European Council agrees on position on simplifying sustainability reporting

On 23 June 2025, the European Council agreed on its position on the proposal by the European Commission for an amending directive to simplify sustainability reporting in accordance with the CSRD and due diligence obligations in accordance with the CSDDD. The initial content of the European Councils’ position can be found in a press release and concerns the following points in particular:

• CSRD: reporting obligation for undertakings exceeding an average of 1,000 employees and €450 million in net turnover
• CSDDD: reporting obligation for undertakings exceeding an average of 5,000 employees and €1.5 billion in net turnover and postponement of the transposition deadline

The detailed position is expected to be published shortly. The next step is for the European Parliament to agree on a position so that both institutions can adopt the final text in the subsequent negotiations. The new regulations will then be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and must be transposed into national law by the Member States.

Background:

On 26 February 2025, the European Commission issued the first package of proposals to reduce red tape for undertakings. These proposals focus on the so-called ‘Omnibus 1’ to amend the Accounting Directive (Directive 2013/34/EU), the CSRD (Directive (EU) 2022/2464) and the CSDDD (Directive (EU) 2024/1760) as well as the Audit Directive (Directive 2006/43/EC). Formally separate from this, a proposal to postpone the date of application of the CSRD and the CSDDD (‘stop-the-clock’ directive) was submitted, which has now been issued as Directive (EU) 2025/794 in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Detailed information on the content of the Omnibus 1 proposal can be found in the DRSC briefing paper and the set of slides for a public information event held on 14 March 2025 (both in German only).