Adoption of the Critical Raw Materials Act by the European Council on 18 March 2024
Following lengthy discussions and the proposal adopted by the Commission last year, Europe now has a text on critical and strategic materials, i.e. materials whose shortage would disrupt the functioning of several sectors of activity because they are present in products that are essential to the economy of each Member State and to everyday life.
This is particularly the case for lithium, cobalt, and nickel, which are needed to produce electric cars.
The Critical Raw Materials Act contains two lists: one of critical raw materials and one of strategic raw materials.
To date, 34 critical raw materials have been identified, of which 17 are strategic. However, this list is likely to evolve through delegated acts of the Commission (Article 4, §2).
The adopted text aims to ensure a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials in the EU. Developed in response to the growing dependence on external supply chains, it focuses on increasing the European Union's independence in critical raw materials.
Three trends can be identified: a streamlining of authorisation and control procedures, a focus on strategic projects and the development of new obligations for economic operators in the sector.
Streamlining authorisation and control procedures
This streamlining concerns first and foremost administrative procedures: each Member State will have to implement the one-stop-shop principle (Article 8). A single authority will therefore be responsible for the most relevant stage in the value chain of critical raw materials.
Centralisation will also be the watchword when it comes to publicising information on the authorisation process, related administrative procedures, funding opportunities and investment and business support services.
All these elements will need to be available online, on a single platform (Article 17).
Similarly, authorisations will be granted within 24 months for extraction projects and 12 months for recycling and processing projects . However, there will be exceptions to these deadlines to encourage dialogue with affected local communities and to properly assess the environmental impact of the most complex projects (Article 10).
Recognising and prioritising strategic projects
Strategic projects are those which can make a significant contribution to the European Union's security of supply, which are technically feasible within a reasonable timescale and on a sufficient scale, which are sustainable in terms of socio-environmental and climate risks, which offer cross-border benefits beyond the States concerned if they are located within the European Union, or which are of mutual benefit to the host State and the Member States if they are located in non-EU countries.
In this case, the operator's partners in the third country must comply with the same principles as those laid down in European legislation.
The text published in the Official Journal of the European Union gives special priority to strategic projects: national authorities must ensure that the procedures relating to them are completed as quickly as possible, that they are given the highest status under national law and that any disputes relating to them are dealt with as a matter of urgency (Article 9) .
Information requirements for operators
The text also requires producers of strategic technologies to measure the risks in their supply chain.
Large companies involved in the value chain of critical raw materials and operating on the territory of a Member State will have to communicate the knowledge they have acquired through the monitoring or resistance tests they have already carried out (Article 20) .
This obligation mainly consists of carrying out a preliminary environmental and economic assessment study. However, an exemption is provided for if producers can demonstrate that the extraction waste they handle does not contain any recoverable critical raw materials.
On the contrary, the reports drawn up by the Member States and the monitoring of progress do not require the participation of companies in the sector (Article 42 and 43).
