On 14 April 2025, the Council of the European Union (Council) approved the “stop-the-clock” proposals, which postpones the application of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) for the majority of in scope entities and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). 

The stop-the-clock proposals were part of the EU’s omnibus package, which was published with the aim of simplifying ESG disclosure rules within the EU. 

This was the final approval for delaying the application of the CSRD and CSDDD, with the stop-the-clock proposals having previously passed through the European Parliament on 3 April 2025.

On 16 April 2025, the stop-the-clock directive was formally published in the Official Journal of the European Union and is in force. 

Next steps

Member States are required to transpose the stop-the-clock directive into national law by 31 December 2025.

In addition, since the EU ESG omnibus package was published on 26 February 2025, the European Commission has tasked the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) with the task of revising and rationalising the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), which underpin the CSRD. The deadline for this is 31 October 2025.

The additional elements of the European Commission’s omnibus package involve more substantive changes to the CSRD and CSDDD and we are expecting these changes to take a longer time frame to agree. 

For further details on the key aspects of the EU's Omnibus Package, please see our article, The EU ESG omnibus proposals.