The European Parliament has formally accepted the Omnibus package, marking a pivotal moment in the evolution of EU sustainability regulation. Designed to simplify and recalibrate key sustainability reporting and due diligence requirements, the Omnibus aims to strike a balance between maintaining the EU's sustainability ambitions and reducing unnecessary administrative burden on businesses.
This acceptance of the Omnibus Package marks a moment of long-awaited clarity for organizations that are navigating their way through the evolving EU regulatory environment regarding; what needs to change, who is impacted, and when their obligations will start.
Why the Omnibus Was Needed
Over the past few years, the EU has introduced a series of far-reaching sustainability regulations, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). While these frameworks were designed to improve transparency, accountability, and sustainable business conduct, companies raised consistent concerns around:
- Overlapping and complex requirements
- Disproportionate compliance burden, especially for mid-sized firms
- Misalignment between reporting ambition and implementation readiness
The Omnibus package emerged as a response to these concerns, aiming to simplify, phase, and refocus sustainability obligations without dismantling the core objectives of the EU Green Deal.
What Has Been Accepted Under the Omnibus Package
The Omnibus Package aims to make targeted changes across sustainability reporting and due diligence legislation. It has not eliminated the current legislation but rather modified when and how it applies.
At a high level, the Omnibus Package does the following:
- Narrows the scope of obligatory sustainability reporting
- Modifies the thresholds and timelines associated with due diligence duties
- Aims to solve any confusion and seeks to address duplication of effort across the different EU sustainability frameworks
Key Changes Introduced by the Omnibus
Changes to Sustainability Reporting (CSRD)
| Topic | Before | Now |
|---|---|---|
| In-scope EU companies | CSRD applied to a broad set of companies, e.g., those with 250+ employees or exceeding €25M in total assets or €50M in turnover | Reporting is only required for EU companies with > 1,000 employees AND net annual turnover > €450 million. |
| In-scope non-EU companies | Non-EU parent companies were in scope if they generated over €150 million in EU net turnover and had either an EU subsidiary covered by CSRD or an EU branch with more than €40 million in turnover. | Non-EU parent companies are now in scope only if they generate over €450 million in EU net turnover and have an EU subsidiary or branch with more than €200 million in turnover. |
| Assurance | Reporting was subject to limited assurance initially, with EU-wide assurance standards planned to be adopted by 1 October 2026, and a possible move toward reasonable assurance over time. | Reporting remains subject to limited assurance. The adoption of EU-wide limited assurance standards has been postponed to 1 July 2027. |
| Information requests from smaller partners | There was no explicit limit on the sustainability information that large companies could request from smaller companies within their value chains, often resulting in significant data and reporting pressure on SMEs. | Value-chain companies with up to 1,000 employees are treated as protected undertakings and may refuse information requests that go beyond the voluntary reporting standard (expected from 2026 and based on the VSME framework). This protection does not prevent companies from voluntarily sharing additional information or fulfilling contractual or legal obligations. |
| Support for compliance | No centralized EU digital portal in the original regime guidance and templates was managed through various bodies. | European Commission to establish a digital portal with free templates and guidelines for EU and national reporting requirements. |
Changes to Sustainability Due Diligence (CSDDD)
| Topic | Before | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Applicability | Due diligence applied to a broader group of companies, including EU companies with over 1,000 employees and net global turnover above €450 million, as well as non-EU companies with net turnover exceeding €450 million in the EU. | Due diligence applies only to very large companies: EU companies with >5,000 employees and >€1.5bn net annual turnover, and non-EU companies exceeding €1.5bn turnover in the EU. |
| Coverage of the chain of activities | Companies were expected to assess and manage risks across a wide chain of activities | Companies will use a simpler process to identify actual and potential adverse impacts with a scoping process focused on the areas where impacts are likely to occur. |
| Transition plans | Mandatory transition plans to align business models with a sustainable economy | Transition plans are no longer required |
| Date of application | Earlier and phased application timelines were foreseen | The due diligence directive will apply from 26 July 2029 for all in-scope companies |
Implications for Businesses
The acceptance of the Omnibus has immediate and strategic implications:
- Regulatory clarity: An organization will have better regulatory clarity regarding their future obligations.
- Reprioritisation of compliance efforts: Organisations may need to reassess sustainability roadmaps, reporting plans, and internal governance structures.
- Voluntary leadership remains relevant: While requirements are reduced, stakeholder expectations around transparency, climate risk, and responsible business conduct remain high.
Moreover, the simplification of compliance obligations in no way diminishes the continuing expectations of the sustainable marketplace; rather, it creates a framework by which sustainable expectations are now more targeted and proportionate.
What Happens Next
Based on current legislative progress and industry analyses, the EU is expected to publish the Omnibus-related amendments to the CSRD and CSDDD in the Official Journal of the European Union by around March 2027. Once published, member states are expected to have a transposition period of approximately 12 months to incorporate the changes into national law. However, the exact timeline will only be confirmed once the final legal texts are formally adopted and published.
How ecoPRISM Can Support You
The acceptance of the Omnibus package marks a reset not a retreat of EU sustainability regulation. By simplifying scope and timelines, the EU is signalling a move toward more effective and enforceable sustainability rules. For organizations, this moment offers an opportunity to reassess priorities, strengthen governance, and prepare for a sustainability landscape that is less complex, but no less consequential.
While the Omnibus package simplifies sustainability reporting and due diligence requirements, it does not eliminate the need for structured data, strong governance, and defensible compliance processes. Organisations will still be expected to demonstrate clarity, consistency, and readiness as EU sustainability rules evolve.
ecoPRISM helps organizations:
- Interpret what the future requirements for CSRD and CSDDD will be as well as whether they apply to their organization (under the revised thresholds)
- Prepare for compliance with robust governance and data management frameworks for their organizations' sustainability program
- Streamline their organization's processes for identifying and assessing risk and due diligence across the operations and value chain of their organization
- Be transparent and have their organization be "audit-ready" as the requirements and assurance expectations change
In a regulatory landscape shifting from expansion to refinement, organizations need partners who can help them stay ahead of, not just keep up with, evolving requirements.
FAQs
A protected undertaking refers to a company, typically a small or mid-sized business with fewer than 1,000 employees, that is shielded from excessive sustainability data requests from larger companies in its value chain under the revised CSRD rules.
Yes, but under the Omnibus they will be voluntary rather than mandatory. Companies may choose to use sector-specific standards where they add value or improve comparability.
Yes. Companies that have already invested in CSRD preparation may need to reassess scope, timelines, and depth of reporting. However, much of the work done such as data mapping, governance structures, and materiality assessments, can still be valuable.