Review of the first scientific meeting of the JPEC project on mining law evolution

Development of subsurface activities currently fits into a French and European "mining revival" strategy, given issues of securing and supplying resources in critical materials in the context of energy transition.

At the European level, the recent "Critical Raw Materials Act" proposed by the European Commission notably aims to establish a framework guaranteeing safe and sustainable supply of critical raw materials. In France, mining law underwent major reform starting in 2021 within the framework of adoption of the "Climate and resilience law", then concluded with adoption of four ordinances in 2022 completing the legal framework. While this reform allowed modernization of French mining law, and notably better consideration of environmental issues and public participation, legal questions relating to subsurface uses are numerous.

Analyzing mining law evolution as an energy transition tool

The JPEC project "Justice Pathways for Extractive and Critical Minerals", coordinated by Louis de Fontenelle (University of Pau and Pays de l'Adour) and Florian Leprovost (BRGM), will analyze mining law evolution for 5 years, starting from the principle that the role of law is also to guarantee the concept of justice and a certain social order. It will also study, in connection with projects ANTICIP (PC 1) and VERTIQUAL (PC 7) of the Subsurface, Common Good PEPR, what thinking of the subsurface as a common good implies.