Insurance industry welcomes EU “Omnibus package” to simplify reporting obligations
21/02/2025
Insurance Europe, which represents the European insurance and reinsurance federation, has welcomed the European Commission’s "Omnibus package" that will modify key EU laws on sustainability by simplifying reporting obligations.
The Commission is scheduled to publish the first of its Omnibus Simplification Packages on February 26, 2025, with the primary objective to reduce reporting obligations by 25%. It is part of the EU’s Competitiveness Compass and aims to make compliance simpler while maintaining high ESG standards.
The European Commission is acting under pressure from businesses and trade bodies wanting to reduce their regulatory burdens.
The ‘Omnibus’ package is aimed at streamlining the bloc’s green finance taxonomy, which defines the kinds of investments that can and cannot be classed as ‘sustainable’.
The package is also designed to simplify two major corporate reporting mandates that are already live – the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). The CSRD set the standard by which nearly 50,000 EU companies will have to report their climate and environmental impact.
The insurance industry has confirmed it will continue to be a key player in helping to address climate change and remains committed to supporting Europe’s sustainability goals.
Insurance Europe highlighted the following key priorities for the first ‘Omnibus’ package:
• Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD): the CSRD should focus on limiting regulatory burdens and removing overlap with other regulations.
• EU Taxonomy Regulation:. The focus should now be on reducing burdens by introducing a materiality filter to reporting obligations.
• Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD): the requirements need to be simplified and to avoid overlaps they should be based on the existing reporting requirements under CSRD.
• Solvency II: should be part of the package to address unnecessary duplication in sustainability risk management and reporting and to reduce complexity for insurers.
Regulatory compliance creates a personal liability for directors and officers. Accordingly, care should be taken to procure comprehensive management liability insurance, to pay for the legal defence and damages awards as a result of wrongful acts. For more information, or a quotation, please contact W Denis Europe or W Denis International:
Southern Europe and the MENA Region
Christos.Hadjisotiris@wdenis.com
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