COUNCIL REACH AGREEMENT ON OMNIBUS I PROPOSAL
On 23 June, the Council of the European Union agreed on a negotiating mandate over the Omnibus proposal aimed at simplifying sustainability reporting and due diligence requirements. This proposal seeks to reduce the reporting burden and limit the impact of obligations on smaller companies.
Member States approved the Commission proposal to increase the employee threshold to 1,000 employees and removing listed SMEs from the scope of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Additionally, a net turnover threshold of over €450 million has been introduced to further alleviate the reporting burden on undertakings. The Council’s mandate also introduces a review clause concerning a possible extension of the scope to ensure adequate availability of corporate sustainability information.
With regards to the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D), Member States agreed to adjust its scope to focus on companies with over 5,000 employees and a net turnover exceeding €1.5 billion. The negotiating mandate also proposes to simplify provisions on transition plans for climate change mitigation by aligning them with the CSRD. Companies would be required to outline implementing actions rather than put plans into effect immediately. The obligation to adopt transition plans has been postponed by two years to provide companies with sufficient preparation time. In addition, the Council has maintained the Commission's proposal to remove the EU harmonised liability regime and postponed the transposition deadline for the CS3D by one year to 26 July 2028.
The upcoming Danish Presidency of the Council will now enter negotiations with the European Parliament once its position has been set to reach an agreement on this file.
Source: Council of the EU