Industrial MineralsYour World is Made of Them

IMA EuropeAnnual Report 2012

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Table of Contents

A Year at a Glance.................................................................................. 3

Industrial Affairs

Resource Effi ciency..................................................................... 4

Climate Change........................................................................... 5

Innovation.................................................................................... 6

Environment

Air emissions................................................................................ 7

Biodiversity – No Net Loss........................................................... 8

IMA LCI........................................................................................ 9

Revision List of Waste.................................................................. 9

Product Stewardship

Respirable crystalline silica......................................................... 10

Compliance challenges in light of a far-reaching EU recommended defi nition of nanomaterials.............................. 11

Chemical Policy............................................................................. 12

Keeping the exemption related to the exploitation of minerals under the Seveso III Directive...................................... 12

Agriculture.................................................................................... 13

Communication........................................................................................ 14

IMA-Europe Structure.............................................................................. 15

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Two years ago, the European Commission developed the Raw Materials Initiative to address potential restrictions on access to some raw materials. IMA-Europe welcomed the three pillar initiative which should (1) boost the EU trade and development actions on the international markets; (2) improve legal and framework conditions in the EU to facilitate access to domestic resources; (3) increase recovery of materials from waste and foster resource effi ciency. The objectives of the Raw Materials Initiative should now become reality thanks to the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials to be launched early 2013. IMA-Europe seized the opportunity to contribute to the EIP. With our Members’ support, we submitted to DG Enterprise several applications for nomination in the various working groups of the EIP, including its High Level Steering Group.

In parallel to the Raw Materials Initiative, the “Europe 2020 Strategy” intends to shape a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth which would turn down the effects of the crisis. Amongst its seven so-called “Flagships” (i.e. initiatives), it plans for Resource Effi ciency and Innovation as the driving forces of a “Green” Growth. As a result, the Commission issued three Roadmaps in 2011 designing steps for a Resource and Energy Effi cient Europe in a low Carbon economy within a time horizon 2020-2050. Encouraged by the Institutions, a number of sectors embark in the process of developing roadmaps to provide their sectoral vision for the future. IMA-Europe will draft an Industrial Minerals roadmap with a special focus on resource effi ciency, while EuLA, the IMA Lime member Association, will prepare a specifi c Roadmap with a focus on the low carbon and energy effi ciency aspects. Both processes have started and should be fi nalised towards the end of 2013.

In view of profi ling our sector as a partner in the coming innovation transition towards the Green Growth, IMA-Europe also contributed to the founding of the “Association for Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy

Effi ciency” (A.SPIRE). This newly created association, grouping 50 industrial and research industry stakeholders, calls for the largest European Private Public Partnership. The contribution of IMA-Europe in the SPIRE multi-sectoral roadmap is to ensure that mineral industry companies commit, as part of the value chain, to achievable resource and energy effi ciency goals. IMA also helped in the submission of an industrial mineral R&D project under the Seventh Frame Work Programme (FP7) for which IMA will develop and later assure the dissemination and the exploitation of its outcome.

The booming of “industrial affairs” and the need to continue addressing the many European issues related to environment protection and product stewardship, force the Secretariat to reshape its structure in order to manage all dossiers in the most effi cient way. Alongside the revamping of the IMA-Europe website and of its communication strategy, the new structure should allow some clustering of the competencies in order to optimize the deliveries to the IMA members The Activity Report we are pleased to release at the eve of the IMA 2012 General Assembly should provide you with a brief overview of the last 12-month achievements. They notably include the NEPSI reporting, the publication of the industrial minerals Life Cycle Inventory in the European Life Cycle Database (ELCD), the development of Recycling Sheets for almost all IMA minerals, IMA’s position on the defi nition of nanomaterials and on the revision of the Carcinogens at Work Directive, to name a few.

Thanks to the invaluable contributions of the many company experts, we have managed to achieve some remarkable objectives. However, further challenges are still ahead to turn the IM Roadmap, the EIP and the other innovation initiatives into a success. At IMA-Europe, we are confi dent that with the competence and the invaluable support of member company experts, we will be able to tackle the challenges that lie ahead.

Theirry SalmonaPresident

Michelle Wyart RemySecretary General

A Year at a Glance

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Industrial Affairs

Resource Effi ciencyThe Europe 2020 strategy – the EU’s growth strategy of this decade – sets out a number of ambitious objectives on competitiveness, innovation, education, climate, mobility and energy, employment and social inclusion to be reached by 2020. Its driving force aims at a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. From the seven fl agships (i.e. initiatives) that followed Europe 2020, the Resource Effi ciency (RE) Flagship and its subsequent RE Roadmap have been at the core of IMA-Europe activities during 2012.

