On 29 January, the EU Council’s Competitiveness and Growth working group will examine ways of guaranteeing access to the raw materials needed for industrial production, taking advantage of circular economy, according to a note from the Cyprus Presidency of the EU Council intended to stimulate discussion.
As the European Commission presented its new ‘Economic Security’ package on 3 December, on strengthening economic security and with the new RESourceEU action plan (see EUROPE 13765/6), the Presidency stresses, among other things, that “significant obstacles remain to the efficient use of secondary raw materials, as also highlighted by the RESourceEU action plan”.
A “key issue” is “continued outflow of valuable secondary materials from the EU, which undermines efforts to build resilient and circular value chains”.
In this context, the Commission’s announcement to propose “restrictions on the export of scrap and waste of permanent magnets by Q2 of 2026 represents a positive step”.
At the same time, “similar measures could be considered for other strategic waste streams, such as production waste from batteries, so-called black mass, in order to ensure that critical raw materials recovered in the EU remain available for European value chains”.
Furthermore, barriers within the European waste market continue “to limit cross-border activities and the efficient circulation of secondary raw materials”, writes Cyprus in this document dated 16 January.
“Fragmented national rules on registration, reporting and compliance, including requirements to appoint authorised representatives separately in each Member State, create disproportionate burdens for companies seeking to operate across borders”.
The future legislation on the circular economy, mentioned in the third part of the RESourceEU action plan and expected in the fourth quarter of 2026, could therefore become a key instrument for remedying these structural shortcomings and moving towards a more harmonised framework for waste and secondary raw materials in the EU, the Presidency continues.
In addition to issues specific to waste, more general regulatory obstacles continue to hamper the implementation of strategic projects, the report adds. In particular, the length and complexity of authorisation procedures are a major constraint.
“Initiatives such as the Environmental Omnibus are intended to help alleviate these bottlenecks and their effectiveness will be critical for enabling Strategic Projects to deliver at scale and on time. Moreover, the upcoming Circular Economy Act could help fully grasp the benefits of recycling”.
It is essential to remove these horizontal obstacles to ensure that strategic projects can fully contribute to the objectives of the RESourceEU action plan and the EU’s economic security strategy, the note stresses. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)