Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Added(8) The increased use of recovered raw materials would support the development of the circular economy and allow for a more resource-efficient use of raw materials from permanent magnets, while reducing the Union’s dependency on raw materials from third countries. Therefore, including manufacturing waste could help establish a European recycling industry in the short term. The recognition of pre-consumer recycled materials complements, the recovery of manufacturing waste by ensuring that manufacturers can improve short-term resource efficiency while maintaining strong incentives to build and expand end-of-life collection and recycling systems. However, the reutilisation of materials, such as rework, regrind or scrap generated in the permanent magnet manufacturing process, which can be reclaimed within the same process that generated the material, do not constitute waste and should therefore not be seen as part of the recycled content shares of permanent magnets under Regulation (EU) 2024/1252. Target trajectories for each raw material should fully consider the actual recycling potential for manufacturing and post-consumer waste, taking into account Union-originated waste to ensure ambitions are technically achievable, and evidence-based, proportionate to the specificities of each raw material and product category taking into account the availability, recyclability of each material and drive genuine investment in post-consumer waste.

RemovedRegulation (EU) 2024/1252

Added(8a) The collection, sorting and recycling of products containing critical raw materials, in particular permanent magnets, represent a significant untapped source of secondary strategic raw materials within the Union. Achieving higher recycling rates requires improved identification, separate collection and treatment of products, components and waste streams containing such materials, including through the development of adequate collection and recycling infrastructure and a coordinated action at Union level to facilitate the cross-border movement of waste streams containing critical raw materials and remove regulatory and logistical barriers to their aggregation. The evaluation in 2028 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 should therefore assess, on the basis of technical and economic feasibility, whether additional Union measures are needed to ensure their effective recovery, including the assessment of a possible introduction of binding benchmarks currently set out in that Regulation. As a substantial share of those materials is still lost due to insufficient collection, the Commission should also assess the necessity and feasibility of establishing Union-level collection targets for relevant products, components and waste streams. For electronic equipment, progress could be achieved by replacing the existing weight-based recovery, recycling and reuse targets in Directive 2012/19/EU with material-specific targets. Any minimum recycled content requirements adopted pursuant to this Regulation should be proportionate, evidence-based and supported by a realistic trajectory for the development of Union recycling capacity, including appropriate transitional periods adapted to the specificities of each strategic raw material and product category. The Commission and Member States should also ensure the timely and coordinated development of collection and sorting infrastructure to support domestic recycling capacity and avoid the export of recoverable materials to third countries. In addition, research into extraction and processing technologies that reduce environmental and health impacts is needed to facilitate the development of an Union-based critical raw materials sector. The Commission should promote and support collaborative and open research in this area, with the aim of benefitting the sector as a whole.

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 4 – point a, Article 29 – paragraph 1: 1. By 24 May 2027 or two years from the entry into force of the delegated act referred to in paragraph 2, whichever is later, any natural or legal person that places on the market products referred to in Article 28(1) which incorporate one or more permanent magnets referred to in Article 28(1), point (b)(i), (ii) and (iii), and for which the total weight of all such permanent magnets exceeds 0,2 kg shall make publicly available on a free-access website the share of neodymium, dysprosium, praseodymium, terbium, boron, samarium, nickel and cobalt recovered from manufacturing and post-consumer waste, including the shares of such waste produced within the Union, present in the permanent magnets incorporated in the product.;

Added(8b) Ensuring that recyclable materials remain within the Union will enhance industrial resilience and reinforce the security and reliability of the Union’s supply chains. In this context, and in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2015/479, the Commission could by way of a thorough assessment that takes due account of its international obligations and partnerships with third countries, propose restrictions on the export of scraps and waste of permanent magnets from the Union. Such export restrictions should be used judiciously and targeted to specific material streams. By leveraging trade data, the Commission could identify the streams where secondary material losses are most significant, ensuring that any restrictions are proportionate and effective.

RemovedRegulation (EU) 2024/1252

Added(8c) Strengthening the resilience of the Union’s critical raw materials value chains is essential for both economic security and the Union’s security and defence capabilities. Defence-related demand can unlock investments in strategic projects across the critical raw materials value chain and act as a catalyst generating positive spillovers for dual-use technologies and industrial ecosystems. The Union should therefore leverage relevant financial instruments and programmes such as the European Defence Industry Programme to de-risk and accelerate Strategic Projects.

