This is the third time that I have had the pleasure of addressing all of you as the president of Fundación Ecotic. Once again, I am pleased to be able to express my satisfaction, and that of the entire Board of Trustees of the Foundation that I represent, with the excellent results achieved in the 2021 financial year. Ecotic continues to reaffirm its leading position among waste from electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) management systems at an international level, and looks forward to a future full of challenges and opportunities based on its tried and tested model of reliability.

We are witnessing a key moment for the future of the decarbonisation of the economy and the sustainability of the production model. Over the last few months we have seen the beginning of a new era, in which access to critical raw materials and energy sources is  merging as one of the greatest challenges that we will have to face if we want our European economies to maintain their level of competitiveness.

Europe is leading the way in addressing the pressing climate crisis that affects the entire planet,and significant progress is being made in this area. The European Union has established a series of critical rawmaterials that it considers essential for the ecological
transition and achieving the objectives of energy, digitisation and mobility across the continent.

However, it warns of critical risks, including access to palladium, which is essential for manufacturing semiconductors and which mainly
comes from Russia, and the fact that 80% of rare earths come from China. All these critical raw materials are widely used in the electronics industry, and our current production model depends on their availability.

The European regulatory framework is also taking ambitious measures to ensure protection of the environment and the continuation of the productive system. These include regulations aimed at environmental sustainability covering practically all consumer goods in Europe, and developments related to fostering repairability and reuse of products.

Nevertheless, in parallel to this regulatory development, the electronics industry and the recovery and recycling sector must be able to accept a significant share of responsibility and commitment. The industry must commit to ecodesign in the broad sense of the word, promoting innovations aimed at replacing critical materials in manufacturing processes, facilitating the recovery and recycling of products at the end of their useful life cycle, and developing new business models structured around end-to-end circular production chains.

Meanwhile, the recycling sector must continue making progress with technological developments that provide more and better responses to the needs of technological evolution, improve traceability systems and create new ways of channelling waste so that it
remains within the economy for as long as possible. The development of urban mining will play a crucial role in moving towards a more efficient circular economy model in the use of available resources.

I am convinced that exciting times await us, despite the difficulties. And I am fully confident that in this new era that begins with the launch of ECOTIC Entidad Administradora S.L., Andreu Vilà and his team will be in a position to continue growing thanks to their
professionalism and their capacity for innovation to address challenges. This model, which has proven to be robust, will continue to be a source of added value and guarantee protection for the environment and boost the necessary transition towards the circular economy.