/>iOn 10 July 2025, the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV) released the draft legislation concerning the transposition of the CSRD.
Following the previous year’s draft legislation aimed at incorporating the CSRD into national law, which was not enacted due to the untimely conclusion of the last Federal Government, the current Federal Government aims to fulfil its obligations under EU law with the new CSRD Transposition Act. Given that the deadline for transposing the CSRD lapsed on 6 July 2024 and infringement proceedings have already been initiated against the Federal Republic of Germany, a direct transposition is now to occur despite ongoing discussions regarding the omnibus packages and the associated facilitations.
The draft presented is fundamentally based on the draft from 2024. Additionally, the draft considers the recently adopted “Stop the Clock” Directive, published in the Official Journal of the EU on 16 April 2025 , which delays the implementation of sustainability reporting for companies in the second and third waves by two years. The German government is dedicated to ensuring that the other simplifications from the omnibus packages are accepted at the EU level to provide timely and legally secure relief for companies.
The now published draft bill aims for a 1:1 implementation of CSRD, which already leaves little scope for national adaptations. Implementation is to be achieved through extensive amendments, including to the German Commercial Code (HGB), the Securities Trading Act (WpHG), and the Auditors’ Act (Wirtschaftsprüferordnung).
Notably, the proposal already considers the changes resulting from the Stop the Clock Directive. This directive must be implemented into German law by December 31, 2025, and essentially provides for a two-year postponement of the initial application date of the CSRD for Waves 2 and 3 of the affected companies. Furthermore, the draft bill provides that some Wave 1 companies will also not be affected by CSRD implementation for the time being. Specifically, companies that employ no more than 1,000 employees on average per year will be exempt from CSRD reporting for the 2025 and 2026 fiscal years. This is intended to prevent these companies from being subject to reporting requirements for only a few years if a reduction in the CSRD scope is decided at EU level. In addition, referring to the “Substance Proposal” proposed by the EU Commission, the draft bill already includes a threshold of 1,000 employees.
