In a letter to Parliament, the Dutch Minister of Finance has confirmed the government's long-awaited approach to any possible retroactive implementation of the CSRD, while addressing concerns from "first wave" companies about the delayed implementation. The letter also addresses Omnibus developments.

Retroactive implementation, but with a repair clause

In the letter, the minister responsible confirmed his view that retroactive implementation of the CSRD from the 2024 financial year cannot be avoided. But to accommodate "first wave" companies and their auditors, the Dutch government intends to add a "repair clause" to the CSRD implementing bill and the accompanying draft implementing decree. Under this clause, companies that have voluntarily "complied with the CSRD" before the Dutch implementing legislation enters into force, "will be deemed to have met their obligations arising from the implementing legislation".

According to the minister's letter, a company will have "complied with the CSRD" if it has made disclosures in accordance with the EU sustainability reporting standards (ESRS) and an assurance provider has conducted an assurance review. The precise scope of the repair clause will become clear when the final text is published.

The repair clause does indeed provide legal certainty to "first wave" companies that have reported in accordance with the ESRS and obtained an assurance review. However, the minister's letter indicates that if companies, absent a legal obligation to do so, have not published a CSRD statement for the 2024 financial year and/or do not expect to publish one for the 2025 financial year, they will not benefit from this repair clause. This raises the questions what will be expected from these companies.

The repair clause will cover the 2024 and 2025 financial years. If the Dutch implementing bill has not entered into force by 1 October 2026, the clause will extend to the 2026 financial year.

Implementation of Omnibus Directive

The Council of the EU gave its final green light to the Omnibus Directive on 24 February 2026. The directive is expected to be published on 27 February 2026 and will come into force 20 days after publication. See for more information on the relevant changes following from this directive our December 2025 article.

Member states will have one year after the Omnibus Directive's entry into force to transpose its CSRD provisions into national legislation. The Dutch government will include CSRD-related changes necessitated by the Omnibus Directive in the CSRD implementing bill via a memorandum of amendments. Soon after the Omnibus Directive's publication, the amended bill will be submitted to the Council of State for advice and then submitted to the House of Representatives. The precise timing of this process is not yet known. The draft CSRD implementing decree will also be amended.

Parliamentary debate postponed

In light of the expected memorandum of amendments in connection with the Omnibus Directive, the parliamentary debate on the Dutch CSRD implementing bill, originally scheduled for 2 March 2026, has been postponed until after the amendments have been formally submitted.

We expect the CSRD implementation process to continue through most of 2026. We will keep you updated on relevant developments.