On 4 March 2026, the European Commission published its proposed Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), a draft regulation intended to strengthen industrial capacity in strategic sectors, accelerate decarbonisation, and reduce critical dependencies across the EU. The proposal also includes demand-side measures and permitting reforms intended to support industrial deployment in the EU. The proposal is likely to be relevant to a broad range of businesses operating in the EU and reflects the EU’s continued focus on strengthening industrial capacity, resilience and decarbonization through demand-side measures, investment conditions and permitting reform. It remains a proposal and would need to be adopted before taking effect.
The proposal should also be viewed against the backdrop of existing EU review tools. The draft refers to Member States designating an investment authority with due regard to authorities already responsible for implementing the EU Foreign Direct Investment Screening Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2019/452) and makes clear that assessments under the new framework would be without prejudice to EU competition law instruments, including the Foreign Subsidies Regulation and the EU Merger Regulation.