The RE Roadmap aims at changing the current economic model in order to increase resource productivity and decouple economic growth from the use of resources and their environmental impact. IMA-Europe stresses the importance of the right use of resources as an inherent part of the resource use – and not just a short-term solution –, eco-effi ciency being inherent to resource management and needs to cover the entire value chain by having a holistic LCA approach.

To contribute to the change of the current business model, the RE Roadmap proposes the use of waste as a resource. Following this approach, IMA-Europe has prepared recycling sheets for several minerals, which show that the applications of industrial minerals (IM) do not end after their use as a primary raw material and that recycling – as well as valorisation of waste and by-products – is widely applied in the sector. Additional recycling sheets for those minerals not covered so far are currently under preparation.

In order to evaluate, quantify and monitor the progress towards sustainable development, the Commission intends to develop RE indicators. These indicators, which should be agreed upon by the end of 2013, aim at supporting political actions with the purpose of achieving greater resource productivity. The Commission proposed in the Roadmap a three-tiered approach with a provisional lead indicator to measure “resource productivity” which divides a country’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) by its Domestic Material Consumption (DMC). This lead indicator should be complemented by a dashboard of macro indicators on land, water and carbon (i.e. environmental impact) and a third group of thematic sectoral indicators, which were specifi ed in the Roadmap.

The IMA Secretariat took the opportunity to express the concerns of the industrial minerals sector on the proposed indicators in a recent public consultation. IMA-Europe has led extensive discussions with several colleague associations, among which an agreement on the inappropriateness of the lead indicator was met. IMA-Europe’s position also calls for the development of eco-effi ciency indicators, covering the three pillars of sustainability, namely the environmental footprint – and thus, have a LCA approach –, as well as economic and social aspects, which take into account the functionality and performance of raw materials.

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Industrial Affairs

In the course of this year, IMA-Europe’s members have acknowledged the importance of having an industrial minerals (IM) sectoral roadmap, which, in turn, is a reply to the EU Institutions’ recommendations and a way to be identifi ed as a stakeholder in the RE discussions. On 26 October 2012, the process of developing an IM Roadmap was offi cially launched with an interactive Workshop that aimed at identifying the scope, audience and content of the roadmap. Intensive work in the coming months will follow, so that the IM Roadmap is expected to be fi nalised by the end of 2013.

Climate Change Despite the economic crisis, the European Commission and the EU Member States kept on pursuing in 2012 a path towards lower greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The main tool for achieving GHG emission reductions remains the EU ETS. However, the revision of the “Taxation of Energy Products” Directive and in particular the proposal to introduce a minimum EU-wide CO2 taxation level, will affect all industries using fuels. A draft text prepared by the Commission has been on the table already for several years. The discussion slowly progress because unanimity is required amongst all EU Member States before a revised Directive can be adopted. The discussions in the Council between the EU Member States continued throughout 2012, and will most likely continue in 2013.

The 3rd Trading Period of the EU ETS starts on 1 January 2013 and will last till the end of 2020. During 2012 the different EU Member States have submitted to the European Commission the data needed to calculate the number of free allowances that each installation will receive. This information should also allow the Commission to check if the total number of free allowances remains well below a threshold value defi ned in the EU ETS Directive. Should this not be the case, a further “cross-sector correction factor” will be applied to further scale down the number of allowances installations receive. Up till now this “cross sector correction factor” has not yet been published – which makes that operators do not yet know exactly how many free allowances they will exactly receive.

In 2012 the Commission published its new regulation on the “Monitoring and Reporting” of GHG emissions. IMA-Europe, and especially EuLA, has been advocating in favour of a level playing

fi eld in Europe – meaning that the reporting rules and scope should be the same for all installations in the EU. This is especially important as the methodology for allocating free allowances is defi ned at EU level.

The European Commission expressed in 2012 at several occasions its concern about the evolution of the carbon price. Mainly the economic recession, but also the increased use of international credits caused a falling of carbon prices. Although overall GHG emissions have decreased since the introduction of the EU ETS, the Commission considers the current carbon prices as too low to attract suffi cient investment in low-carbon technologies. In 2012, the Commission published several proposals to increase the carbon price. For example, “backloading”: that is postponing the auctioning of a certain volume of allowances towards the end of phase 3. IMA-Europe and EuLA took position on this crucial issue.

