Regulatory roundabout: Three developments you need to know

We highlight notable European regulatory developments affecting industrials, from the latest in a long-running subsidies dispute to a warning to Swedish industry from China.

	More than 15 years after the US triggered its first WTO case against the EU for the latter’s state subsidies to Airbus in 2004, the EU has been authorised (13 October) to unleash a tranche of sanctions on imports from the US, in the latest round of the Airbus-Boeing saga. Brussels has identified a wide range of US products that it could hit, including aircraft, fitness machines and blueberries.
	On 14 October, the European Commission adopted a Communication on an EU Renovation Wave, aiming to double the renovation rate of buildings in Europe. This would bring them in line with climate policies and methane emissions reductions targets, which are the second biggest contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide. The development is likely to provide a fillip to construction refitting across the bloc.
	Sweden has been warned its industry will suffer unless the country reverses a ban on Chinese telecommunications companies Huawei and ZTE from a planned 5G spectrum auction. “China expresses strong dissatisfaction with Sweden,” foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a news briefing in Beijing on 21 October, adding that the country should “correct its wrong decision, to avoid bringing a negative impact to China-Sweden economic and trade cooperation and the operations of Swedish enterprises in China”.