The CNMV and the ICAC publish a statement on sustainability reports in the interim before transposition of the CSRD Directive in Spain

The Securities Market Commission (CNMV) and the Spanish Accounting and Audit Institute (ICAC) have published a statement recommending that sustainability reports for fiscal year 2024 are prepared in line with the Corporate Sustainability Directive (CSRD) and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards, even though the directive has not yet been transposed, and that they are completed with specific elements of the currently in force non-financial information statement.

In this statement both bodies note that the reporting requirements in the CSRD, which should have been transposed into Spanish law by now, and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) are greater than those contained in the currently in force Law 11/2018, of December 28, 2018 on non-financial information statements, although certain breakdowns required by Law 11/2018 are not expressly required by the ESRS, so in-scope entities will also have to take them into account to comply with that Law.

Therefore, and to ensure that the information published in Spain is comparable, as far as possible, with that published by other entities in the European Union, if the Sustainability Reporting Bill (on which we reported here)transposing the CSRD has not been approved before December 31, 2024, it is considered recommendable for in-scope Spanish entities, required by the CSRD to publish sustainable reports, to publish their non-financial information statements in line with the new ESRS, if they are in a position to publish reliable and relevant information meeting the qualitative characteristics contained in the ESRS.

Consequently, according to the statement, for a period starting on January 1, 2025 and ending when the law transposing the CSRD is in force, the CNMV and the ICAC, within their respective powers, will consider it acceptable for in-scope entities to present non-financial information using the ESRS, provided they observe the considerations mentioned in their joint statement on certain information needed on the non-financial information statement which is not covered by the ESRS.