Rare Earth Mining in Myanmar and the Strategic Autonomy of the EU

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F48546054%3A_____%2F25%3AN0000032" target="_blank" >RIV/48546054:_____/25:N0000032 - isvavai.cz</a>

Výsledek na webu

<a href="https://www.iir.cz/rare-earth-mining-in-myanmar-and-the-strategic-autonomy-of-the-eu" target="_blank" >https://www.iir.cz/rare-earth-mining-in-myanmar-and-the-strategic-autonomy-of-the-eu</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

Rare Earth Mining in Myanmar and the Strategic Autonomy of the EU

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

The European Union is extremely dependent on China for imports of rare earth elements (REE), which are crucial for the green transition, digital transformation, and the defence industry. China’s new export restrictions on REE from October 2025 highlighted the urgent need to accelerate the EU’s strategic autonomy in critical raw materials (CRM). The dependency on China is, however, complex and involves opaque supply chains, including those of heavy REE (HREE) mined by Chinese companies in Myanmar under unregulated conditions. This raises not only economic security concerns but also issues of labour rights and environmental impact, which the EU has committed to upholding in its supply chains under recently adopted regulations. The EU should take strategic autonomy in CRM more seriously, and move the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) from strategy to implementation with its own budget, plan, and governance. The EU must ensure maximum transparency in CRM supply chains to enforce environmental and labour standards. Where transparency is lacking and independent verification is impossible, these sources should be preventively treated as causing a high risk of forced labour or environmental harm, and excluded from EU supply chains.

Název v anglickém jazyce

Rare Earth Mining in Myanmar and the Strategic Autonomy of the EU

Popis výsledku anglicky

The European Union is extremely dependent on China for imports of rare earth elements (REE), which are crucial for the green transition, digital transformation, and the defence industry. China’s new export restrictions on REE from October 2025 highlighted the urgent need to accelerate the EU’s strategic autonomy in critical raw materials (CRM). The dependency on China is, however, complex and involves opaque supply chains, including those of heavy REE (HREE) mined by Chinese companies in Myanmar under unregulated conditions. This raises not only economic security concerns but also issues of labour rights and environmental impact, which the EU has committed to upholding in its supply chains under recently adopted regulations. The EU should take strategic autonomy in CRM more seriously, and move the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) from strategy to implementation with its own budget, plan, and governance. The EU must ensure maximum transparency in CRM supply chains to enforce environmental and labour standards. Where transparency is lacking and independent verification is impossible, these sources should be preventively treated as causing a high risk of forced labour or environmental harm, and excluded from EU supply chains.

Druh

X - Nezařazeno

CEP obor

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OECD FORD obor

50601 - Political science

Projekt

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Návaznosti

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Rok uplatnění

2025

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů