The Omnibu package for the regulatory simplification of sustainability reporting takes a new step forward: on July 30, 2025, the European Commission published an official recommendation on the adoption of the Voluntary Standards for SMEs (VSME), developed by EFRAG. These standards are addressed to entities currently outside the scope of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), offering them a clear and accessible reporting framework.
Background
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (transposed into Italian law via Legislative Decree No. 125 of 6 September 2024) introduces the mandatory disclosure of sustainability information along the entire value chain for:
- large undertakings already subject to the Non-Financial Reporting Directive;
- large non-listed undertakings;
- listed small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); and
- non-EU undertakings with branches in the EU and/or meeting certain size thresholds.
This requirement creates a trickle-down effect on suppliers, placing an additional burden on non-listed SMEs currently exempt from sustainability reporting obligations.
Following the development of the voluntary standards, EFRAG conducted a wide public consultation and a practical testing phase, and submitted the final version to the European Commission in December 2024.
Voluntary Standards for SMEs (VSME): structure and objectives
The VSME Standards, developed by EFRAG to support small and medium-sized enterprises in sustainability reporting, are structured in two modules:
- Basic module, representing the minimum compliance level for SMEs and a prerequisite for access to the next module. For micro-enterprises, it serves as the target approach and allows exemption from full compliance, limiting reporting to essential sections only.
- Comprehensive module, which includes additional information typically requested by financial institutions, investors, or corporate clients.
These standards serve a dual purpose: on one hand, they facilitate compliance with indirect CSRD-related demands by reducing the fragmentation of ESG information requests from market actors (such as commercial and financial partners); on the other, they act as enablers for access to facilitated credit, while improving ESG performance monitoring and overall business competitiveness.
Next steps
The European Commission's recommendation encourages Member States to support the adoption of the VSME Standards to help reduce administrative burdens and simplify the disclosure of sustainability information by non-listed SMEs and micro-enterprises. It also emphasizes the importance of leveraging digital tools and solutions to ease reporting processes (currently under further evaluation by the Commission).
In addition to the recommendation, the Commission clarified that the current VSME Standards may be subject to further revisions following:
- the conclusion of the interinstitutional negotiations on the Omnibus simplification proposal, and
- the review of the first set of European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).
The procedure for adopting the proposed delegated act on the voluntary standards will include consultation with:
- Member States through the Member State Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (MSEGSF) and the Accounting Regulatory Committee (ARC);
- European supervisory authorities and other EU bodies.
Finally, a public consultation period will allow interested stakeholders to provide feedback on the content of the future voluntary standard.