118
Yet, not content with attempting to restrict extraction of rare earths to the country’s
own needs, China is seeking, for other materials such as nickel, to limit extraction
below its own needs. It prefers to preserve these materials as future currency both
for trading, economic and financial purposes, even if it means buying the lacking
quantities on the international market, which will naturally have an impact on prices.
By the Constitutionalisation of Mining Law in Certain States
This is a major change which affects mining law in many countries around the
world and of which Europe perhaps does not always realise the importance.Unlike European States in which mining law is governed by “ordinary” laws, major
producer countries have constitutionalised this law. This is the case for instance in
Brazil, Columbia, Cuba, Indonesia and the Dominican Republic.
In Bolivia, it is striking to see that it is the new Constitution which determines
the content of mining law (investments, prospecting and exploration, exploitation,
concentration, industrialisation and trade), while the “ordinary” mining law, similarly to what in France we might call an implementing decree, should only define
the scope of this law
9
. The strategic importance of the mineral resource is laid down
by the Bolivian Constitution itself
10
.
This provides a significant indication of the importance that these States grant
their mineral resources and goes hand-in-hand with the visible “ascension” of mining law in the hierarchy of standards.
First Steps Towards an International Legal Order
on Raw Materials
Awareness of these threats is relatively recent and reactions have been gradual.
European Awareness
This awareness can be attributed to the European Commission and its 2008 Raw
Materials Initiative
11
following which an expert report was published in 2010 listing fourteen critical mineral ores and metals among the forty-one studied. In its
communication of 2 February 2011 entitled “Tackling the challenges in commodity
markets and on raw materials”
12
, the European Commission emphasised the issue of
price volatility as well as the correlation between commodity markets and financial
markets.
9
Article 369, paragraph I and 370, paragraph IV of the Constitution.
10
Article 348, paragraph 2.
11
COM (2008) 699.
12
COM (2011) 25.
A. Valéry
Yet, not content with attempting to restrict extraction of rare earths to the country’s
own needs, China is seeking, for other materials such as nickel, to limit extraction
below its own needs. It prefers to preserve these materials as future currency both
for trading, economic and financial purposes, even if it means buying the lacking
quantities on the international market, which will naturally have an impact on prices.
By the Constitutionalisation of Mining Law in Certain States
This is a major change which affects mining law in many countries around the
world and of which Europe perhaps does not always realise the importance.Unlike European States in which mining law is governed by “ordinary” laws, major
producer countries have constitutionalised this law. This is the case for instance in
Brazil, Columbia, Cuba, Indonesia and the Dominican Republic.
In Bolivia, it is striking to see that it is the new Constitution which determines
the content of mining law (investments, prospecting and exploration, exploitation,
concentration, industrialisation and trade), while the “ordinary” mining law, similarly to what in France we might call an implementing decree, should only define
the scope of this law
9
. The strategic importance of the mineral resource is laid down
by the Bolivian Constitution itself
10
.
This provides a significant indication of the importance that these States grant
their mineral resources and goes hand-in-hand with the visible “ascension” of mining law in the hierarchy of standards.
First Steps Towards an International Legal Order
on Raw Materials
Awareness of these threats is relatively recent and reactions have been gradual.
European Awareness
This awareness can be attributed to the European Commission and its 2008 Raw
Materials Initiative
11
following which an expert report was published in 2010 listing fourteen critical mineral ores and metals among the forty-one studied. In its
communication of 2 February 2011 entitled “Tackling the challenges in commodity
markets and on raw materials”
12
, the European Commission emphasised the issue of
price volatility as well as the correlation between commodity markets and financial
markets.
9
Article 369, paragraph I and 370, paragraph IV of the Constitution.
10
Article 348, paragraph 2.
11
COM (2008) 699.
12
COM (2011) 25.
A. Valéry