The EU Commission today presented its proposals on how to reduce red tape and simplify the business environment for companies, which had been eagerly awaited and the subject of much debate.
The first omnibus package contains the following steps:
- Make sustainability reporting more accessible and efficient (relates to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive – CSRD, more on it below)
- Simplify due diligence to support responsible business practices (betrifft die Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive – CSDDD bzw. CS3D, more on it below)
- Strengthen the carbon border adjustment mechanism for a fairer trade
- Unlock opportunities in European investment programmes
For details see: Commission proposes to cut red tape and simplify business environment - European Commission
The individual steps are described more precisely on the linked pages. Regarding the first two steps, the EU Commission emphasises the following:
„Making sustainability reporting more accessible and efficient
Specifically, the main changes in the area of sustainability reporting (CSRD and EU Taxonomy) will:
- Remove around 80% of companies from the scope of CSRD, focusing the sustainability reporting obligations on the largest companies which are more likely to have the biggest impacts on people and the environment;
- Ensure that sustainability reporting requirements on large companies do not burden smaller companies in their value chains;
- Postpone by two years (until 2028) the reporting requirements for companies currently in the scope of CSRD and which are required to report as of 2026 or 2027.
- Reduce the burden of the EU Taxonomy reporting obligations and limit it to the largest companies (corresponding to the scope of the CSDDD), while keeping the possibility to report voluntarily for the other large companies within the future scope of the CSRD. This is expected to deliver significant cost savings for smaller companies, while allowing businesses that wish to access sustainable finance to continue that reporting.
- Introduce the option of reporting on activities that are partially aligned with the EU Taxonomy, fostering a gradual environmental transition of activities over time, in line with the aim to scale up transition finance to help companies on their path towards sustainability.
- Introduce a financial materiality threshold for Taxonomy reporting and reduce the reporting templates by around 70%.
- Introduce simplifications to the most complex “Do no Significant harm” (DNSH) criteria for pollution prevention and control related to the use and presence of chemicals that apply horizontally to all economic sectors under the EU Taxonomy – as a first step in revising and simplifying all such DNSH criteria.
- Adjust, among others, the main Taxonomy-based key performance indicator for banks, the Green Asset Ratio (GAR). Banks will be able to exclude from the denominator of the GAR exposures that relate to undertakings which are outside the future scope of the CSRD (i.e. companies with less than 1000 employees and €50m turnover).
Simplifying due diligence to support responsible business practices
The main changes in the area of sustainability due diligence will:
- Simplify sustainability due diligence requirements so that companies in scope avoid unnecessary complexities and costs, e.g. by focusing systematic due diligence requirements on direct business partners; and by reducing the frequency of periodic assessments and monitoring of their partners from annual to 5 years, with ad hoc assessments where necessary.
- Reduce burdens and trickle-down effects for SMEs and and small mid-caps by limiting the amount of information that may be requested as part of the value chain mapping by large companies;
- Further increase the harmonisation of due diligence requirements to ensure a level playing field across the EU;
- Remove the EU civil liability conditions while preserving victims' right to full compensation for damage caused by non-compliance, and protecting companies against over-compensation, under the civil liability regimes of Member States; and
- Give companies more time to prepare to comply with the new requirements by postponing the application of the sustainability due diligence requirements for the largest companies by one year (to 26 July 2028), while advancing the adoption of the guidelines by one year (to July 2026).“
For details see: Commission simplifies rules on sustainability and EU investments
The proposals that have just been published will now have to be analysed more closely.
Please note: These are proposals for legislation by the EU Commission. The Commission has announced that it will submit these proposals to the European Parliament and the Council for examination and decision-making. So it remains to be seen when and with what specific content the EU Commission's proposals will ultimately be adopted.
Dr Daniel Walden
Dr André Depping
