"Omnibus Simplification Package Creates Uncertainty," 5 February 2025

The undersigned 28 Finnish companies and CSOs, are concerned about the uncertainty that the Commission’s announcement of an upcoming Omnibus Simplification Package has created.

We are calling on the Commission to ensure that the already agreed sustainability due diligence rules are not opened for renegotiation. Finland has already transposed the CSRD into national legislation and is moving ahead with the transposition of the CSDDD.

Many companies have spent considerable time, effort and resources on getting ready for and meeting the new legal requirements. Reporting according to the CSRD has already started and companies have begun to transform their human rights and environmental risk management processes with a view to the CSDDD.

Companies have not done so only to be in compliance with legal obligations – indeed, not all of us are directly in the scope of these two directives – but because we and our stakeholders firmly believe that sustainability is the cornerstone of European companies’ competitiveness and the only way to make our businesses viable in the long term. As such, we continue to support the CSRD and CSDDD.

What we need is certainty and timely transposition of the CSDDD and guidance for smart implementation of both of these directives. Comprehensive, clear and practical guidance should, in our view, be the Commission’s top priority at this juncture.

The possibility of the CSRD and CSDDD being reopened creates political uncertainty and legal unpredictability which are both detrimental to investment and competitiveness. As such, we are calling on you to clarify that this omnibus package, if embarked upon, will not lead to already agreed and adopted legal texts being opened for renegotiation. Any changes to the legislation should be at level 2 only.