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On 9 December, the Council and the Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the Omnibus I proposal, to simplify sustainability reporting and due diligence requirements. The deal focuses on reducing the administrative burden on businesses, particularly smaller companies, by revising the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).

Key changes include raising the employee threshold for CSRD to 1,000 employees and the net turnover threshold over €450 million, while also exempting financial holding companies and providing transition exemptions for certain firms. The agreement also adjusts the scope of the CSDDD, increasing thresholds to 5,000 employees and a net turnover of €1.5 billion. Companies will now have more flexibility in assessing adverse impacts, focusing on areas where risks are most likely to occur, and will no longer be required to conduct comprehensive mapping exercises.

Both institutions agreed to remove the obligation for companies to adopt a climate transition plan. In addition, the agreement eliminates the EU harmonised liability regime and sets a maximum penalty cap of 3% of a company’s net worldwide turnover. The transposition deadline for the CSDDD has been postponed to 26 July 2028, with compliance required by July 2029, giving businesses more time to adapt.

This agreement needs to be formally approved by the Council and the European Parliament, before its publication in the Official Journal. CLECAT welcomes the trilogue agreement to simplify sustainability reporting and due diligence rules, as it reduces unnecessary administrative burdens while maintaining core environmental and social protections. This is particularly important for small and medium-sized freight forwarders, ensuring that CSRD related requirements, such as reporting GHG emissions from transport operations, remain proportionate.

Source: European Parliament, Council of the EU