ESA Recommendations on the sustainability-related disclosures

04/05/2021

On 25 February 2021, the three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – ESAs) have published a joint supervisory statement on the effective and consistent application and national supervision of the Regulation on sustainability-related disclosures in the financial services sector (SFDR).

The statement aims to achieve an effective and consistent application and national supervision of the SFDR, promoting a level playing field and protecting investors.

In the statement, the three ESAs recommend the draft RTS be used as a reference when applying the provisions of the SFDR in the interim period between the application of SFDR (as of 10 March 2021) and the application of the RTS at a later date.

The ESAs have also set out in an Annex more specific guidance on the application of timelines of some specific provisions of the SFDR, in particular on the application timeline for entity-level principal adverse impact disclosures and for financial products’ periodic reporting. In addition, the Annex includes a summary table of the relevant application dates of the SFDR, the Taxonomy Regulation and the related RTS.

While financial market participants and financial advisers are required to apply most of the provisions on sustainability-related disclosures laid down in the SFDR from 10 March 2021, the application of the RTS will be delayed to a later date according to the European Commission’s letter to the ESAs of 20 October 2020 on the application of the SFDR. The ESAs have proposed in the draft RTS that the application date of the RTS should be 1 January 2022.