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International Zinc Association

IZA

IZA is an association representing leading mining companies, zinc smelters and semi-fabricators.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Circular Economy Act

6 Nov 2025

The International Zinc Association represents the zinc value chain including zinc mining, production, manufacturing, downstream use and recycling. Globally more than 4 million tonnes of zinc are estimated to be recycled each year. Zinc and the zinc industry are key enablers of the circular economy in Europeboth at the product level and in recycling. For example, zinc protects steel from corrosion through galvanization, extending its lifetime by a factor of two to three. This durability saves resources and energy, directly supporting the top priority of the circular economy. Despite this crucial role, current regulatory developments risk disadvantaging base metals like zinc, which unlike in some regions are not classified as critical or strategic in the EU, even though they are essential for resource efficiency and sustainability. The zinc industry not only recycles zinc from its many applications but also recovers valuable and critical metals like copper, germanium, gallium, indium, tin, and precious metals present in zinc ores, by-products, and industrial wastes. This recovery is vital for reducing hazardous landfill volumes and securing precious, critical, and strategic metals for Europe. Zinc producers and recyclers form an integral part of Europes industrial symbiosis networks, which enable multi-metal recovery through interconnected processes. European regulations must reflect the trade-offs inherent to recycling. Beyond carbon footprint, policies should consider other metrics including raw material security, industrial waste reduction, and the broader environmental and social impacts. A narrow focus on CO2 emissions only risks undermining broader sustainability goals and slowing the transition to a truly circular, low-carbon economy. Please find attached a document which provides more details of the zinc industry position and suggested solutions for consideration in this call for evidence.
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Meeting with Peter Liese (Member of the European Parliament) and BASF SE and

4 Dec 2024 · Austausch

Response to European Critical Raw Materials Act

30 Jun 2023

Please see attached International Zinc Association position and recommendations.
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Meeting with Dan-Ştefan Motreanu (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur) and EUROMETAUX and International Copper Association Europe

21 Mar 2023 · Water framework Directive andEnvironmental Quality Standards Directive and Groundwater Directive

Meeting with Milan Brglez (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and EUROMETAUX and European Precious Metals Federation

20 Mar 2023 · Water legislation

Meeting with Piet van Nuffel (Cabinet of Commissioner Marianne Thyssen) and Umicore and SAFT SAS

6 Nov 2018 · Carcinogens batch 3

Response to Carcinogens 3rd wave of amendments

30 May 2018

Position of the International Cadmium Association on an Occupational Exposure Limit value (OEL) for cadmium and carcinogenic compounds The cadmium industry is fully committed to ensuring the safest workplace for its workers. This is demonstrated by the extensive implementation throughout EU industrial sites of the Industry Guidance developed by the International Cadmium Association (ICdA). The Industry Guidance incorporates the health-based limit values developed by SCOEL in its 2010 Recommendation. Yearly reporting of exposure data by all plants to ICdA confirms the effectiveness of this recommendation. Industry calls to the attention of Commission, European Parliament and Council that the proposal adopted by the Commission is less effective in controlling the risk to workers under the Industry Guidance. The proposed strategy is based on an incomplete analysis. Indeed, both the Commission proposal and Impact Assessment focus exclusively on exposure through air inhalation and ignore exposure through ingestion. The Commission proposal therefore relies on an excessively low OEL with questionable efficiency. In plants where workplace air is properly controlled, ingestion (through repeated hand to mouth contacts) is a significant source of exposure. Biomonitoring of Cd in urine shows all uptake of cadmium, historic and recent, through both inhalation and ingestion. The SCOEL 2010 approach controls both inhalation and ingestion. It requires compliance with an OEL of 4 µg/m3 (respirable faction) which monitors inhalation only, in combination with a biomonitoring limit value of 2 µg/g creatine in urine which monitors both exposure routes. Moreover, air monitoring, which is performed on a limited number of workers, allows for the management of the exposure risk in a statistical way only. With biomonitoring, plant occupational doctors assess total exposure from both routes for each worker individually, and make personalized recommendations. The Binding OEL of 1µg/m3 (inhalable), as well as the transitional OEL of 4 µg/m3 (inhalable), proposed by the Commission would mandate the use of personal respiratory equipment during full shifts, with serious consequences on the working conditions of personnel and the ensuing turnover. In the longer term, this will promote the transfer of industrial activities of several EU plants to America or Asia where regulations provide for an efficient combination of air limit values and biomonitoring. Therefore, industry urges the Commission, Parliament and Council to recognize the importance of biomonitoring to protect the health of each worker individually by allowing facilities where biomonitoring is conducted by the occupational doctor to implement the Binding OEL of 4µg/m3 (respirable fraction), set by SCOEL in 2010 and confirmed by SCOEL in 2017. The International Cadmium Association represents companies involved in the production, refining, transformation, use and recycling of cadmium and its compounds as well as primary and secondary non-ferrous smelters which are exposed to cadmium present as an impurity in their flow. Cadmium uses in the EU are limited to a few, non-substitutable, high performance applications. This comment is supported by: Acsiel CMG Amphenol-Socapex ArtsEnergy Bochemie EnerSys Flaurea Chemicals Glencore HCM Hoppecke ITT-Canon JamesMBrown KCM Lamifil Metallo New Boliden Nimetal Nyrstar PPM Pure Metals Portovesme SAFT Souriau-Sunbank SNAM Umicore ZM Silesia 5N Plus
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