What remains of EU due diligence: further simplifications, will only apply to 1,500 companies

Brussels – The saga of two laws that have become symbolic of the incompatibility between the green agenda launched by Brussels in Ursula von der Leyen’s first term and the simplification work on which the current European Commission hinges comes to an end. The member states and the EU Parliament reached an agreement today (9 December) on the Omnibus I package, which significantly eases the burdens imposed by the directives on sustainability reporting (CSRD) and corporate due diligence (CSDDD). 

Dictating the direction were the right-wing parties, led by the European People’s Party, who first imposed their stance in the European Parliament and, in the trialogue, succeeded in excluding more than 85 per cent of companies from the scope of the CSRD and in ensuring that only 1,500 companies across the EU are affected by the CSRD burdens. “The Omnibus I package is expected to enable a reduction in administrative burdens across the EU of at least €5.7 billion,” rejoiced the Danish EU Council Presidency. “We have gone beyond the Commission’s proposal,” claimed the text’s rapporteur for the EU Parliament, EPP MEP Jörgen Warborn.

Compared to the simplification proposal submitted by the Commission  last February, the thresholds have been lowered even further: for the CRSD, all companies with fewer than 1,000 employees and a net turnover of less than EUR 450 million will be exempt from reporting obligations. Both the Council and the Parliament, prior to the interinstitutional negotiations, had set the employee threshold at 1,750. Also exempted are listed SMEs and financial holding companies. 

As for the CSDDD, which imposes control and verification obligations across the entire supply chain, the agreement between the EU co-legislators increases the thresholds to apply only to large companies with more than 5,000 employees and €1.5 billion in net turnover. The EU Council and EParliament “considered that large companies have the greatest influence on their value chain and are best placed to have a positive impact and absorb the costs and burdens of due diligence processes,” reads a note from the Danish EU Presidency. The agreement introduces a review clause for a possible extension of the scope of both directives. 

A number of flexibilities are foreseen for companies in the assessment and identification of negative impacts in their supply chains: they will not be required to conduct full mapping and may base their efforts on “reasonably available information.” The obligation for companies to adopt climate transition plans is removed, as is the harmonisation of the liability regime in all member states. 

Fines for non-compliant companies have also been significantly reduced: from a ceiling of 25 per cent of turnover, the agreement caps them at 3 per cent. The size of the fines will be determined by Brussels together with the member states.

I welcome the political agreement on the Omnibus I simplification package.

With savings of up to €4.5 billion, it will reduce admin costs, cut red tape, and make sustainability compliance easier.

We make it simpler to do business in Europe while staying true to our values.

– Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) December 9, 2025

“I welcome the political agreement on the Omnibus I simplification package,” European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen wrote in a post on X, “which will reduce administrative costs, cut red tape, and make it easier to comply with sustainability rules.” In a note, the European Commission confirmed its endorsement of the further watering down of the laws: the reduction of the scope of the Sustainability Reporting Directive will “streamline, simplify, and reduce obligations,” while the changes to the CSDDD “
eliminate unnecessary complexities and ultimately reduce compliance burden while preserving the Directive’s goals to reduce adverse environmental and human rights impacts, including in global value chains of large companies active in the EU, and advance the sustainability transition of our economies.” 

The Social Democrats take a different view. The S&D vice-president, Ana Catarina Mendes, warned: “We will never accept this Trump-inspired programme and we will therefore vote against the trilogue agreement.” But the confirmation of the agreement by the House is rather a foregone conclusion, given the solidity of the majority between the EPP, Conservatives, Patriots, and Sovereignists on the dossier. Paolo Borchia, leader of the Lega, emphasised that “for the first time the negotiations were led and completed by a compact political majority, alternative to the current one, once again laying bare the inadequacy of the “Ursula majority” with the left, increasingly distant from the voters and an enemy of competitiveness.”