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 4 – point b, Article 29 – paragraph 2: 2. By three months from the date of entry into force of Regulation .../... (procedure 2025/0385 COD), the Commission shall adopt a delegated act in accordance with Article 38 to supplement this Regulation by establishing rules for the calculation and verification of the share of neodymium, dysprosium, praseodymium, terbium, boron, samarium, nickel and cobalt recovered from manufacturing and post-consumer waste, including the shares of such waste produced within the Union, present in the permanent magnets incorporated in the products referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article. Based on the public available information published under paragraph 1 of this Article, the Commission shall propose a trajectory for the shares of manufacturing and post-consumer waste, as well as Union-originated waste targets for each strategic raw material.;

Added(9) To attain the objectives set in the RESourceEU Action Plan, Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 should therefore be amended accordingly, while ensuring compliance with applicable environmental and ILO conventions.

RemovedRegulation (EU) 2024/1252

Added(10) Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 marked an important step towards stronger Union engagement in critical raw materials. To fully achieve its objectives and ensure its effective implementation, it is essential that adequate investments and financial resources are mobilised at Union level. Since the entry into force of that Regulation, the Commission has presented the MFF 2028-2034 package, which includes the European Competitiveness Fund, and has announced the establishment of the Critical Raw Materials Centre (the ‘Centre'). The Commission should present an ambitious proposal for the Centre, including building on the existing expertise in the Union ecosystems, in the first half of 2026. Given the urgency, the proposal could appropriately proceed based on available evidence and a targeted assessment, without requiring a comprehensive impact assessment, while fully respecting the integrity of the legislative procedure. To become more competitive, more resilient and to guarantee security of supply, the European Competitiveness Fund should include a dedicated Critical Raw Materials envelope entrusted to the Centre for its implementation. In addition, the European Investment Bank should play a key role in implementing Union-supported financial instruments in line with the objectives of Regulation (EU) 2024/1252. Given the high risks, capital intensity, price volatility and lengthy investment cycles associated with critical raw test materials projects, a broad toolbox of Union-level instruments is essential.

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 4 – point c, Article 29 – paragraph 3: 3. After the entry into force of the delegated act adopted pursuant to paragraph 2, and in any event by 31 December 2031, the Commission shall adopt delegated acts supplementing this Regulation by laying down minimum shares for neodymium, dysprosium, praseodymium, terbium, boron, samarium, nickel and cobalt recovered from, manufacturing and post-consumer waste, including the shares of such waste produced within the Union, or any combination thereof that must be present in the permanent magnet incorporated in the products referred to in paragraph 1.;

Added(10a) The Centre should be a self-standing Union agency with a time-unlimited mandate including the implementation of the budget set out under the European Competitiveness Fund. The achievement of the missions of the Centre should rely on the widest possible use of financial instruments including equity, quasi-equity, Contracts for Difference, and Production-linked incentives. Its mandate should comprise the entire value chain of critical raw materials, spanning resource intelligence and exploration, extraction, processing and refining, recycling and substitution of critical raw materials. The Centre should support Strategic Projects under Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 and relevant Important Projects of Common European Interest, through a broad range of financial and market-based instruments, facilitate cooperation between producers and users, monitor supply chain risks, and help coordinate strategic stockpiling and joint purchasing initiatives in cooperation with Member States and relevant stakeholders. The Centre's engagement should have a particular focus on promoting a stable and diversified European market for critical raw materials, to identify potential strategic international projects and engage with international partners, support the development of Strategic projects within the Union, as well as on strategic raw materials with particular attention to the materials most relevant for the digital, clean energy, and defence transitions.

