consistent and coherent CRM policy
The CRM Act should pave the way to a comprehensive, holistic, and ambitious regulatory framework for CRMs. Such a framework should include socio-economic impact assessments to assess the benefits and drawbacks of policy actions proposed. To achieve some of the actions inferred by the CRM Act, there will need to be a better and more detailed monitoring of material flows, as some CRM data is often included with other materials or products and therefore it is not possible to understand their flows and their variants.
Additionally, the framework must consider that, in the coming years, the world will see a huge increase in demand for CRMs due, for example, to a massive roll-out of “green technologies” (such as renewables and energy storage). Therefore, the measures of the CRM Act should be based on the predicted future and not current supply/demand assessment.
Attention should be given to the interface between the ambitions of the CRM Act and chemicals management policies like OSH and REACH. “Banning” the use of strategic critical raw materials substances or substances to produce or process these required in Europe (either deliberately or by Europe ceasing to be competitive) will have an impact on Europe’s open strategic resilience. Socio-economic impacts assessments to assess the impact regulatory actions under REACH and OSH on Europe’s open strategic resilience should always be implemented.
Conclusions
The CRM-A is strongly supportive of EU policies and actions aiming to secure the supply and use of CRMs in the EU. A holistic and efficient regulatory framework that can swiftly and effectively address existing and future challenges to secure the continued supply of these materials to the EU is necessary.
The CRM-A has recently updated its Charter, which outlines the core actions the EU should take on CRMs and features ten principles necessary to implement to ensure the secure supply of CRMs and ensure the EU’s strategic autonomy. The CRM Charter can be viewed here.
About us
The Critical Raw Materials Alliance (CRM-A) represents primary producers, traders and associations of raw materials that the European Commission has determined to be critical to the EU economy (CRMs). Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) are those raw materials which are economically and strategically important for the European economy but have a high-risk associated with their supply. Used in environmental technologies, consumer electronics, health, steelmaking, defence, space exploration, and aviation, these materials are not only “critical” for key industry sectors and future applications, but also for the sustainable functioning of the European economy.
Thus, the CRM-A stresses the need of a unique approach in regulation and policymaking when addressing CRMs to avoid overregulation, innovation barriers and loss of EU competitiveness and societal well-being.
Thus, the CRM-A stresses the need of a unique approach in regulation and policymaking when addressing CRMs to avoid overregulation, innovation barriers and loss of EU competitiveness and societal well-being.
Brussels, 25 November 2022
MMTA Notice:
The European Commission has published its new EU Critical Raw Materials Assessment. View or download it here
https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:038691c6-2c4e-3367-a413-f60bd36a72b0