As required by the EU ETS Directive, the European Commission is preparing for the revision of the “carbon leakage list” for 2015-2019. Sectors on the list are entitled to receive more free allowances because they are particularly sensitive to international competition. EuLA has prepared a detailed assessment of the different impacts of each of the parameters on the total carbon intensity of the lime sector. The results of the assessment, as well as solutions, have been proposed to DG Climate Action. In parallel to this EuLA is actively involved in the CEN work on a GHG Protocol for the lime industry. This new standard should allow assessing with more accuracy the GHG performance of a lime production site. The provisional clauses in the draft GHG Protocol will be further completed after 4 fi eld tests to be carried out in 2013. The European Commission made available funds for the verifi cation of the draft GHG Protocol, which will be carried out by several external parties that replied to a call for tender – prepared by EuLA – in co-operation with CEN.

EuLA prepared a detailed assessment of the different impacts of each of the parameters on the total carbon

intensity of the lime sector.

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Industrial Affairs

InnovationInnovation has been identifi ed in the European agenda as a top priority to boost the European economy and competition in the global markets by using breakthrough and/or scientifi c knowledge in key areas of industry. As part of this strategy, several European initiatives and projects have been initiated and are ongoing in order to link innovation with economic growth and better quality of life in Europe. In order to profi le industrial minerals as an innovative and resource effi cient sector, IMA-Europe became a very active partner on some of the main European innovation platforms:

• European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials consists in bringing together the public and private efforts at regional, national and EU level in research, development and innovation, RDI. The EIP is organized into different work packages, which will address the technological challenges (exploration, extraction, processing, recycling, substitution, alternative functionalities of primary and secondary raw materials); non-technology challenges in policy areas (improve raw materials regulatory framework, promotion of excellence in resource effi ciency, public procurement private initiatives); as well as international cooperation on best available technologies.

• As directly concerned by the raw material initiatives, life cycle approach, cross sectorial collaboration and the direct impact on member companies, IMA-Europe contribution in the EIP consists in providing support in the High level steering group with a CEO from a member company and a SHERPA from IMA-Europe, as well as technical support in each of the working groups (fi ve experts from IMA member companies into four working groups focussing on technology and non-technology aspects).

• Association Sustainable Process Through Resource & Energy Effi ciency (A-SPIRE) grouping together 50 industrial and research industry stakeholders, it calls for the largest European Private Public Partnership for innovation and resource and energy effi ciency in the processing industries. Apart from being one of the founding members of SPIRE, the contribution of IMA-Europe in the SPIRE multi-sectoral roadmap is to ensure that industry mineral companies, as part of the value chain, commit towards achievable resource and energy effi ciency goals.

• STOICISM (Sustainable Technologies for Calcined Industrial Minerals in Europe), is a European consortium project led by IMERYS. The consortium consist 17 companies, universities, associations and R&D institutes. The aim of this RDI consortium is to develop technologies, design and integration to improve impact on the environment, contribute to the sustainability of European mineral resources and exploiting new high values added mineral products. The RDI technologies and demonstration will be tested for calcining the minerals notably diatomaceous earth (DE), perlite and clay minerals. The processes implemented can also then be directly transferable to many other industrial minerals. Since resource effi ciency is high in the agenda of the European authorities, the STOICISM project will benefi t from a FP7 (Seventh Framework Programme) grant. IMA contribution in the project will mainly consist in tailoring the dissemination message and the exploitation plan to the concerned audiences.

IMA-Europe became a very active partner on some of the main

European innovation platforms

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Environment

Air emissionsThe production of lime and PCC (Precipitated Calcium Carbonate) are just 2 examples of activities that fall within the scope of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED), which replaced the Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC). The IED sets out the conditions for obtaining an operational permit for those activities that fall within its scope. It covers all kinds of emissions, not only those to air.

IMA-Europe takes part in the preparation of reference documents describing the best available techniques (BREFs) in a sector. These documents are the basis for setting “emission limit values” in the operational permits. The IPPC Directive gave more fl exibility to the Member States to do this than the new IED. Despite the fact that the cement, lime and magnesium oxide BREF (CLM BREF) was negotiated under the IPPC regime, the Commission decided in 2012 to adopt “BAT Conclusions” – which would mean in practice that the more stringent provisions of the IED apply. IMA-Europe and EuLA had serious questions about this change of legal basis. We set up a coalition with CEMBUREAU and Euromines, and asked Field Fisher Waterhouse for their opinion on the legality of this approach. Their conclusions were presented at a joint meeting with DG Environment. In May 2012, the BAT Conclusions for the CLM BREF were further discussed at a Technical Working Group meeting in Seville. EuLA got room to present its suggestions for better specifying the scope and applicability of the different conclusions on BAT. All in all, EuLA’s concerns were properly addressed. The “BAT Conclusions” now have to be further adopted in comitology by representatives from the EU Member States so that they can be published (after translation in each of the EU-27 national languages) in 2013.

