CEN/TC 472 - Rare Earth

This document gives guidance on the labelling and information folder of potentially permanent magnet containing products in the context of information exchange between supply chain actors to improve recyclability of permanent magnets.
This document can be used by any natural or legal person that will place into the EU market products containing permanent magnets. The document is horizontal by nature and can potentially be applied to any type of permanent magnet containing product. Explicitly in scope are the product- and component groups mentioned in the introduction, as soon the total mass of permanent magnets is above the reporting level threshold specified 4.1 of this document.
The document specifies:
1.   the graphical format, application, and location of the labels, so they are easily located, legible, and scannable in the end-of-life state of the products in a way that is suitable for products of different sizes and complexity;
2.   the specifications of the data carrier, both in its physical format as it is placed on the product, the accessibility, security, and verifiability of information;
3.   the access rights of relevant stakeholders to information;
4.   the information to be supplied regarding the location and composition of the permanent magnets;
5.   the information to be supplied regarding adjacent materials like coatings and fixation features, including adhesives;
6.   how to create step-by-step instructions for accessing and safely removing the permanent magnets, specifying the tools and technologies required, providing the recyclers a practically useful, unequivocal guide on how the disassembly of the magnets can be done most efficiently, and
7.   the format of the data to be supplied as per the previous points 4. – 6.
Labelling is be employed for products which encompass at least one component mentioned above or a singular magnet, including segmented magnets, which holds a total mass of magnetic material equal to or exceeding 60 g for products with a total mass equal to or above 400 kg or 25 g for products with a total mass below 400 kg. Other magnet-holding components within a product that fall below that threshold are exempt from declaration and labelling. The purpose of these thresholds is to establish a sensible balance between the efforts required by both the responsible entities for labelling, as well as the efforts by the dismantlers and recyclers, and the output of recycled material. By excluding potential scrap sources where the yield would not warrant the effort, the work can be simplified for both sides.

This document describes procedures for the determination of non-rare earth impurities in individual rare earth metals and their oxides through the use of inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). Magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al), silicon (Si), calcium (Ca) and iron (Fe) are included as non-rare earth impurity elements, and the measurement ranges for each impurity element are specified. The applicable measurement range (mass fraction %) of magnesium, aluminum, silicon and calcium is from 0,001 to 0,2, and that of iron is from 0,001 to 0,5. The verified measurement ranges in the interlaboratory tests are described later in this document.