EU CSRD: European Parliament approves two-year delay to sector-specific ESRS and ESRS for non-EU companies

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requires the European Commission to adopt, by 30 June 2024, the following European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS): 

• sector-specific ESRS, which will set out the information specific to the sectors in which a company operates; and 
• ESRS to be used by certain non-EU companies with business in the EU meeting certain thresholds. 

In October 2023, the Commission published a proposal for a Decision of the Parliament and the Council to delay the adoption of these two ESRS by two years, i.e. to 30 June 2026 (see our previous blog post). The Commission says that this would allow the companies to focus on the implementation of the first set of (sector agnostic) ESRS, as well as allow more resources to be dedicated to the development of effective and proportionate sector-specific ESRS and limit the reporting requirements to the minimum necessary. 

On 24 January 2024, the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament approved the two-year delay but asked the Commission to publish the eight sector-specific reporting standards as soon as they are ready before the deadline (see press release). The proposal still needs to be approved by the full Parliament in a plenary vote. After that, negotiations with the Council on the final text can then start.

For more information on the CSRD, see our our CSRD demystified materials.

NOTE ADDED ON 29/04/2024:  The legislative act was formally adopted by the European Parliament on 10 April and by the Council on 29 April. It now just needs to be published in the Official Journal of the EU. See our latest blog post for more information - EU CSRD: Commission given power to delay sector-specific ESRS and ESRS for non-EU companies by two years until 2026.