IMA-Europe’s involvement in the discussions on the CLM BREF benefi ts to all IMA-Europe sections, even if they are not directly covered by the IED. Recently the Commission proposed for example the drafting of a “resource effi ciency BREF” – which scope seems to go beyond the mere merger of 2 existing BREFs (energy effi ciency / heating and cooling). Also, small combustion installations that currently fall out of the scope of the IED (<50 MW) may be further regulated. In that respect, IMA-Europe contacted AMEC, a UK consultant preparing an analysis on this issue for DG Environment.

AMEC, also studied potential provisions to be put in the “baseline report” that an operator is required to prepare according to the IED, where the activity involves the use, production or release of relevant hazardous substances and having regard to the possibility of soil and groundwater contamination at the site of the installation. On the basis of this report, the Commission will develop further guidance. IMA-Europe and EuLA closely watch the developments.

In 2012, all EU Member States signed the international Gothenburg Protocol – committing themselves to reducing together sulphur emissions by at least 59%, NOx emissions by 42%, VOC emissions by 28%, ammonia emissions by 6%, and particulate matter (PM 2.5) emissions by 22%, compared to emission levels in 2005. This commitment will certainly infl uence the revision of the National Emission Ceilings Directive (NEC) – which is expected in 2013. The NEC Directive now sets upper limits for each EU Member State for the total emissions in 2010 of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and ammonia. More initiatives on air can be expected in 2013 – which has been declared the “year of air” (following previous years’ focus on e.g. biodiversity or water).

IMA-Europe takes part in the preparation of reference

documents describing the best available techniques (BREFs)

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Environment

Biodiversity – No Net LossThe EU Biodiversity strategy to 2020 attempts to halt the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services by 2020. According to the EEA study (EU 2010 Biodiversity baseline) the main issues in European biodiversity lie in the fact that only 17 % of habitat and species, and 11% of key ecosystems are protected by EU legislation. In line with the resource effi ciency fl agship, a EU biodiversity strategy for 2020 (COM(2011)244 fi nal) was developed consisting of six pillars:

1. conserve and restore nature; 2. maintain and enhance ecosystems and their

services; 3. ensure sustainability of agriculture, forestry; 4. ensure sustainability for fi sheries; 5. combat invasive alien species; 6. addressing global biodiversity crisis.

One of the six targets outlined in the strategy specifi es that by 2020, ecosystems and their services are maintained and enhanced by establishing green infrastructures and restoring at least 15% of the degraded ecosystems.

As part of the actions to maintain and enhance ecosystems, the Commission is preparing an EU Initiative on No Net Loss (NNL) by 2015. In practice, the NNL consists in balancing the loss of conservation and/or biodiversity in one area by gaining equivalent biodiversity somewhere else within EU. The scope of the working group on the NNL Initiative consists of: collecting views from Member States, stakeholders and experts on the NNL, taking into account all available and/or relevant policies and instruments, as well as agreeing on defi nition, scope, operating principles, management and support instruments in the context of the Strategy common implementation framework.

Some of the major issues this initiative has to tackle are: mitigation hierarchy (rehabilitation has priority over offsetting); link of NNL with NATURA 2000 sites remains unclear; diverse views on holistic NNL or specifi c drivers for NNL.

IMA-Europe contributes to the NNL initiative in close cooperation with colleague associations (CEMBUREAU, CEPMC, EUROGYPSUM and UEPG with Jim Rushton (Lafarge) representing the coalition in the NNL Working Group) and in coordination with Cefi c, EURELECTRIC and EUROMINES.

IMA-Europe contributes to the No Net Loss initiative in close cooperation with

other sectors.

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IMA LCI With the objective to provide stakeholders (e.g. authorities, customers) with European average representative environmental footprint values, IMA-Europe conducted and fi nalized a life cycle inventory (LCI) study, following the ISO 14040-14044 standards, on eight industrial mineral products. The minerals were selected for their high production volumes and the wide range of applications in which they are used. Based on their production processes and the related overall energy consumption, it was possible to group the various products into three families and calculate the respective environmental footprint per family. Family I: Calcium carbonate. Also including: Wet silica sand, Crude blended feldspar and Ball clay. Minerals of family I are extracted, with or without crushing, and without drying.

