ESMA postpones this year's update of the ESEF taxonomy until 2024

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU's financial markets regulator and supervisor, has decided to postpone the amendment of the European Single Electronic Reporting Format (ESEF) until 2024.

ESMA justifies this, among other things, with the limited changes in the 2023 update of the taxonomy of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

During 2023, ESMA will increasingly monitor the implementation of the ESEF requirements and assess potential improvements to the electronic reporting process. It will also push the development of the ESEF taxonomy for sustainability reporting and related reporting requirements based on the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) taxonomy.

According to ESMA, issuers will still be able to comply with their regulatory obligations to label their IFRS consolidated financial statements in 2023, as the ESEF taxonomy is mandatory in 2022 and applies to financial years starting on or after 1 January 2023. For foreign listed issuers, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) permits the preparation of 2023 financial statements in accordance with the 2023 and 2022 IFRS taxonomies.