Directive (EU) 2024/1306

What it is

to amend Directive 2013/34/EU as regards the time limits for the adoption of sustainability reporting standards for certain sectors and for certain third-country undertakings. PROPOSED ACT: Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council. ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council. BACKGROUND: reporting requirements play a key role in ensuring proper monitoring and correct enforcement of legislation. Reporting requirements can however also impose disproportionate burdens on stakeholders, particularly affecting SMEs and micro-companies, also given organisational and technological developments that call for original reporting requirements to be adjusted. Their cumulation over time can result in redundant, duplicating or obsolete obligations, inefficient frequency and timing, or inadequate methods of collection. The Committee on Legal Affairs adopted the report by Axel VOSS (EPP, DE) on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on amending Directive 2013/34/EU as regards the time limits for the adoption of sustainability reporting standards for certain sectors and for certain third-country undertakings. The committee responsible recommended that the European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the proposal as follows: Members proposed to change the title of the proposal to a Directive instead of a Decision. It is noted that EU companies have recently been facing many challenges and heavy bureaucratic burden in times of the COVID pandemic as well as the war in Ukraine and its impact on energy prices etc. The Commission has committed to simplify reporting requirements for companies. It proposed to postpone the adoption of the second set of standards under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) by two years to give companies more time to digest the first set of standards and to focus on their proper implementation. This would mean these standards are adopted in June 2026 instead of June 2024, as currently foreseen. The report stipulated, however, that this change does not prevent the Commission from publishing the sector specific sustainability reporting standards before that date and the Commission should endeavour to adopt eight of the sector-specific sustainability reporting standards as soon as each is ready. The European Parliament adopted by 562 votes to 44, with 15 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on amending Directive 2013/34/EU as regards the time limits for the adoption of sustainability reporting standards for certain sectors and for certain third-country undertakings. The European Parliament adopted its position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure. In order to reduce the burden of the reporting requirements on companies, it is proposed to postpone by two years (until 30 June 2026) the deadline for the adoption of the delegated acts containing the sustainability reporting standards…

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