News 2026

On 4 March, the European Commission published its legislative proposal for an Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA), following several postponements. The file now enters the ordinary legislative procedure involving the European Parliament and Member States in the Council.

The initiative was first announced in the Competitiveness Compass and Clean Industrial Deal communications early last year. The aim of this act is to strengthen the EU’s industrial leadership in strategic sectors and to accelerate investments in industrial decarbonisation through “low-carbon” and “Made in EU” provisions in public schemes and procurement to be applied to procedures launched from 2029 onwards. This seeks to increase the share of the manufacturing industry in EU GDP from 14.3 to 20 percent by 2035.

Regarding “low-carbon” provisions in public procurement for certain energy-intensive materials, the European Commission proposes minimum quotas:

• For Steel: 25 Percent
• For Concrete: 5 Percent
• For Aluminium: 25 Percent

In light of significant geopolitical shifts, the European Commission also proposes a “Made in EU” provision in public procurement. Beyond product requirements, the proposal also foresees the exclusion of third-country owned or controlled economic operators from public tenders.

It has been announced to elaborate on the details of “Content equivalent to Union origin” through reciprocity assessments with the aim of strengthening the EU manufacturing industry while striking a balance between access for third-country products/entities to the EU Single Market and access for European products/entities to those third-country markets.

FIEC supports the initiative and welcomes the clear reference to existing product-specific legislation, such as the Construction Products Regulation (CPR), as well as clarifications aimed at strengthening “low-carbon” labels without adjusting them to recycled content.

Access the Press Release of the European Commission here.