About RMIS
The European Commission's (EC) Raw Materials Information System (RMIS) is developed by the Directorate-General (DG) Joint Research Centre (JRC) in cooperation with the DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROWTH). The RMIS is the Commission’s reference web-based knowledge platform on non-fuel, non-agricultural raw materials from primary and secondary sources. This section provides an overview of the European raw materials context, the policy mandate that underlies the development of the RMIS, its goal and scope.
Context
As stressed in the 2008 European Union (EU) Raw Materials Initiative (RMI) and further recognised by the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on raw materials (EIP-SIP), raw materials are essential for the sustainable and sound functioning of Europe’s industries.
The EC is committed to the promotion, within the context of the EU’s wider industrial policy, of the competitiveness of industries related to raw materials. These industries play important roles in many downstream sectors in Europe, such as construction, defence, chemicals, automotive, aerospace, machinery, equipment and renewable energy devices. Securing undistorted access to raw materials – in particular, critical raw materials (CRM) – is crucial to stimulate investment in innovation and new technologies for a European Industrial Renaissance and, for instance, in the context of the European Defence Action Plan and the broader EU Global Strategy Implementation Plan on Security and Defence.
In this context, supporting the development of the European Union Raw Materials Knowledge Base (EURMKB) and responding to a specific action of the 2015 Circular Economy Action Plan[1], the JRC, in collaboration with DG GROWTH, has developed the RMIS. The RMIS is the EC’s reference web-based knowledge platform for non-fuel, non-agricultural materials from primary and secondary sources.
[1] EC Communication COM(2015) 614, ‘Closing the loop – An EU action plan for the circular economy, explicitly mentions the work that the EC has undertaken with the development of the RMIS in the context of the shift from waste to resources, specifically ‘to improve the availability of data on secondary raw materials the Commission will further develop the recently initiated Raw Materials Information System and support EU-wide research on raw materials flows’.
Goal and Scope
The EC RMIS provides a structured repository of knowledge related to non-fuel, non-agricultural raw materials from primary and secondary sources. It focuses on both abiotic and biotic materials, covering the entire value chain. The overarching goal of the RMIS is to facilitate:
- the availability, coherence and quality of knowledge required by specific EU raw materials policies and EC services;
- access to key raw materials information from knowledge bases within and beyond Europe.
Specific parts of the RMIS support access to in-depth knowledge on the topics most relevant to the European and International raw materials context, such as Critical Raw Materials (CRM, secondary raw materials (SRM), economics and trade, and stocks and flows of raw materials, as well as analyses of aspects of environmental and social sustainability related to raw materials.
With the aim of establishing a continuous exchange of knowledge with national, EU-level and global knowledge providers, the RMIS includes the ‘Raw materials knowledge gateway’, which is a virtual space for providers for consolidating, expanding and increasing the visibility of raw materials-related knowledge. In turn, this knowledge can be used in support to the development of the most important EC RMIS dossiers, such as the ‘EU criticality assessment’, the Material System Analysis (MSA) study and the Raw Materials (RM) Scoreboard (see Figure).
Mandate & policy drivers
Supporting the development of the European Union Raw Materials Knowledge Base (EURMKB) and responding to the 2015 Circular Economy Action Plan, DG JRC in collaboration with DG GROWTH has developed the Raw Materials Information System (RMIS, the EC’s reference web-based knowledge platform for non-fuel, non-agricultural materials from primary and secondary sources.
The need for a European Union Raw Materials Knowledge Base (EURMKB) is highlighted in Action area number II.8 of the 2013 Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on raw materials (EIP-SIP).
In line with the broad framework of the EU Raw Materials Initiative, the EIP-SIP recognises that raw materials are essential for the sustainable and sound functioning of Europe’s industries. These industries play important roles in many downstream sectors in Europe such as construction, defence, chemicals, automotive, aerospace, machinery, equipment and renewable energy devices. Securing undistorted access to raw materials – in particular, Critical Raw Materials (CRM – is crucial to stimulate investment in innovation and new technologies for a European Industrial Renaissance and, for instance, in the context of the European Defence Action Plan and the broader EU Global Strategy’s Implementation Plan on Security and Defence.
Knowledge Needs
The information and knowledge provided by RMIS is mainly driven by the needs formulated by several EU policy and regulatory fields, as listed in the table below with the indication of these fields and their major sources.
For further details, please consult the Policy&Legislation chapter of RMIS.