RemovedRegulation (EU) 2024/1252

Added(10b) The Centre should be tasked with creating a European market and pricing infrastructure for the trade of critical raw materials. To enhance transparency in critical raw material markets, reduce dependence on price-setting mechanisms outside the Union, and mitigate risks of market manipulation, the establishment of a critical raw materials price indices index should be encouraged to provide market participants with a transparent and reliable, market driven reference price. Such an index should be based on robust market data, including anonymised transaction data collected through dedicated trade platforms or data aggregation mechanisms,

RemovedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 4 – point d, Article 29 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 3 – point a: (a) The existing and forecasted availability of neodymium, dysprosium, praseodymium, terbium, boron, samarium, nickel and cobalt recovered from manufacturing and post-consumer waste sources as well as Union recycling capacity, with the aim of fostering investments in post-consumer waste;

AddedHAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

AddedArticle 1 Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2024/1252

AddedRegulation (EU) 2024/1252 is amended as follows:

Added(-1) Article 2 is amended as follows:

Added(a) the following point is inserted:

Added‘(32a) ‘manufacturing waste’ means the materials or objects rejected during the manufacturing process such as regrind material or scrap, which cannot be re-used as an integral part in the same process and need to be recycled;’;

Added(b) the following points are inserted:

Added‘(52a) ‘motorised toy’ means a product that falls within the scope of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2025/2509 and that contains an electric motor of any rated output level;

Added(52b) ‘loudspeaker’ means a device designed to convert electrical signals into audible sound’;

Added(1) in Article 7(3), the second subparagraph is replaced by the following:

Added‘The first such cut-off date shall be no later than 24 August 2024. The Commission shall set cut-off dates at least twice per year.

AddedThe Commission may also open additional calls for applications for targeted projects addressing specific missing links, bottlenecks or critical needs identified in strategic raw materials value chains taking into account the whole value-chain approach and their contribution to programme objectives, where appropriate.’;(2) Article 24 is amended as follows:

Added(a) paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

Added‘1. By [P.O.: please insert date corresponding to the date of entry into force of this Regulation plus 2 months] and within six months of each update of the list of strategic raw materials, the Commission, in close cooperation with Member States, shall identify the large companies operating in the Union that use strategic raw materials to manufacture batteries for energy storage and e-mobility, equipment related to hydrogen production and utilisation, equipment related to renewable energy generation, aircrafts, traction motors, heat pumps, equipment related to data transmission and storage, mobile electronic devices, equipment related to additive manufacturing, equipment related to robotics, drones, rocket launchers, radar, satellites or advanced chips.

AddedThe Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 38 to supplement the list set out in the first subparagraph by adding additional product categories of applicable large companies taking into account relevant geopolitical and economic developments.’;

Added(b) the following paragraph 1a is inserted:

Added‘1a. The Commission shall inform the large companies it has identified under paragraph 1 of such identification and of their obligations under this Article and shall provide guidance regarding compliance with those obligations, including by providing relevant information to the Member States in which the company operates to facilitate compliance.

AddedThe Commission may provide further support to companies through appropriate tools such as providing relevant information on alternative sources of supply, available Union’s support instruments and diversification opportunities.’;

Added(c) paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

Added‘2. Large companies as referred to in paragraph 1 shall, by nine months of the notification by the Commission of their identification and at least every three years thereafter, and to the extent the required information is available to them, carry out a risk assessment of their raw materials supply chain of strategic raw materials, including:

Added(a) a mapping of the supply chain of components containing strategic raw materials;

Added(b) a mapping of countries in which the strategic raw materials they use are extracted, processed or recycled;

Added(ba) a mapping of the ownership of the facilities in which the strategic raw materials they use are extracted, processed or recycled;

Added(c) an analysis of the factors that might affect their supply of strategic raw materials;

Added(d) an assessment of their vulnerabilities to supply disruptions.’;

Added(d) paragraph 4 is replaced by the following:

Added‘4. If significant vulnerabilities to supply disruptions are detected as a result of the risk assessment referred to in paragraph 2, large companies as referred to under paragraph 1 shall take measures to mitigate those vulnerabilities, including by reducing the use of strategic raw materials, by improving material and resource efficiency, diversifying its strategic raw materials supply chains, including switching to Union-based or Union-owned suppliers, prioritising secondary raw materials, or substituting the strategic raw materials, where such substitution is technically and economically viable or by building up or maintaining of stocks of strategic raw materials, including, where appropriate, through the joint purchasing mechanism referred to in Regulation (EU) 2024/1252.’;

