Less administrative burden for several companies. The Chamber of Representatives adopted Minister Clarinval's bill last night, partially transposing the European “Omnibus I” directive on corporate sustainability reporting. This text allows Belgium to make use, as of now, of an option offered by the European Union to avoid subjecting a number of companies to a reporting obligation that will disappear for them from 2027 onwards.
The European Omnibus I directive has indeed revised the scope of the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive). While the original rules were meant to apply to several thousand companies in Belgium, the simplified framework concentrates reporting obligations on the largest of them.
As a result, in Belgium, certain companies currently subject to the reporting obligation, because they are part of the “first wave” of application of the CSRD directive, will no longer be subject to these obligations from financial year 2027 onwards. Without legislative intervention, they would nonetheless still have had to produce a full sustainability report for financial year 2026.
For Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy David Clarinval, this is a common-sense measure: “When a European obligation is set to disappear for certain companies as of 2027, it is not coherent to still impose a full reporting exercise on them for 2026. It is a common-sense choice that avoids unnecessary administrative costs. This measure fully reflects our determination to support the competitiveness of our companies and reduce burdens that create no economic value.”
According to estimates by the FSMA and the National Bank of Belgium, around fifteen Belgian companies are affected by this exemption measure. The government has deliberately limited the exemption to financial year 2026 alone. The obligations for financial year 2025 remain unchanged, in order to guarantee legal certainty and respect the steps already taken by the companies concerned.
The text adopted yesterday constitutes a first step in implementing the Omnibus I directive into Belgian law and gives the companies concerned the predictability needed to prepare for the coming financial years.