On 11 October 2022, the European Platform on Sustainable Finance published a final report on minimum safeguards. It also published platform recommendations on data and usability of the EU taxonomy.
The final report advises on the application of minimum safeguards (MS) in relation to Articles 13 and 18 of the Taxonomy Regulation. It does so by:
- Embedding MS in existing EU regulation.
- Identifying substantive topics relating to the standards and norms referenced in Article 18 of the Taxonomy Regulation.
- Presenting advice on compliance with MS.
The final report identifies four core topics for which compliance with minimum safeguards should be defined, these are:
- Human rights, including workers’ rights.
- Bribery/corruption.
- Taxation.
- Fair competition.
The platform recommendations relate to the following key themes:
- Proposed changes to Level 1 or 2 legal guidance on Taxonomy reporting, to support both the 2024 review period (within Article 8 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2178) and the consideration of key usability challenges with the current proposals around sustainable finance disclosures.
- Recommendations for supplementary guidance for the European Commission to user groups.
- Recommendations for supervisory guidance from the European Supervisory Authorities to user groups.
- Proposed recommendations on policy consistency across the sustainable finance framework.
- Proposed recommendations on taxonomy usability.