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Securing Rare Minerals for Clean Energy and Tech

Published December 03, 2025

Goal: Secure supply chain

The EU is tightening its rules on critical raw materials so companies can diversify supplies, report risks every three years, label products clearly, and boost recycling, making the market safer and less split.

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Securing Rare Minerals for Clean Energy and Tech

What the problem is

  • The EU needs critical raw materials (CRMs) for clean‑energy, digital, defence and aerospace technologies.
  • Since the CRMA (Regulation (EU) 2024/1252) entered force on 23 May 2024, China and other countries have tightened export controls on rare earths and other CRMs.
  • This has made the EU’s supply of CRMs more fragile and has increased the risk that the single market will split because each Member State would have to identify large companies that use CRMs on its own.
  • The current rules also do not fully encourage recycling of CRMs, especially for permanent magnets used in many products.

How the problem is being solved

  • The Commission proposes to amend the CRMA so that the rules are clearer, simpler and more effective.
  • The amendments aim to:
  1. Create a lasting market for CRMs by making it easier for companies to diversify their supply chains.
  2. Boost circularity by expanding the range of products that must carry a label and by adding pre‑consumer waste to the recycled‑content requirement for permanent magnets.
  3. Reduce fragmentation by letting the Commission identify large companies that use CRMs instead of each Member State doing it separately.
  4. Improve risk management by requiring those companies to carry out a risk assessment of their supply chain every three years, report the results to their board, and take mitigation actions if vulnerabilities are found.
  5. Give the Commission more flexibility to limit the number of calls for strategic projects and to set detailed mitigation measures through delegated acts.

What changes as a result of this document

Area New or changed rule Key details
Strategic project calls Cut‑off dates limited to four per year First cut‑off no later than 24 Aug 2024
Large‑company identification Commission identifies companies instead of Member States Companies that use CRMs in batteries, hydrogen, renewables, aircraft, drones, chips, etc.
Risk assessment Companies must map supply chains, source locations, risk factors and vulnerabilities Done within six months of identification and at least every three years
Mitigation Companies must act to reduce vulnerabilities (diversify supply, use secondary materials, substitute CRMs) Commission can request information and set specific measures via delegated acts
Board reporting Companies must present risk‑assessment results to their board Ensures top‑level awareness
Labeling Expanded list of products that must carry a clear label (e.g., MRI devices, wind turbines, robots, cars, drones, toys) Label must be conspicuous, legible and indelible
Recycled‑content reporting Products with permanent magnets > 0.2 kg must publish the share of neodymium, dysprosium, praseodymium, terbium, boron, samarium, nickel and cobalt recovered from pre‑consumer and post‑consumer waste Information must be on a free‑access website
Minimum recycled shares Commission will set minimum shares of recycled CRMs in permanent magnets by 31 Dec 2031 Includes both pre‑consumer and post‑consumer waste
Delegated acts Commission empowered to adopt delegated acts for detailed rules on mitigation, labeling, recycled‑content calculation, and minimum shares Delegated acts can be revoked by Parliament or Council

Other points

  • The amendments do not affect the EU budget or fundamental rights.
  • No formal impact assessment was carried out because the changes are urgent.
  • The regulation will apply in all Member States from the day after its publication in the Official Journal.

Licensing: The summaries on this page are available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).

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