On April 1, The European Commission has published a Call for Input seeking feedback from market participants on how European companies procure and recycle certain critical raw materials and the interplay with EU competition rules. This fact-finding exercise was announced in the Clean Industrial Deal Communication and aims to assess the need for greater industry cooperation in that field.
Critical raw materials are vital to the EU’s industrial competitiveness and its strategic objectives. To address the challenges in securing access to and recycling critical raw materials, the Commission calls for input from stakeholders to support greater cooperation between those companies in line with EU competition rules.
The Commission invites in particular EU companies involved in the extraction, processing and recycling of critical raw materials to share their views. The project will initially focus on 14 critical raw materials of critical importance for sectors such as renewable energies, digital technologies, aerospace and defence technologies.
This initiative builds on the objectives of the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA). The CRMA underscores the significance of securing a sustainable and diversified supply of critical raw materials. On 25 March 2025, the Commission adopted a list of 47 Strategic Projects to boost domestic strategic raw material capacities. This initiative is complementary to the system for demand aggregation of critical raw materials, to be set-up this year under the CRMA.
Call for Input
The Commission is inviting stakeholders to share insights, in particular on challenges in sourcing, processing, recycling and re-using critical raw materials and on collaboration opportunities to address these challenges. Stakeholders can submit their contributions to COMP-RAW-MATERIALS@ec.europa.eu by 31 May 2025.
Next steps
The next steps of the initiative will be assessed on the basis of the contributions that the Commission will receive. Ultimately, the Commission could provide companies with guidance on compatibility with EU competition rules of cooperation projects in this field.
More information
More information will be available on the Commission’s competition website.
Quote(s)
The clean, just, and competitive transition relies on critical raw materials. We want to hear from European industry and beyond about access through recycling of these materials. Together, we can build sustainable supply chains and transform challenges into opportunities for prosperity, innovation and resilience.
Source – EU Commission