In the context of optimising the competitiveness of EU companies in the evolving global trading environment and ensuring proportionality, I am supportive in principle of initiatives to simplify the reporting requirements and reduce costs on companies, and most especially SMEs.
I would welcome agreement of the proposed changes in the Omnibus proposal on sustainability at the earliest opportunity in order to give business the legal certainty that it needs. However this does not mean losing sight of the objectives of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) but rather giving careful consideration to the proposals for change.
European Commission document COM (2025) 80, or the so-called ‘Stop the Clock’ Directive, which postpones the dates for certain corporate sustainability reporting and due diligence requirements has been agreed by the co-legislators and will be transposed in Ireland before the 31 December 2025 deadline.
Commission document COM (2025) 81 is the so-called ‘Content’ Directive and includes a number of proposed legislative changes to the CSDDD. The omnibus proposal retains the requirement for in-scope companies to conduct risk-based human rights and environmental due diligence of their own operations, those of their subsidiaries and their direct business partners. Companies will also be required to conduct in-depth assessments where plausible information suggests the existence or possibility of adverse impacts arising from the operations of their indirect business partners.
Consideration of the proposed changes is ongoing at EU level and my Department is continuing to assess the implications as discussions progress.