Family II: Kaolin coarse fi ller. Also including: Dry silica sand. This family corresponds to minerals that are extracted with or without crushing before drying.

Family III: Very fi ne milled silica sand and Dry milled feldspar. Minerals of this family are extracted with crushing, dried and dry milled. Energy consumption per family is 1 MJ, 2 MJ and 2.5-3 MJ per kilogram of dry mineral respectively.

The outcome of the LCI project is publicly available and the information was designed according to the target audience needs;

• Member companies: Due to the technicality and terminology used in the LCI, two LCI information packages were prepared to facilitate internal IMA company trainings and harmonize the communication for external requests for IMA member companies.

• European Authorities: The IMA LCI meets the requirements of the ISO 14040-14044 as well as the entry level in the ILCD (International Life Cycle Datasets). Therefore to increase visibility of the IMA LCI, the inventory is published in the European life cycle database (ELCD) which is managed by the European Commission via the joint research center (JRC) in Ispra.

• LCA practitioners: The results from the IMA LCI will also be presented in a poster session in the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) LCA Symposium (26-28 November 2012, Copenhagen).

Environment

Revision List of Waste

The European Commission initiated during 2012, the review of the hazardous properties (HP) listed in Annex III of Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC) and thresholds in the List of Waste (2000/532/EC). The reason for this revision was to align the above mentioned regulations with the Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 on the classifi cation, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures (CLP Regulation). The assessment study was made by Ökopol Consulting, and concluded that some of the main HP classes will be affected, namely HP4, HP6, HP8 HP13 and HP14. Of main concern to IMA (and more specifi cally EuLA) Members was the proposal to change the threshold that renders a waste hazardous from 10% to 1% for HP4 Irritant.

Based on the currently available proposal, if a substance is classifi ed as Eye dam.1 (H318) and Skin irrit.1 (H315), as it is the case of lime substances, the substance will be considered as Eye dam.1 (H318) only and be multiplied by 10 when the summation is done. From a technical point of view, it implies a threshold of 1% for H318 Eye damage 1. This is of special concern for EuLA, as this means that any waste containing more than 1% of lime would be considered hazardous waste.

• Although the technical discussion was restricted only to the Member State experts, IMA-Europe managed to put forward the concerns from its Members in several occasions, including during the stakeholder consultation which took place during May 2012. In July, the Technical Adaptation Committee (TAC) discussed a proposal for a revised list of waste and revised the comments received from all Member States and concerned stakeholders. So far, the Member States, have not received a document summarising the TAC fi nal proposal. The Commission is preparing a legislative proposal for these amendments, which should be discussed in the next meeting end of November 2012.

• Its adoption is expected in 2013, and its entry into force in June 2015 – to allow stakeholders (competent authorities, companies, etc.) enough time to adapt to the new legislation.

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Product Stewardship

Respirable crystalline silica

2012 has been and still is a crucial year for the future fate of the regulatory status of respirable crystalline silica (RCS) in Europe. During the discussions over the revision of the Carcinogens and Mutagens at work Directive (2004/37/EC), RCS is one of the 24 agents considered for inclusion in the revised Directive by the three-partite Working Party on Chemicals, which is part of the European Commission’s Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work.

Under the lead of IMA-Europe, more than thirty sectors have joined efforts within a revitalised Industry Silica Task Force to defi ne an industry position. As a result, IMA-Europe co-signed with 19 other European Associations representing the non-energy extractive industries and silica user industries an industry position calling for the setting of this European OEL, which could possibly be a binding one, at a level of 0.1 mg/m³, in the Chemical Agents at Work Directive (98/24/EC).Employers indeed consider that the Chemical Agents at Work Directive is a more appropriate legal frame for RCS. It would better address the main RCS health risk which is silicosis, and would not penalise sectors where RCS exposure exists but where the RCS hazard does not arise. The implementation of such an EU-wide OEL should be coupled with the continuous implementation of the European Social Dialogue Agreement (ESDA) on Silica which is recognised as providing the right level of workers’ protection.

IMA-Europe has coordinated the voicing of this Employers’ position at the tripartite meetings of the Chemicals Working Party. The following recommendations were expressed by the Employers, the Unions and the national governments’ representatives in the Chemical Working Party:

• a Binding OEL for RCS at 0.1 mg/m³ seems suitable.

• a review in time of the proposed OEL is deemed appropriate.

• the three groups did not come to a defi nite conclusion regarding the most appropriate legal framework and expressed distinct opinions which will now have to be taken into consideration by the Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work (ACSH).

