The European Union Affairs Committee: reporting of sustainability information should be voluntary

According to Chairman of the European Union Affairs Committee Peeter Tali, the European Union wants to significantly reduce the administrative burden of companies and has therefore presented in an accelerated procedure a proposal to postpone the sustainability reporting obligation by two years for companies that have not yet submitted their reports, and to make a number of simplifications during these two years to reduce the administrative burden.

“The European Commission really wants to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy, and that’s the reason for this turbo procedure to suspend sustainability reporting. Estonia’s long term plan is to make sustainability reporting voluntary for all companies,” Tali said. He expressed hope that Estonia would find allies in Europe who support this proposal. “If the obligation is retained despite our efforts, we would prefer to introduce reporting every five years, or as a minimum every three years, instead of the current annual obligation.”

The positions approved by the Committee also state that if these proposals are not supported, Estonia can accept a sustainability reporting obligation for companies with 1000 or more employees and sales revenues of more than EUR 50 million or a balance sheet total of more than EUR 25 million. This would mean a substantial increase in the thresholds compared to the current Directive.

The European Commission’s ambition is to reduce the administrative burden of businesses by at least 25%, and for small and medium-sized enterprises by at least 35%. The Commission’s proposals cover the areas of sustainable financial reporting, sustainability due diligence, EU taxonomy, the carbon cap adjustment mechanism and European investment programmes.

Estonia supports the European Commission’s proposal to postpone the entry into force of the reporting requirements by two years. Under the current directive, around 350 companies in Estonia are subject to sustainability reporting obligations. If the proposal for postponement is approved, the number of reporting companies in Estonia will be reduced by 90%, and in the future about 35 companies will be obliged to report. It was underlined at the sitting of the Committee that reporting must be simplified for all companies.

Representative of the Ministry of Finance said that the Ministry had started drafting a Bill so that, if the amendments were adopted in Europe, it would be possible to transpose the EU law quickly. The positions set out that the Bill has to be submitted by the end of May.

The positions of the Government regarding amendments to the directives on sustainability reporting and sustainability due diligence were presented by Minister of Justice and Digital Affairs Liisa Pakosta and Head of Financial Information at the Ministry of Finance Rainer Osanik.

The European Union Affairs Committee decided to approve the positions of the Government, taking also into account the opinions of the Legal Affairs Committee and the Economic Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu.

Riigikogu Press Service
Merilin Kruuse
+372 631 6592; +372 510 6179
merilin.kruuse@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: The European Union Affairs Committee: reporting of sustainability information should be voluntary

Source: Parliament of Estonia