CSRD Implementation Deadline
08 Jul 2024
Important days for the European sustainability legal landscape. While the CSDDD was published on 5 July 2024, the deadline for implementation of the CSRD for the Member States was 6 July 2024. As is often the case, the Belgian legislator was not in time implementing the CSRD into its legislation. This directive mandates comprehensive sustainability reporting requirements for a wide array of companies, aiming to enhance transparency and accountability within corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices.
The CSRD represents a significant evolution in corporate reporting standards within the European Union. It requires large companies and listed entities to disclose detailed information on their sustainability measures, ensuring stakeholders have access to comprehensive, comparable, and reliable ESG data. The directive emphasises the importance of integrating sustainability into business strategies and decision-making processes, thus fostering a more sustainable and resilient economic environment.
National governments have a degree of flexibility to implement the CSRD to align with their existing legislation and compliance frameworks with respect to financial and non-financial reporting requirements. Member states have discretion of the following areas:
Extending the scope of entities, by thresholds or legal entity type, required to report under the CSRD;
Mandating which parties can provide assurance over the sustainability information;
Aligning requirements for submission of the sustainability information with local statutory filing requirements;
Subsidiary exemption criteria and mandating specific disclosure and filing requirements within the consolidated sustainability report of the parent company where a subsidiary is taking a reporting exemption;
Extending the requirements set out in the ESRS standards; and
Imposing sanctions for non-compliance.
Businesses operating across the EU will need to navigate different implementing requirements on a country by country basis which could result in additional compliance requirements, stakeholder consultations e.g. employee and directors’ duties for EU and EEA subsidiaries to comply with.
The Belgian National Bank has recently published a list of companies that fall within the scope of the CSRD. This list serves as an essential resource for businesses to ascertain their reporting obligations under the new directive. Companies identified on this list must act promptly to ensure they meet the stringent reporting standards mandated by the CSRD.
Our legal experts are closely monitoring these developments and are prepared to assist clients in navigating the complexities of compliance. We urge all affected entities to review their sustainability reporting frameworks and seek expert guidance to ensure full compliance by the impending deadline.
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would like our assistance.
For a more in depth analysis of the obligations of the CSRD, please find our previous newsflashes here.
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