OMNIBUS and voluntary standards (EFRAG)

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is an EU directive that sets requirements for companies’ sustainability reporting. From 2024 onwards, all large and listed companies must report on sustainability in accordance with specific standards. The purpose of the new rules is to ensure that companies in Denmark and the other EU member states report on sustainability in the same way.

In February 2025, the European Commission presented an initiative for an Omnibus simplification package, which aims to strengthen the competitiveness of European businesses by simplifying the existing rules and reducing administrative burdens. 

The proposal has not been finally adopted and is expected to be concluded during 2026. 

The companies that will be covered going forward under the proposal are large companies with more than 1,000 employees. As an SME, you will therefore not be directly affected by the Omnibus proposal, as the vast majority of SMEs are not subject to the legislation that the proposal is intended to simplify.

The European Commission proposes that companies covered by the CSRD use the voluntary standard for SMEs’ sustainability reporting (VSME) as a basis when requesting ESG information from their SME partners.

You can read more about CSRD and Omnibus on the Danish Business Authority’s website here. 

Voluntary sustainability reporting for SMEs 

In July 2025, the European Commission adopted a recommendation advising the use of the voluntary sustainability standard VSME (Voluntary Sustainability Reporting Standard). The standard is intended to make ESG work easier for SMEs that are not covered by the CSRD.

This means that SMEs and their partners are now able to ask and respond in a consistent and efficient way when ESG data is exchanged between the parties. SMEs often have limited resources to prepare ESG statements. Therefore, the voluntary standard focuses on the most essential ESG information that partners typically request, and which SMEs can therefore start by using as a basis. 

The recommendation is a temporary solution until the Commission finalises a regulation that will make the VSME standard formally applicable across the EU. This work is part of the Omnibus proposal, which is intended to reduce administrative burdens associated with ESG reporting. The process is expected to be completed in 2026. 

It is recommended that Danish SMEs already apply the VSME standard and refer to the recommendation when they face demands for additional ESG data from customers, banks, and other business partners. 

You can read more about the voluntary standard here, and learn more about what the standard contains by reading more on the Danish Business Authority’s website here.