European Parliament approves the “Stop-the-Clock” part of the Omnibus proposal

Today, 3 April 2025, after intense negotiations, the European Parliament voted in favour of the Omnibus “Stop-the-Clock” Directive without any changes, supporting the Commission’s initial proposal to amend certain dates of application of the CSRD and CSDDD - see the Parliament press release here. The vote today was held under the urgent procedure approved by the Parliament on 1 April 2025.

The “Stop-the-Clock” Directive forms part of the Omnibus I proposal adopted by the Commission on 26 February 2025 to simplify EU sustainability legislation. It envisages the postponement of:

• the entry into application of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requirements for large companies that have not yet started reporting, as well as listed SMEs by two years; and 
• the transposition deadline and the first phase of the application (covering the largest companies) of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) by one year.

The Council agreed its negotiating position on the “Stop the Clock” Directive on 26 March 2025, without making any changes to the Commission's proposal - see our blog post. 

The Council is likely to formally adopt the “Stop-the-Clock” Directive soon – possibly during the next Council meeting on 7 April 2025, though this is to be confirmed.

The adopted text of the “Stop-the-Clock” Directive will then be published in the Official Journal of the EU and will enter into force on that day. Member States must transpose the “Stop-the-Clock” Directive into national law by 31 December 2025.

The Commission’s Omnibus I package also includes a separate proposal (the “Requirements” proposal) making more substantial changes to the reporting and due diligence requirements in the CSRD and CSDDD. It does not look like the Requirements proposal will be fast-tracked so that proposal will need to go through the normal “ordinary legislative procedure” which normally takes around 18 months from the initial publication.  

Update 8/04/2025: On 4 April 2025, the final consolidated text of the “Stop-the-Clock” Directive was published in the Council Register – see here. 

For further details of the first Omnibus package, see:

• EU: Commission publishes first Omnibus package with changes to CSRD and CSDDD
• Webinar recording on proposed changes to CSRD and CSDDD 
• Webinar recording: what the EU's first Omnibus package means for financial services firms