The three-partite ACSH has a much larger representation than the Chemicals Working Party

IMA Dust Monitoring ProgrammeThe database of respirable dust and quartz exposure started in 2012 has just reached 20 000 samples collected by 35 companies

throughout Europe.

Social Dialogue Extractive Industries (SSDCEI) IMA-Europe co-signed a joint statement on

Health and Safety, see http://www.ima-europe.eu/fileadmin/downloads/news/SSDCEI_HS_

declaration_2012__Final.pdf

IMA-Europe is a partner of the 2012-2013 EU-OSHA Healthy Workplaces Campaign “Working together for risk prevention”, see http://www.

healthy-workplaces.eu/en/about/campaign-part-ners/detail?id=ima-europe-industrial-minerals-

association-europe

Safety statisticsIMA-Europe has just completed its second year collection of lost-time accidents frequency rates

among its member companies, a third year collection is proposed in order to establish a

stable (representative) baseline to enable set-ting improvement targets (KPIs) and to com-

municate on results. It is envisaged to create an IMA-Europe Safety Award to reward companies showing the best improvement performances in

terms of workers safety.

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Product Stewardship

as it gathers national representatives of the 27 Member States. At its next meeting in December 2012, the ACSH will now take its decision regarding this crucial dossier.The recommendation of the ACSH will then be passed on to the European Commission which will either:• prepare the text of the revised Carcinogens

Directive in 2013 which could be subject of the Parliament/Council co-decision procedure in 2014; or

• prepare a revision of the Chemical Agents Directive, including a BLV for RCS.

End of 2012 may represent a turning point in the discussions about imposing an EU-wide OEL for RCS over the national existing ones. However, in any legislative scenario, the European Commission would have to evaluate the economic and social impact of the proposed legislation, and further discussions will necessarily have to take place in 2013 onwards.

Nanomaterials

In the light of the European Commission’s recommendation of October 2011 for a defi nition of nanomaterials, the EU has now engaged in a review of the general legal framework for nanotechnology which should consider all aspects linked to the potential risks, REACH obligations, as well as the precautionary and transparency principles. For the mineral sector, the key questions in this discussion are which products should be legally defi ned as nanomaterials, and what would be the related legal consequences for these products at EU or national level.

In response to the demands of the European Parliament, many EU Member States and various scientifi c bodies, the European Commission recommended in October 2011 a very broad defi nition of “nanomaterial” which could be used as a cross-cutting reference to ensure conformity across various EU legislative areas dealing with nanomaterials. The European Commission defi nes a nanomaterial as a natural, incidental or manufactured material containing particles, in an unbound state or as an aggregate or as an agglomerate, and where, for 50 per cent or more of the particles in the number size distribution, one or more external dimensions is in the size range of 1 to 100 nm. Although the Commission clearly emphasized that the defi nition does not mean that a product defi ned as a nanomaterial possesses hazardous properties per se, the application of this defi nition remains a challenge in many aspects.

A fi rst challenge consists in applying it to industrial minerals. The defi nition encompasses many fi ne powders and dispersions produced in industry or found in naturally occurring mineral deposits. The Joint Research Center (JRC) concluded in September 2012 that, as regards measurement analytical methods, the implementation of the defi nition is currently not possible for aggregated materials. In the absence of harmonised methods, each IMA section has adopted a statement assessing whether its minerals fall under the defi nition or not.

Following the JRC recommendations, the IMA Metrology WG is working on producing a guidance document for the implementation of the defi nition by each specifi c mineral with appropriate sound justifi cations. The Commission will review its defi nition in 2014. IMA-Europe is participating is various fora and will work with the appropriate bodies to better refi ne the defi nition as regards industrial minerals.A second challenge consists in following up on how the defi nition is used by EU or national authorities. Indeed, the European Commission concluded its Second Regulatory Review on Nanomaterials in October 2012 by stating that the current provisions in existing legislation are also valid for nanomaterials and are suffi cient to identify and control their potential risks. The Commission remains convinced that REACH sets the best possible framework for the risk management of nanomaterials although more specifi c requirements for nanomaterials in some of the REACH annexes and guidances might prove necessary. However, in response to the concerns raised on transparency and due information of authorities and consumers, the Commission will create a web platform with references to all relevant information sources, including to existing national or sector registries. Several Member States (i.e. France, Denmark, etc.) have already planned to set up a national database for nanomaterials and IMA is cooperating with its national members to act on these national initiatives and their related obligations. In France, IMA-Europe and Minéraux Industriels France (MIF) successfully collaborated to ensure that the annual declaration of nanomaterials which will become mandatory as of January 2013 would be limited to intentionally manufactured nanomaterials.

