MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Criteria for recognition of a meaningful contribution to the security of the EU’s supply of strategic raw materials – E-002119/2024

Question for written answer  E-002119/2024
to the Commission
Rule 144
Carola Rackete (The Left)

Article 6(1)(a) of the Regulation establishing a framework for ensuring a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials[1] states that the Commission will recognise projects ‘that would make a meaningful contribution to the security of the Union’s supply of strategic raw materials’ as ‘strategic projects’. The criteria for assessing whether a project in the EU may be classed as strategic under Article 6(1)(a) are detailed in Annex III of the Regulation. However, the criteria in Annex III do not account for the possibility that promoters of strategic projects may export the materials out of the EU. Therefore, for example, with reference to Article 5(1)(a)(i), the EU’s extraction capacity may increase, but not as a percentage of the EU’s annual consumption of strategic raw materials.

• 1.Does the regulatory framework prohibit the export of strategic raw materials, in particular those that derive from strategic projects, to countries outside the EU?
• 2.How will the Commission apply the criterion in Article 6(1)(a) on a case-by-case basis if there are no restrictions preventing project promoters and undertakings from exporting all or a part of the strategic raw materials extracted by a strategic project to countries outside the EU?

Submitted: 16.10.2024

• [1] Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 April 2024 establishing a framework for ensuring a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials (OJ L, 2024/1252, 3.5.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1252/oj).