The Government has already started the process of transposing the European directive 2022/2464known as CSRD, which will oblige companies with shares traded on regulated markets to include detailed information on their environmental, social and governance (ESG) impact in their management reports, according to the draft draft prepared by Finance to which Express had access.
The diploma establishes that This communication should address environmental aspects, as strategies for carbon neutrality and alignment with the Paris Agreement, but also social issues, such as policies for gender equality and working conditions. Add governance aspects, such asmeasures against corruption and bribery.
The list of duties is long, requiring the disclosure of other key indicators for assessing ESG performance, following the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). It is intended, for example, to include data related not only to the operations and products themselves, but also to the value chain, which integrates suppliers and partners.
However, the Application of the new rules is different depending on the size of each business: if, on the one hand, large companies are subject to exhaustive reporting, on the other, SMEs benefit from a simplified regime and micro-societies are even exempt from any obligation.
To make these changes possible, several changes are made to the lawnamely the Code of Commercial Companiesallowing administrators to become responsible for the inclusion of this report; to the Accounting Standardization System, adjusting company classification criteria; and to Commercial Registration Code, making sustainability reports and their assurance opinions mandatory in the registration of companies.
New profession to ensure reliability of audits
One of the new features included in the preliminary project is the creation of sustainability report auditors, who will be required to register with the Order of Official Auditors (OROC) and subject to examinations that will decide whether or not they can practice the profession. These professionals will assess whether the information disclosed by companies complies with European standards, issuing reliability opinions and guaranteeing the independence of the data.
The document provides for an exception for public interest entities subject to the regime – it will be up to the Securities Market Commission (CMVM) supervise its ESG audits.
As for the deadlines for complying with the new obligations, they are strict and anyone who fails to comply with them will be penalized. You reports must be delivered within three months after the end of the financial year or within five months, in the case of consolidated accounts. A publication must occur within 12 months following the balance sheet date, and Companies that do not comply are subject to fines of between €50 and €1500.
Source: expresso.pt
