Source: European Parliament
According to the Critical Raw Materials (CRM) Act[1], projects will be considered strategic when they meet the criteria listed in Article 6, without prioritisation system or ranking.
The Commission assesses all complete applications with the help of external experts in technical, financial, and environmental, social and governance-related aspects as well as experts in the United Nations Framework Classification for Resources.
The outcome of this assessment is summarised in a consensus report, endorsed by all experts who contributed to it. As requested by the CRM Act, the Commission shares its assessment with the CRM Board, which shall issue an opinion on whether the proposed projects fulfil the assessment criteria.
Member States whose territory is concerned by a proposed project have the right to object against the recognition of that project as a strategic project.
Moreover, for strategic projects in third countries or overseas countries or territories, the Commission will not approve the application before receiving the explicit approval of the third country concerned.
The Commission adopted a first list of strategic projects on 25 March 2025. A second list of non-EU project will be adopted at a later stage.
- [1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52023PC0160