Views on upcoming sustainability assurance guidelines and standards

The European Commission’s (EC) Omnibus proposal to amend the CSRD removes the 1 October 2026 deadline for adopting a limited assurance standard but retains and – extends indefinitely – the EC’s delegated power to adopt one. The proposal also outlines plans to issue targeted assurance guidelines by 2026. To support this, the EC requested the Committee of European Auditing Oversight Bodies (CEAOB) to reorientate its focus and provide its technical advice for the development of these guidelines.

Accountancy Europe has always advocated for consistent and high-quality assurance engagements across the EU. In this letter, we share the European accountancy profession’s perspective on the upcoming targeted guidelines and assurance standard :

• The guidelines must be developed following a robust due process akin to that of standard setting, including a public consultation
• A more harmonised EU approach to sustainability assurance is needed. High-quality sustainability assurance, based on globally accepted standards as a minimum baseline, is critical to reinforcing trust and ensuring credibility, comparability and usefulness of disclosures across markets
• IAASB’s International Standard on Sustainability Assurance (ISSA 5000), a dedicated, stand-alone, profession-agnostic and principles-based standard could provide a strong foundation for a EU sustainability assurance standard.

Read our full letter.