The European Commission has officially published its #Omnibus proposal, which includes a series of proposals to amend policies related to sustainable development in business operations. The European Commission's proposal comes in the context of businesses believing that the regulations in CBAM, CSRD, CSDDD and EU Taxonomy are too complicated and difficult to implement, creating many barriers that increase unnecessary time and costs. 

1. Major changes (expected)

The European Commission proposes to regulate the following issues:

For CSRD and EU Taxonomy

• Removing about 80% of companies from the scope of CSRD, only large companies (over 1.000 employees and turnover over 50 million Euros) remain, considered to have the greatest potential to impact people and the environment.
• Ensure that ESG reporting requirements for large companies do not burden small companies in their supply chains.
• Defer the reporting requirement for companies within the scope of the CSRD by two years (until 2028) for companies that were required to report from 2026 or 2027.
• Consider adjusting the requirements in the European Sustainability Reporting Standard (ESRS). Industry-specific standards will not be issued.
• Reduce the reporting burden of the EU Taxonomy and limit its scope to large companies (the scope corresponds to the CSDDD), while allowing other large companies within the scope of the CSRD to report voluntarily in the future. This is expected to result in significant cost savings for small companies.

For CSDDD:

• Due diligence obligations are defined with a focus on Tier 1 suppliers.
• Reduce the burden of information provision for SMEs in the value chain.
• Reduce the frequency of periodic reviews and partner monitoring from annual to five years.
• Postponed until July 7.

For CBAM:

• Exemption from CBAM declaration obligations for small importers (importing less than 50 tons/year. The number of exempted importers is expected to be around 182.000 importers (equivalent to 90%), while still covering more than 99% of emissions within the scope of application.
• Simplifying regulations for companies still covered by CBAM: on CBAM declaration, including product-integrated emissions calculation and reporting requirements.
• Plans to expand into other downstream products and commodities remain in place and will be announced in early 2026.

2. Not final decision yet

It is important to note that this is only a legislative proposal, not a law/directive that has immediate legal effect. This means that the contents of the proposal will have to go through the legislative process before it can officially come into force. The publication of the new regulatory proposal by the European Commission is the first step in a lengthy legislative process.

Once the Commission’s amendment proposal has been tabled, the European Parliament and Council will consider it, discuss it and hold consultations with stakeholders before approving it. A bill will only be adopted if it receives an absolute majority in the Parliament, meaning more than half of the MEPs approve it. Then, in the European Council, a proposal will be adopted if at least 55% of the member states (15 out of 27) and representing at least 65% of the EU population vote in favour.

In the past, the CSRD Directive took 21 months to complete its processes from the time it was proposed by the Commission, the CSDDD took 26 months and the EU Taxonomy took 25 months.

As the Omnibus Package affects regulations already in force, it needs to undergo extensive negotiations in: the European Parliament, the EU Council, as well as consultations with bodies such as the European Central Bank and national parliaments.

Therefore, it is expected that a final decision on the Omnibus policy proposal package will not be ready until 2027. After that, member states will still need 1–2 years to translate the changes into national law.