§1 Assurance of the sustainability information to be reported under Articles 19a and 29a Accounting Directive (sustainability statement)

Under Article 34(1) second subparagraph, point (aa) of the Accounting Directive, any undertaking subject to sustainability reporting under Articles 19a and 29a of the Accounting Directive must obtain an assurance opinion on the sustainability statement included in their management report (57). From the first year of application of sustainability reporting requirements, this assurance opinion must be based on a limited assurance engagement as regards the compliance of the sustainability statement with the following requirements (58): — the sustainability reporting requirements provided for in the Accounting Directive (including the compliance of the sustainability reporting with the ESRS adopted pursuant to Articles 29b/29c of the Accounting Directive, the process carried out by the undertaking to identify the information reported pursuant to those ESRS, and the compliance with the requirement to mark-up sustainability reporting in accordance with Article 29d of the Accounting Directive); and — the reporting requirements provided for in Article 8 of the Taxonomy Regulation. Based on Article 26a of the Audit Directive, the Commission is empowered to adopt sustainability assurance standards for limited assurance by 1 October 2026 (59). The Commission is empowered to adopt sustainability assurance standards for reasonable assurance by 1 October 2028, following an assessment to determine if reasonable assurance is feasible for auditors and for undertakings (60). Pending the adoption by the Commission of assurance standards on this subject matter, Member States may apply national assurance standards, procedures or requirements covering that subject matter (61). Based on Article 34 of the Accounting Directive, the opinion on the sustainability reporting may be expressed by the following categories of assurance providers: — the statutory auditor auditing the financial statements of the relevant undertaking (62); — a statutory auditor other than the one auditing the financial statements (where allowed by a Member State) (63); — an Independent Assurance Services Provider ‘IASP’ (where allowed by a Member State) (64). If a Member State decides to allow an IASP to express the assurance opinion on the sustainability reporting, it shall also allow a statutory auditor other than the one(s) carrying out the statutory audit of financial statements to do so (65).

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07