The Commission must adopt delegated acts on the content and criteria of the annual due diligence statement by 31 March 2029, and from 1 January 2031 companies must submit the statement to a collection body for publication on the European single access point.
The requirement, in our words
The Commission must adopt, by 31 March 2029, delegated acts setting the content and criteria of the annual due diligence statement, aligned with the ESRS and third-country standards and avoiding duplication with Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 reporting for financial undertakings. From 1 January 2031 a company publishing its annual statement must submit it at the same time to the national collection body for the European single access point; Member States designate those bodies by 31 December 2030.
Why it matters
The reporting layer arrives later than the process duties. The delegated acts are meant to align the statement with the ESRS and with third-country standards, and to avoid duplication for companies already reporting under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation. The ESAP route is the distribution channel, and it depends on Member States designating a collection body by 31 December 2030.
What changed
The old Article 16(3) required delegated acts without the alignment wording in the same detail, and Article 17 did not have the 2031 ESAP date. The replacement sets the dates and the alignment duty.
What to do
- Publish the annual statement and record its date and location.
- Diarise the collection body and the ESAP submission for 2031.
- Track the delegated acts and map the statement content when they are adopted.
Evidence to have ready
| Category | Artefact |
|---|---|
| Due diligence reporting | Published annual due diligence statement with date and location |
| Due diligence reporting | ESAP submission receipt from the collection body for statements from 2031 |
| Due diligence reporting | Gap analysis of the statement against the delegated act once adopted |
Common failures
- Statement published on the website only, without the parallel ESAP submission when due
- Statement content not aligned with the sustainability statement where the company also reports under the ESRS
Dates
Delegated acts by 31 March 2029; collection body by 31 December 2030; ESAP submission from 1 January 2031. The Article 16 duty applies to financial years starting on or after 1 January 2030.
The question to test
Is the statement published and, from 2031, is there an ESAP submission receipt?
Cross-references
A4-13 Five-year monitoring · A2-16 Limited assurance
Source
Article 4(12) and (13), amending Articles 16(3) and 17 of Directive (EU) 2024/1760; OJ L 2026/470, 26 February 2026; https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32026L0470. Our statement of the duty, read from the Official Journal text and the held control record, not the instrument verbatim.
Not legal advice; does not certify. A reading of the duty and the evidence commonly sampled, not a substitute for the Official Journal text, the national transposing measure or your auditor's judgement.