Omnibus Regulation: Far-reaching simplifications for the CSRD – Current overview

|  Update: 16. Dezember 2025

🕓 Reading time 8 minutes

Table of contents

1. What is the Omnibus Regulation?

2. Welche Gesetze passt Omnibus-Verordnung wie an?

3. Auswirkungen auf die CO₂-Bilanzierungspflicht

1. What is the Omnibus Regulation?

A new set of rules with far-reaching consequences

The term “Omnibus Regulation” is used in the European Union to describe legal acts that amend or update several existing regulations or directives at the same time.

The European Commission is currently planning a major initiative for a further omnibus regulation to simplify ESG reporting requirements. This is intended to consolidate and simplify existing and future regulations and directives, particularly with regard to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).

The focus is not only on sustainability, but also on reducing bureaucracy for companies.

Who is affected?

This mainly affects companies that fall under the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) and the planned CSDDD (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive). These include large companies and capital market-oriented SMEs, which are increasingly required to disclose their sustainability data. The EUDR (EU Deforestation Regulation) is also affected by the new Omnibus Regulation, which may have a direct impact on global supply chains.

When does the bus regulation come into force?

Entwurf

The omnibus proposal comprises several packages. On February 26, 2025, the draft of the first omnibus package was published, revealing the specific planned impact of the simplification initiative on sustainability reporting requirements. The planned changes are far-reaching and affect all companies that were previously subject to the existing regulation.

Stop-the-Clock

On 3 April 2025, the European Parliament gave the so-called “Stop the Clock” proposal zugestimmt, der am 17. April 2025, am Tag der seiner Veröffentlichung im Amtsblatt, in Kraft trat. Damit wurde die Pflicht zur Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung für Unternehmen der zweiten Welle (ursprünglich für Geschäftsjahre ab dem 1. Januar 2025) und der dritten Welle (ursprünglich für Geschäftsjahre ab dem 1. Januar 2026) zunächste um jeweils zwei Jahre verschoben. 

Neue Schwellenwerte

The proposal that Threshold komplett auf Unternehmen mit mehr als 1.000 Mitarbeitern und einem Umsatz von über 450 Mio. € anzuheben, wird in der Zweiten Omnibus-Richtlinie (2025/81/KOM) behandel. Er wurde am 16. Dezember 2025 nun endlich vom EU-Parlament bestätigt und schafft damit Planungssicherheit für den Mittelstand.

2. Welche Gesetze passt Omnibus-Verordnung wie an?

The Omnibus Regulation aims to revise and simplify various existing European regulations on sustainability reporting. The planned changes particularly affect the CSRD, the CSDDD, the EU Taxonomy Regulation and other directives relating to corporate reporting and sustainability requirements.

Umgesetzte Änderungen an der CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive)

1. Einschränkung des Anwenderkreises (Umgesetzt)

• • In future, reporting obligations will only apply to companies with more than 1,000 employees and mindestens 450 Mio. € Jahresumsatz 
  • Regardless of the capital market orientation
  • Around 80% of the companies originally affected would be eliminated
  • Bringing the CSRD user group closer to the CSDDD

2. Keine zusätzlichen sektorspezifischen ESRS-Standards

• • Ursprüngliche geplante zusätzlichen sektorspezifischen ESRS-Standards fallen weg
  • Bestehende ESRS-Standards sollen weiter vereinfacht werden

3. Änderungen in der Prüfung

• • Originally planned transition from “Limited Assurance” to “Reasonable Assurance” (more comprehensive testing with higher security) wurde gestrichen, to avoid rising testing costs

  • More flexible auditing standards: until 2026, only guidelines for auditing

4. Berichtspflichten für KMU

• • Capital market-oriented SMEs are excluded from the CSRD user group.
  • Large companies should not be allowed to require companies with fewer than 500 employees to provide additional sustainability information beyond the voluntary SME-specific VSME standards developed for SMEs – unless there are valid reasons that require additional reporting.