Simplified ESRS and the voluntary standard published in the Official Journal: the benchmark your 2026 and 2027 reporting depends on

In shortOn 21 September 2026, after the scrutiny period of the European Parliament and the Council ended, the two acts that complete the sustainability-reporting reform were published in the EU Official Journal: Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563 - the simplified ESRS - and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1560 - the voluntary standard for companies outside CSRD, built on VSME. The new ESRS apply mandatorily to financial years starting on 1 January 2027; for the 2026 financial year their application is optional.

What was published, concretely

Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563 amends Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772, i.e. the ESRS set used by companies under CSRD. The versions published now are identical to those adopted by the Commission on 3 July 2026 - not a single data point changed in the meantime, so preparations started on the July texts remain valid. The direction of simplification: fewer mandatory data points, priority for quantitative information over narrative, a clear line between what is mandatory and what is voluntary, and clearer rules for the materiality assessment.

The second act, Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1560, turns the VSME-based voluntary standard into an official EU act: the reporting standard for companies that do not fall under CSRD but receive ESG data requests from large customers or banks.

Who reports and when

After the Omnibus Directive - Directive (EU) 2026/470 - the CSRD obligation essentially remains with large companies with more than 1,000 employees and €450 million net turnover. For them, financial years starting on 1 January 2027 must be reported under the simplified ESRS. For the 2026 financial year, reporting companies face a choice: stay on the old ESRS (with the transitional reliefs) or switch early to the new ones - with the obligation to state in the report which version they applied. The choice is not cosmetic: it doubles or reduces the data-collection effort, so it is worth deciding now, not at year-end closing.

For Romanian companies that left the CSRD scope through Omnibus - most of those that had been preparing to report - the relevance is different: the voluntary standard becomes the ceiling of the value chain. Large partners under CSRD cannot, as a rule, ask out-of-scope suppliers for more information than this standard provides. ESG questionnaires from retailers and banks now have an official limit, and a voluntary report drawn up under this standard answers all requests from a single document.

Key points:

Reporting under CSRD? Decide in Q4 2026 which ESRS version you close the 2026 financial year on, and plan the full transition for 2027.
Out of the CSRD scope? The voluntary standard published now is the single reference for ESG data requested by customers and banks - as a rule, you cannot be asked for more.
The versions published in the Official Journal are identical to those of 3 July 2026 - preparations already under way remain valid.

Legal basis: Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563 and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1560, published in the EU Official Journal of 21 September 2026; Directive 2013/34/EU and Directive (EU) 2022/2464 (CSRD), as amended, including by Directive (EU) 2026/470 (Omnibus).

What we do

At Circulad'OR we prepare companies for both situations: the gap analysis between the old and the new ESRS for those staying under CSRD, and the structuring of voluntary VSME reporting for those answering value-chain requests. With the official adoption of the voluntary standard, we are also preparing Yvora CSRD Suite - our digital tool for reporting under the new standards. If you want to know where you stand - in scope, out of scope or somewhere in between - write to us.