Shaping digital access to company disclosures in the EU 

March 21, 2025

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is running a consultation on the Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) for companies’ digital disclosures (ESEF) and the EU’s data portal (EEAP/ESAP) and has invited comments from interested parties.  

The consultation is based around establishing how and when company disclosures will be made digitally accessible in the EU.  

The digital disclosures covered in the consultation are the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), EU Taxonomy, and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). 

The ESEF is the electronic reporting format that issuers trading on EU regulated markets use to prepare their annual financial reports, ensuring accessibility, analysis and comparability. ESMA develops the regulatory technical standards which specify this electronic reporting format, in addition to providing guidance and implementing tools. 

Under the terms of this consultation, the ESEF would be applied to sustainability reporting, which would require sustainability statements to be marked up using Inline XBRL eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) to make the information structured and machine-readable. 

A taxonomy for the ESRS would then be developed to enable reported information to be tagged in accordance with those standards. 

By ensuring that the ESRS and IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards are interoperable, they would provide an efficient reporting framework for financial information relating to sustainability matters. 

Not surprisingly, companies and auditors are engaging strongly with this consultation, as they will be responsible for, respectively, preparing and assuring these digital reports. It is not necessary for respondents to be based in the EU – any prospective ‘user’, ‘producer’ or ‘auditor’ of the data can submit a response. However, responses are strictly limited to one submission per organisation. 

The perspective of data users is often seen to be underrepresented. This has led to a perception among investors that the consultation may result in an approach that gives more weight to the need to reduce corporate reporting burdens, as opposed to ensuring data accessibility and usability.  

As a result, investors are being encouraged to make their voices heard in unison to contribute to the proposals in the consultation, with a template for responses suggested by open data platform Wikirate.  

Minerva Analytics will be among those providing feedback to this consultation. The deadline to submit answers is 31 March 2025. 

Minerva’s blog focuses on the latest developments in ESG investing and stewardship. Minerva is a global provider of sustainable stewardship solutions with over 25 years of expertise. Minerva empowers investors by providing essential tools, including ESG research and data, enabling them to navigate the intricate landscape of stewardship and proxy voting, whilst ensuring their decisions are well-informed and aligned with sustainable principles.

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