In IMA-Europe’s views, the mere fact that a substance is nanoscale is not itself a hazardous property. The EU defi nition should better take into account intentionally manufactured nanomaterials, while focusing any new legal provisions on products presenting actual potential risks of exposure.

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Product Stewardship

Chemical Policy

The submission of 15 Lead REACH dossiers in 2010 was not a one-time action, but part of a process that continues playing an important role at IMA-Europe’s core activities. As Coordinator of 6 Consortia, the IMA Secretariat continuously provides support to new co-registrants, which mostly plan to register their substance by the second registration deadline of 1 June 2013 (between 100 and 1.000 tonnes). In addition, 5 lead dossiers have been successfully updated, a new REACH Consortium for Potassium Borates has been created and 3 additional lead dossiers are under preparation.

IMA-Europe is also assessing the relevance and impact on IMA members of any ECHA’s (European Chemicals Agency) new guidance and Q&A document that is published. In this way, close attention has been paid to the new IUCLID version and its new requirements, as well as its dissemination and confi dentiality implications.

The IMA Secretariat is closely monitoring the REACH Review process and any related actions. Special attention has been put in any discussions related to Annex V.7 exemptions for naturally occurring minerals as well as to any new provisions for registering nanomaterials. While an EC communication was expected in June 2012, the release of this document has been postponed for the moment. In the meantime, IMA-Europe is permanently in contact with other colleague associations through the REACH Alliance and participates in the discussions within CARACAL (Competent Authorities for REACH and CLP) and the Directors’ Contact Group. The industrial minerals sector is also represented in various ECHA Committees and has a good network within the REACH & CLP Helpdesks.

Regarding the CLP Regulation (Classifi cation, Labelling and Packaging Regulation – EC 1272/2008), the Classifi cation and Labelling Inventory was fi rst published on 13 February 2012. This inventory contains more than 5 million notifi cations relating to 120,000 substances. Several updates of the inventory have followed in order to correct mistakes or to include new information. This is the case of the addition of “not classifi ed” notifi cations, which is an answer to the concerns that IMA-Europe, as well as other colleague industries, had expressed to ECHA and the EC in the past.

IMA-Europe has consequently reviewed the information available in the C&L inventory and identifi ed any diverging classifi cations that do not correspond to the agreed classifi cation within its members. A number of communications to the SIEFs have been prepared as an answer to ECHA’s call to industry to engage in a dialogue and agree on a single classifi cation of substances. The dialogue is, however, limited by the fact that the identity of notifi ers is not disclosed and ECHA is currently working on a web-based discussion platform, which is expected to be released during 2013. IMA-Europe will have a leading role in the discussions related to the substances it represents.

The EC is continuously updating the CLP Regulation in the so-called Adaptation to Technical Progress (ATP) to the CLP Regulation, which the IMA Secretariat also monitors. The 4th ATP is currently being discussed, in which the CLP Regulation will be adapted to the 4th version of the Globally Harmonized System of Classifi cation and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). In the same way, at the request of members, IMA-Europe has taken action to also monitor the GHS worldwide.

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Product Stewardship

Seveso III

IMA-Europe has been active over the past year in preventing any unnecessary changes to the scope of the “Seveso III Directive” that might affect minerals. This new EU Directive on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances has been adopted and offi cially published in July 2012. Seveso III will replace the current Seveso II Directive as of June 2015.

Despite the European Commission assessment that the overall existing provisions under Seveso II were fi t for purpose and that no major changes were required, the revision was necessary in order to align the dangerous substances listed in the Annex I of Seveso II with the new EU system of classifi cation of dangerous substances introduced by the Regulation (EC) 1272/2008 on classifi cation, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures (the CLP Regulation).

During the EU legislative process to adopt the revised text, several amendments were proposed to broaden the range of the substances falling under the Seveso III directive and to strengthen the related legal requirements. Since September 2011, IMA-Europe initiated the work and collaborated with our industry partners from the Non-Energy Extractive Industry Panel (NEEIP) to ensure that the fi nal legislative proposal would not unnecessarily extend the scope of the directive. In particular, IMA-Europe successfully defended the position that substances classifi ed for their chronic, therefore long-term, hazards should not be included in a directive aiming at dealing with major and single-time accidents.

As a result, the scope of the now adopted Seveso III remains unchanged as far as IMA-Europe minerals. Article 2 keeps the exemption for the exploitation of minerals in general (exploration, extraction and processing) from falling under the scope of the Seveso III Directive, and none of the operations and storage activities in our sector is involving one of the dangerous substances in Annex I at the mentioned threshold listed.

