At the EU level, the CSRD is a done deal. The legal framework and first set of ESRS were approved by the European Council and Parliament last year and have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union. However, the CSRD has not been transposed into national law in most EU jurisdictions. In Sweden’s transposition process, the government proposed legislation that would delay CSRD reporting for Swedish companies by one year. Responsible Investor reports:
“The draft proposal – which was sent to the Swedish Council on Legislation last week – suggests that the reporting rules will be applied to listed companies with more than 500 employees for the fiscal year beginning after June 2024. Effectively, this means the first Swedish companies covered by the CSRD would start reporting against the rules from FY 2025. This is not in line with the EU directive, which requires the first batch of companies in scope of the CSRD to report on FY 2024 data.”
This doesn’t mean companies would see a delay in the CSRD for the entire Union – the delay would only apply to Swedish companies. However, with many countries still in the process of transposing the CSRD into national law, Sweden’s proposal raises the question of whether other countries may follow suit. Right now, Sweden’s delay is only a proposal and must be approved by the Swedish Parliament. Whether the proposal will be adopted, and whether other countries will attempt similar delays, remains to be seen.
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