The directive is addressed to the Member States. It creates no direct duty on a company; the national transposition measure does that.

Article 7 states that the directive is addressed to the Member States. That is the standard formula for a directive and it has a practical consequence: the instrument binds the Member State to achieve the result, and the national measure is the text that a company, an auditor or a regulator applies day to day.

The directive is not directly applicable in the way a regulation is. A company cannot usually rely on the article alone to decide a filing obligation, and a regulator cannot usually enforce the article alone. The national measure transposes it, and the national measure may use the options the directive leaves open. This is why the product treats the national transposition status as a separate field, and why a page says 'not stated in the text' where the directive leaves a matter to national law.

For a group operating in several Member States, the addressees point also explains why the answer can differ by country at the edges. The core reporting and due diligence provisions are harmonised, but the options, the supervisory authority, the penalties and the filing route are national. The record states the core rule and names the national layer rather than pretending the directive is a single pan-European filing code.

Why it matters

The buyer's real question is 'what must we do', and the honest answer includes 'and what has our Member State chosen'. The addressees article is the legal reason the product carries a national-transposition field and refuses to invent a filing route.

Dates

No separate date. The national measures are due by 19 March 2027 for Articles 1 to 3 and by 26 July 2028 for Article 4.

What to do

  • Record the Member State of incorporation and the Member State of listing for each entity.
  • Read the national transposition measure before relying on an option.
  • Do not treat the directive as a filing code or as a penalty schedule.

Source

Article 7, Directive (EU) 2026/470, OJ L 2026/470, 26 February 2026. Our statement, not the instrument verbatim.

Not legal advice; does not certify. A reading of the article and the duties inside it, not a substitute for the Official Journal text or the national transposing measure.