FIEC welcomes today’s approval of the “Stop-the-Clock” proposal by the European Parliament Members, after the Member States did so already last week.

FIEC welcomes this important step as it ensures legal clarity and maximum coordination among the co-legislators. It enables the postponement of certain disclosure requirements under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the transposition deadline under the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) – with the changes entering into force once the agreement is formally adopted and after publication in the EU Official Journal. Due to the complexity of the affected dossiers and the proposed changes, pausing their enforcement is important to ensure legal certainty for businesses, while at the same time allowing those texts to undergo major changes.

The European Commission proposed an Omnibus Simplification Package on Sustainability Reporting in February, with the goal of reducing the administrative burden for companies by facilitating and streamlining key legislation of the European Green Deal. This important initiative will improve the practical details and disclosure obligations defined by the Taxonomy Regulation, the CSRD with the set of European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), the CS3D and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

FIEC reaffirms the need for substantial improvements for the construction industry and encourages the co-legislators to embrace the well-balanced proposal by the Commission to deliver credible and timely simplification for European companies and to maintain the competitiveness of the European economy.

“Our Federation welcomes the Commission’s commitment to ensure that existing rules are fit for purpose, to focus on reducing administrative burdens and to simplify legislation. The right legislative framework is key to balancing incentives for companies to invest in sustainable and climate-friendly activities with an appropriate level of detail when it comes to reporting. Currently, there are more than 1.100 data points on which companies have to disclose information. This is too much, in particular for SMEs.” Domenico Campogrande, FIEC Director General

Last month, the responsible Committee on Legal Affairs in the European Parliament appointed Swedish MEP Jörgen Warborn (Moderaterna, EPP) as lead negotiator for this first Omnibus Simplification Package.

FIEC strives to contribute to the work of the European legislator. The European Construction Industry is therefore putting forward 24 nuanced simplification proposals, aiming at leaving no one behind. They can be consulted in the Annex of the FIEC Position Paper “A pragmatic Omnibus Simplification Package to put the EU at the forefront of corporate sustainability while ensuring the competitiveness of businesses”.

Construction is the second largest industrial ecosystem in the European Union in economic terms, employing over 12 million people. As a result, the sector offers enormous potential to contribute to the European Green Deal. The construction ecosystem is called to deliver building renovations faster than ever, and install renewable energy generation and management systems to help Europe use energy sustainably. In addition, the industry must continually provide monitoring and maintenance services, repair to critical infrastructure, and make efforts to enhance the safety and accessibility of buildings.