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Breaking News: France Urges EU to Postpone CSDDD Indefinitely and CSRD by Another Two Years

Jan 24, 2025 Breaking News: France Urges EU to Postpone CSDDD Indefinitely and CSRD by Another Two Years

This blog was originally posted on 24th January, 2025. Further regulatory developments may have occurred after publication. To keep up-to-date with the latest compliance news, sign up to our newsletter.

AUTHORED BY HANNAH JANKNECHT, REGULATORY COMPLIANCE SPECIALIST, COMPLIANCE & RISKS


In a letter sent to the EU Commission on 20 January 2025, the French government calls for a significant delay and reduction of corporate sustainability requirements in the EU, making France the second EU member state, after Germany, to make such demands. 

Similarly to the statement made by the German government, the arguments put forward in the letter are based on a report issued by Mario Draghi in September 2024, in which the former president of the European Central Bank outlines a way to a more competitive EU. 

The French statement calls for a simplification agenda based on a ‘massive regulatory pause’, and a re-examination of legislation stemming from the previous EU mandate, including already adopted laws.

What is the French Government Proposing to do?

Specifically, the letter contains the following proposals:

  • Creation of a mid-cap category to enable more companies to benefit from certain reliefs currently reserved for SMEs,
  • Indefinite postponement of the entry into force of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), providing additional time to modify the Directive (adjusting thresholds and making large parts of the obligations voluntary),
  • Simplifying the CSRD by focusing reporting obligations on climate change, to allow more companies to use the standards currently reserved for SMEs, reduce requirements for transition plans, not move forward with sector-specific standards and postpone overall application of the CSRD by another 2 years,
  • Review Green Asset Ratio under the Taxonomy Regulation,
  • Reduce reporting obligations to the new Industrial Emissions Portal,
  • Revise REACH Regulation (EU) 1907/2006 to simplify procedures,
  • Harmonize waste classifications across the EU,
  • Ensure consistency of Draft End-of-Life Vehicles Regulation with Ecodesign and Batteries Regulation,
  • Simplify the implementation of the new AI Regulation 2024/1689, including the adoption of guidelines that specify the definitions and articulations within existing regulations.

In addition, the letter makes a number of suggestions applicable to the banking, agriculture, biomass, renewable energies and information services sectors.

Widespread Criticism from Policy-Makers and Businesses Alike

The French statement has been met with widespread criticism from sustainability experts and policy-makers, who fear that a postponement of these crucial sustainability laws will lead to a complete standstill of the development of these tools. As suggested in an open letter, signed by a number of large businesses in the food, cosmetics and textiles industry on 17 January 2025, at least some of the plans of the French government are furthermore not necessarily aligned with business needs. The open letter addressed the plan to introduce an ‘Omnibus Simplification Package’ in order to merge some of the current sustainability reporting obligations included in the CSRD, CSDDD, Taxonomy Regulation and other sustainability laws.

The businesses that signed the letter emphasize their continued support of the EU’s goals to improve supply chain and company transparency and ask the Commission to focus on the delivery of what has already been agreed upon, instead of renegotiating the laws as part of an Omnibus Regulation.

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