The TU Bergakademie Freiberg has established a professorship for raw materials law that is unique in Germany and focusses on legal issues relating to the security and supply of raw materials. From 1 January, this unique focus will also be reflected in the new name "Professorship of Public Law, in particular Raw Materials Law, Environmental and Commercial Law". Professor Robert Frau, who has been teaching and researching at TU Bergakademie Freiberg since 2023 (previously at the Professorship for Public Law, in particular Energy and Environmental Law), will remain the holder of the professorship.
What impact will the European Union's Critical Raw Materials Act have on the raw materials strategies of the federal and state governments and companies in Germany? How can EU quotas for raw materials recycling be enforced in national law? Does the interest in secure access to raw materials take precedence over other interests? How does the EU react when China or the USA use raw materials as geopolitical instruments?
Professor Robert Frau deals with questions like these. "Public raw materials law is developing rapidly. The EU, Germany and other countries are trying to obtain urgently needed raw materials that are central to the green and digital transformation. In doing so, economic, social and political priorities must be balanced and go hand in hand with environmental protection. Raw materials law provides the framework for this," explains the Freiberg legal scholar.
Framework conditions for access, utilisation and protection of resources
It is precisely because securing the supply of raw materials is becoming increasingly important at international, European and national level that it is important to interpret the associated legal issues in research. "In a world where raw materials are often at the centre of geopolitical tensions, it is crucial to understand the legal frameworks that govern the access, use and protection of these resources," says Frau.
Currently, the professorship's team is investigating the EU's "RESourceEU" plan, for example, or the EU's new regulatory framework with Chile, where there are large copper and lithium deposits in which European companies are interested.
New teaching programmes / conference in Freiberg
The research focus is directly reflected in two new teaching programmes for students at TU Bergakademie Freiberg: the German-language lecture "Raw Materials Law" and the English-language lecture "International Law of Resources Environment and Trade". In 2026, the professorship is organising the second "Freiberg Forum on Raw Materials Law", a conference on space mining.
"The results of the research should provide European and German policymakers with clear legal guidelines. Companies can also use the analyses to obtain legal certainty for raw materials projects within and outside the EU. And last but not least, basic legal research can be used for interdisciplinary projects," says Frau.
