Today, the EU General Affairs Council definitively ratified the Omnibus Package I, the directive on corporate sustainability reporting and due diligence requirements.
The agreement, already agreed with the European Parliament, obtained the consent of the Ministers despite the opposition of the Czech Republic and the abstention of Belgium, Bulgaria and Austria.
Specifically, the Omnibus I Directive:
- amends the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), raising the applicability thresholds to companies with more than 1,000 employees and an annual net turnover of more than 450 million euros. As regards non-EU companies, the requirements will only apply to companies with a net turnover exceeding €450 million for the EU parent company and exceeding €200 million for subsidiaries.
- amends the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), restricting the scope to companies with over 5,000 employees and net turnover exceeding 1.5 billion euros. Companies are required to assess adverse impacts by prioritizing direct partners and high-risk areas, using "reasonably available" information.
Further simplifications and next steps
Within the Directive, the obligation for companies to draw up and implement Climate Transition Plans (CTP) - necessary to align their emissions with European climate objectives and those of the Paris Agreement - is also eliminated and the harmonized EU liability regime with national sanctions of up to 3% of net global turnover is removed.
The Omnibus Directive postpones the deadline for Member States to transpose the CSDDD into national law by another year, bringing it to 26 July 2028. Companies will therefore have to adapt to the new measures by July 2029.
As for the next steps, the directive will have to be published in the Official Journal of the EU and will come into force on the twentieth day following its publication. Member States will have one year from the entry into force of the directive to transpose its provisions into national law.
According to projections released by the European Commission, the new provisions will exempt 85% of companies which, based on the previous criteria, would have fallen within the scope of application of the directives.