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Background
The second Omnibus aims to reduce the burden of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) by at least 25%. On 17 April 2025, the first draft for the Council’s position on the second Omnibus (the Draft Position) as prepared by the presidency of the Council of the European Union (the Council) has been become available. This Draft Position is based on discussions and suggestions the presidency of the Council has held on the second Omnibus and will be further subject of discussions in the upcoming week(s). EU Member States will therefore be able to make further suggestions for changes on this Draft Position, but the presidency of the Council has already put forward this Draft Position to show they are moving towards a final agreed position. In other words: the Draft Position remains subject to change and the actual position of the Council on the second Omnibus only becomes official when it has been adopted by both the EU ambassadors (COREPER) and the ministers in the Council meeting. However, it seems reasonable to expect that the final position will broadly align with this Draft Position.
The Draft Position on the CSRD and CSDDD
In our previous report we briefly described the amendments on the CSRD and the CSDDD as proposed by the EU Commission (please find our report here). The Draft Position of the Council on both the CSRD and CSDDD broadly aligns with the second Omnibus as published by the EU Commission. In this newsflash we have only included some further clarifications and adjustments from the Council to the second Omnibus, which we consider relevant to highlight:
What to expect next?
The next step is for the Council to further scrutinize and formally adopt its formal position on the (second) Omnibus proposal., however no date has yet been fixed for the formal adoption of the Council’s position. In parallel, the European Parliament is also currently examining the proposal and working on its position. According to the current timetable, a first draft of the Parliament’s position is expected to be published in June and adopted by the Parliament in October 2025. After both institutions have finalised their positions, the so-called ‘trilogue’ informal negotiations between the EU co-legislators will commence, with end of 2025 as the earliest possible adoption date.
Contact us
Our firm is closely monitoring developments in ESG and related legislation. We will update this newsflash when the final position of both the Council and the EU Parliament become available. Want to learn more? Please check our earlier update below and feel free to contact one of our colleagues listed below.