For the substances falling under Seveso III, the new directive strengthens certain provisions relating to the communication of safety information and to public access to information, decision-making and justice. It also introduces stricter standards for inspections of installations.

As far as minerals under IMA umbrella are concerned, none of them fall under the scope of the adopted Seveso III directive. The Directive will be reviewed again by 2020.

Agriculture

In the agricultural and forestry sector the manifold properties of industrial minerals are praised for their benefi cial effects. For instance, liming materials (calcium carbonate, dolomite, lime) help to sustain plants and as a natural buffer, the minerals stabilize the pH value of the soil. Also, clay makes excellent functional carriers in agricultural products and improves the soil’s physical structure acting as a soil conditioner. Each year, millions tonnes of industrial minerals are marketed for agriculture uses and the market is growing.

In December 2011, a new Working Group (WG) was set up to address the topics related to the uses of minerals in agriculture. This new IMA Agri WG chaired by François Ponchon (Carmeuse) has established its work program that includes notably the active participation to debates and initiatives on improving the legislative and normative framework.

On normative aspects, IMA-Europe has successfully applied for a liaison status with CEN TC/260 (fertilizers and liming materials) and CEN TC/223 (Soil improvers and growing media). This would enable IMA’s experts to foster their contributions on the developments on adequate standards.

Considering legislative aspects, IMA has embarked in the revision of the Regulation (EC) 2003/2003 on fertilisers. End of 2011, the European Commission decided to completely revise the regulation on fertilisers which currently covered only typical fertilisers (i.e. materials providing nutrients to plants). The main objective of this legislative initiative is to extend the scope of the Regulation to liming materials, soil improvers, growing media and biostimulants.

The Commission has planned a one-year consultation of Authorities and stakeholders through several Working Groups in order to prepare the Commission proposal for a new Regulation. The IMA Agri WG has appointed experts in all the 4 WGs established by the Commission. The discussions focus on topics such as defi nitions; specifi cations, agronomic effi cacy, labelling, controls and enforcement.

The Commission’s proposal for a new Regulation on fertilisers, liming materials, soil improvers, growing media and biostimulants is expected by 2014 and will be subject to the ordinary legislative procedue (formerly co-decision procedure).

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Communication

The main focus of the communication activities in 2012 has been on the development of a new website, which now includes a EU policy section, as well as on the organisation of the IMA-Europe 2012 Conference and Recognition Award.

The IMA 2012 Conference is entirely dedicated to resource effi ciency, demonstratng the role of industrial minerals in achieving a green, and low carbon economy. Company case studies illustrate how industrial minerals contribute to resource effi ciency throughout the product life cycle: from the extraction and processing of the raw materials, through their use in products and processes - thereby creation value throughout the product value chain - to the recycling of the applications they are used in.

Resource effi ciency has also been chosen as the theme for the IMA 2012 Recognition Award. An independent Jury brings out its votes, selecting the winning project.

In support of IMA-Europe’s advocacy efforts related to Raw Materials Policy, several communication tools have been created in addition to the new website:

• a sustainability brochure “Industrial minerals - Together for a sustainable future” gives a clear overview on what sustainability and resource effi ciency mean for the industrial minerals sector. It includes case studies of voluntary initiatives that illustrate the sector’s commitment to sustainable development.

• IMA-Europe has also looked into the recycling rates of its industrial minerals, especially with regard to the products which contain them, resulting in illustrative recycling sheets which are published as Annex to the IMA Sustainability brochure.

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IMA-Europe Structure

Facing an increasing number of issues in the regulatory and normative framework, IMA-Europe has adapted its organisation to better address the new challenges ahead.

From 2013 onwards, specifi c policy issues will be discussed within dedicated Working Groups or Experts Lists, reporting directly to the IMA-Europe Technical Board.

Discussions within these Working Groups or Experts Lists will be coordinated, at Secretariat Level, within the newly created “Regulatory Affairs” department, divided into three, thematic pools:

• Industrial Affairs• Environment• Product Stewardship

To fi nd out more visitwww.ima-europe.eu

Industrial Minerals Association Europe aisbl, in short "IMA-Europe"Established under the Belgian law under the enterprise / VAT number BE 0452.946.151

Twin Gardens (6º fl oor), rue des Deux Eglises 26, Box 2, B - 1000 Brussels, BelgiumTel 32 2 210 44 10, Fax: 32 2 210 44 29, E-mail: secretariat@ima-europe.eu, www.ima-europe.eu