Added(e) paragraph 5 is replaced by the following:

Added‘5. Large companies as referred to in paragraph 1 shall present to their board of directors or management board the results of the risk assessment referred to in paragraph 2.’;

Added(f) the following paragraphs 5a and 5b are inserted:

Added‘5a. The Commission may request large companies referred to in paragraph 1 to explain how they comply with the obligations set out in this Article. They shall provide that information no later than 60 days after receiving the request from the Commission. Information submitted by large companies pursuant to this Article shall be treated as confidential in accordance with Article 46. Where the large company is a defence contractor and the information requested pursuant to this paragraph relates specifically to strategic raw materials used mainly in the manufacturing of defence products it shall, by way of exception, provide the requested information to the Member State where it is established. The Member State shall collect the information and share it with the Commission. If disclosure of some specific elements to the Commission would jeopardise essential security or defence interests of the Member State, it may withhold those specific elements of that information, by informing the Commission of its decision and stating the reasons.’

Added▌5b. The Commission is empowered to adopt a delegated act in accordance with Article 38 to supplement this Regulation by specifying the risk mitigation measures that the large companies referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article are to take when significant vulnerabilities to supply disruptions are detected in accordance with paragraph 4 of this Article. The Commission shall consider all types of mitigation measures, including taking into account measures related to circularity, resource efficiency and substitution of strategic raw materials.

AddedThe Commission shall base such risk mitigation measures on an assessment of the available information on supply risks, demand and supply, price volatility, the trade flows and strategic partnerships, bilateral agreements, and projects, including related Global Gateway investment projects, between the Union and third countries, with measuring their contribution to the Union’s security of supply as well as, their role in fostering sustainable, mutually beneficial and resilient partnerships with partner countries and coherent external action and the potential obstacles to trade in critical raw materials and shall specify the maximum shares of reliance on a single third country in the supply chain of critical raw materials.

AddedWhen specifying risk mitigation measures pursuant to this paragraph, the Commission shall take into account the availability and costs of alternative sources of supply and the opinion of the CRMA Board. The measures shall not impose a disproportionate burden on Union companies relative to the strategic objective pursued.

AddedThe Commission shall consider the specific characteristics and applications of different strategic critical raw materials and ensure that the delegated act provides tailored risk mitigation measures from which large companies shall select reasonable, proportionate and effective mitigation measures, tailored to the significant vulnerabilities to supply disruptions identified pursuant to this Article.’;

Added(g) paragraph 6 is deleted;

Added(2a) in Article 25, paragraph 6 is replaced by the following:

Added‘6. To ensure the protection of the essential security interests or the security of supply of the Union or of its Member States, entities shall be excluded from participating as suppliers or service providers of a given strategic raw material to the system established pursuant to this Article, if they are:

Added(a) established in a third country that holds more than 40% of the global manufacturing capacity in extraction, processing or recycling of the corresponding strategic raw material; or

Added(b) directly or indirectly owned or controlled by, or acting on behalf or at the direction of natural or legal persons, entities or bodies established in a third country that holds more than 40 % of the global manufacturing capacity in extraction, processing or recycling of the corresponding strategic raw material.

AddedThe exclusions set out in the first subparagraph, points (a) and (b) should not apply to entities from third countries with which the Union has an agreement establishing a free trade area or a custom union, or a Strategic Partnership.

Added6a. Where the Commission or the Critical Raw Materials Board determines, on the basis of available data, that one of the following situations has occurred or is imminent, the Commission may activate temporary support measures appropriate to the situation, including price stabilisation mechanisms, financial compensation instruments such as contracts for difference or production-linked incentives, or demand aggregation measures in favour of alternative suppliers:

Added(a) a significant and sudden increase in prices or a disruption in the supply of a strategic raw material that places Union-based projects and undertakings at a competitive disadvantage; or

Added(b) prices of a strategic raw material are set at artificially low levels by a supplier holding a dominant position in global supply, threatening the economic viability of extraction, processing or recycling projects established in the Union or supported by Union financial instruments.