Critical Raw Materials Act (Proposed Regulation COM(2023) 192)

Sets the 2030 Union capacity benchmarks for strategic raw materials: extraction capable of producing at least 10% of annual consumption, processing at least 40%, and recycling at least 25%; and the diversification benchmark that the Union should not depend on a single third country for more than 65% of its supply of any strategic raw material at any processing stage.

• Contribution of the entity's projects to the 10/40/25 percent extraction/processing/recycling benchmarks where relevant
• Supply diversification analysis against the 65 percent single-country threshold

• Citing the superseded 15 percent recycling proposal figure rather than the enacted 25 percent
• Ignoring single-country dependency concentration

Requires Member States to adopt and implement national measures to improve the collection, sorting and processing of critical-raw-material-rich waste and products, and to promote their recovery and use.

• Circularity measures for critical-raw-material-rich waste streams the entity generates or processes

• Critical-raw-material-rich waste not collected or recovered

Requires operators of extractive waste facilities to provide information enabling assessment of the potential for recovery of critical raw materials, and Member States to prepare a database of closed extractive waste facilities.

• Preliminary economic assessment of critical-raw-material recovery potential from extractive waste
• Information provided for the closed-facilities database

• No assessment of recovery potential from extractive waste

Requires that products containing permanent magnets be designed to enable removal and recycling, and carry information on the type and recyclability of the magnets, supporting end-of-life recovery.

• Design-for-recyclability documentation for products containing permanent magnets
• Magnet type and recyclability information accompanying products

• Permanent magnets not removable or recyclable by design
• Missing magnet information

Requires disclosure of the share of recycled content in permanent magnets and provides for minimum recycled-content thresholds to be set by delegated act.

• Recycled-content declaration for permanent magnets
• Evidence of compliance with applicable recycled-content thresholds

• No recycled-content disclosure for permanent magnets

Requires Member States to draw up national programmes for general exploration of critical raw materials, including mapping and measures to increase knowledge of mineral occurrences.

• Alignment of exploration activity with the national exploration programme where relevant

• Exploration data not contributed to national programmes

Requires the Commission, supported by the Board, to monitor critical raw material supply chains, identify supply risks and disruptions, and perform regular stress tests on the supply chains of strategic raw materials.

• Supply-chain data provided to support Union monitoring and stress testing
• Internal supply-risk indicators aligned with the monitoring framework

• Not contributing required monitoring information
• No internal view of supply-disruption risk

Requires large companies that manufacture strategic technologies using strategic raw materials to perform, at least every three years, a risk assessment of their supply chain, including mapping of where the strategic raw materials are extracted, processed and recycled, an assessment of vulnerabilities, and stress testing; the assessment and mitigation must be reported to the board of directors.

• At-least-triennial supply-chain risk assessment of strategic raw materials
• Supply-chain mapping (extraction/processing/recycling origin) and vulnerability analysis
• Board-level review of the assessment and mitigation measures

• No supply-chain risk assessment for strategic raw materials
• Risk assessment not reported to the board
• No stress testing of supply disruptions

Establishes the European Critical Raw Materials Board to advise the Commission, coordinate Member States, assist in assessing Strategic Projects, and support monitoring, stocks coordination and joint purchasing.

• Awareness of and engagement with the European Critical Raw Materials Board processes where relevant

• No engagement with Board-coordinated processes affecting the entity

Establishes a framework to ensure the Union's access to a secure, resilient and sustainable supply of critical raw materials, including by strengthening Union value-chain capacities, diversifying imports, improving monitoring and circularity, and ensuring the free movement of critical raw materials on the internal market while ensuring a high level of environmental protection.

• Determination of whether the entity operates in the critical raw materials value chain within scope of the Regulation
• Mapping of obligations relevant to the entity's role (economic operator, large company, Strategic Project promoter)

• Assuming the Regulation imposes no obligations without scoping the entity's role
• No awareness of the strategic/critical raw materials lists

Sets out the list of strategic raw materials (those of high strategic importance, with a projected supply-demand gap and difficulty of increasing production), reviewed and updated periodically by delegated act.

• Identification of which strategic raw materials the entity extracts, processes, recycles or consumes
• Monitoring of updates to the strategic raw materials list

• Not tracking the entity's exposure to listed strategic raw materials

Sets out the broader list of critical raw materials (high economic importance and high supply risk), reviewed at least every three years, which triggers monitoring, circularity and reporting obligations across the Regulation.

• Identification of which critical raw materials are relevant to the entity
• Tracking of the at-least-triennial review of the critical raw materials list

• Conflating critical and strategic raw materials obligations
• Not monitoring list revisions

Sets maximum timeframes for the permit-granting process for Strategic Projects: not exceeding 27 months for extraction projects and 15 months for processing and recycling projects, subject to defined exceptions.

• Permit timeline tracking against the 27-month / 15-month limits for Strategic Projects
• Single-point-of-contact correspondence records

• Permit processes exceeding the statutory timeframes without a valid exception

Requires that environmental assessments and authorisations for Strategic Projects are conducted in a coordinated and time-bound manner, integrating EIA and related procedures without lowering environmental protection.

• Coordinated environmental assessment documentation for the project
• Evidence environmental protection standards are maintained

• Fragmented or duplicative environmental assessments
• Treating accelerated permitting as a waiver of environmental standards

Provides for mechanisms to facilitate offtake agreements that support the bankability of Strategic Projects, including a system operated by the Commission to connect projects with potential offtakers.

• Records of offtake arrangements supporting project bankability

• No diversified offtake strategy for a Strategic Project

Defines the criteria a project must meet to be recognised as a Strategic Project, including making a meaningful contribution to security of supply, technical feasibility, sustainable implementation, and cross-border or third-country partnership benefits.

• Assessment of a candidate project against the Strategic Project recognition criteria
• Evidence of contribution to security of supply and sustainable implementation

• Claiming Strategic Project benefits without meeting the recognition criteria

Sets out the application process to the Commission for Strategic Project status, the assessment, the role of the Board, and the recognition decision and its periodic review.

• Strategic Project application dossier and supporting evidence
• Records of recognition and periodic review

• Incomplete application dossier
• No tracking of recognition review obligations

Requires Member States to report information on their strategic stocks of strategic raw materials to the Commission, supporting a Union-level overview of available stocks.

• Strategic-stock information reported where the entity holds or manages such stocks

• Strategic stocks not reported to the competent authority

Enables coordination of strategic stocks at Union level, including benchmarks and possible recommendations to increase stocks where supply risks are identified.

• Participation in Union-level stock coordination where applicable

• No contingency stock strategy for critical inputs

Empowers the Commission to set up and operate a system aggregating demand and facilitating joint purchasing of strategic raw materials, subject to competition-law safeguards.

• Participation records where the entity uses the joint-purchasing mechanism

• Joint purchasing used without regard to competition-law safeguards

Provides for the Commission to recognise certification schemes that demonstrate the sustainability of critical raw materials, which projects and operators can use to evidence sustainable practices.

• Use of a recognised sustainability scheme to evidence sustainable sourcing
• Certification records under the recognised scheme

• Claiming sustainability without a recognised scheme or equivalent evidence

Subjects products with critical-raw-material requirements (such as permanent magnet information and recycled content) to conformity assessment and market surveillance under the Union framework.

• Conformity assessment and declaration for in-scope products
• Cooperation records with market surveillance authorities

• Placing in-scope products on the market without conformity assessment