Policy recommendations

  • The European Union should allow ACP countries to maintain their sovereignty and policy space in relation to the appropriate use of their own natural resources. They should be able to use investment regulations, tariff barriers and export restrictions to promote equitable, local and sustainable economic development.
  • The European Commission through its development policy should stimulate resource-rich developing countries to implement their own industrial policies, to protect their infant industries by using legitimate barriers to trade, and by introducing environmental measures. This should allow resource-rich developing countries to move up the value chain, so that the added value to (semi) processed products will remain in the country of origin and would thus stimulate economic development.
  • Within its development budget the EU should allocate sufficient resources to the building of energy and environmental infrastructure to enable developing countries to stimulate economic development.
  • The EU should use its political and economic power to set clear rules in relation to the extraction of raw materials. Like suggested in the February 2011 RMI update an EU code of conduct for EU companies operating in third countries should be developed and measures should be taken to enforce such a code of conduct.
  • In order to provide for more transparency in the supply chain and to minimize the role of European companies in fuelling conflicts over resources, the EU should implement Country by Country reporting, following the US example of the Dodd Frank Act.
  • Within the EPA negotiations the EU should be more flexible as suggested in the RMI update and make sure developing countries can demonstrate the use of export taxes as a policy tool and therefore keep using them.
  • In all policy initiatives and actions elaborated on the basis of the strategy laid down in the Raw Materials Initiative that affect developing countries, DG Development should be closely involved, and ACP partner countries and civil society organisations should be consulted.

 

 

Case: Raw Materials Initiative

11-10-2010 Raw Materials Round Tables with MEP Merkies (Update)

Fair Politics in cooperation with Member of Parliament Judith Merkies (S&D) is hosting a series of expert round tables in relation to raw materials. Raw materials, often found in developing countries, are running out because of the dramatic population growth and increase in use due to economic and technological development. This will have problematic consequences for the whole industry, whether at the beginning or the end of the production chain and on development in general.

Besides its increasing scarcity, other issues concerning raw materials are the “unfair” spacial distribution and the environmental and social concerns during extraction and production. MEP Merkies and Fair Politics therefore invited representatives of the European Commission, OECD, development and environmental organizations, industry and academia to discuss and debate the problems and solutions.

28-09-2010 Round Table 3: Possibilities to Recycle Raw Materials

We are running out of raw materials, but loads of these raw materials are still to be found in un-used old electrical and electronic equipment. The collection of e-waste in the European member states is at the moment insufficient. In many countries the materials still end up in landfills or illegal shipments towards Asia or Africa. Recycling those materials or re-use the devises, can reduce the scarcity and ecological damage done by mining and it can also reduce the illegal shipments of this so called e-waste to developing countries, where the waste is taken apart in an unsustainable and unhealthy manner. During the third round table meeting MEP Judith Merkies (S&D) and Fair Politics discussed this problem with representatives of the industry, civil-society, and the European Commission. The participants of the discussion agreed the new Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEE) is a good first step, yet the Commission has chosen a safe path by focusing on quota’s instead of collection- and production standards. On this topic a progressive European policy is needed according to the industry, because every country continues to recycle differently, and this is creating barriers for companies.

10-06-2010 Round Table 2: Corporate Social Responsibility in the Extractive Industry

The extraction of raw materials can be very problematic socially and environmentally. Raw material extraction consumes large amounts of water, land and energy for example. Resource rich developing countries are often prone to conflict, corrupt governments and lack of transparency. Furthermore issues such as low labour standards and lack of respect for human rights are also evident in the extractive industry. Therefore there was little discussion on whether Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)is necessary in this sector. The debate at the round table meeting on the 10th of June 2010 concerned mainly the framework in which CSR should take place. Whether it has to be voluntary or regulated, start with only transparency or be more holistic and how EU policy should be implemented.

04-05-2010 Round Table 1: the extraction and trade of raw materials

Scarce raw material are often located in developing countries and therefore it is in the interest of Europe to claim as much access to them as possible. This is especially the case with the new up and coming competitor for these materials (i.e. China). The EU raw materials initiative, an EU policy, is a strategy that attempts to secure future access. One can read in our case study how incoherent this policy is to the EU’s development policy. According to the OECD “protecting” one’s raw materials is counter productive to development, yet the use needs to be sustainable and free access might not be the answer to that.