On 17 October 2023, the European Commission (Commission)published its Work Programme for 2024. The Work Programme, titled ‘Delivering today and preparing for tomorrow’, will be the last Work Programme to be issued by the current Von Der Leyen Commission. The 2024 Work Programme is therefore relatively short compared to previous years. According to the Commission, the focus of the remainder of its term will be on simplifying rules for citizens and businesses. This is in line with the Commission’s strategy on long-term competitiveness, which includes the aim to reduce burdens associated with reporting requirements by 25 percent. The goal is illustrated by the fact that the Commission has published a large number of proposals amending several regulatory frameworks that would have the effect of reducing administrative burdens for companies. A number of proposals are relevant to the financial sector. These include:

• Proposal for a Regulation amending Regulation 2016/1011 on indices used as benchmarks in financial instruments and financial contracts or to measure the performance of investment funds

This legislative proposal amending the EU Benchmarks Regulation (BMR) would reduce the scope of the BMR to providers of significant benchmarks only, which would reduce the organisational and reporting requirements for administrators of benchmarks that are deemed non-significant. For more information on this proposal, please consult our separate post on this topic: (link ).

• Proposal for a Regulation amending the Regulations establishing the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) and others

This legislative proposal will amend the four Regulations that established each of the European Supervisory Authorities, the European Systemic Risk Board and the InvestEU Programme. The Regulations will be amended to facilitate data sharing between the authorities and to limit new reporting requirements. In addition, the ESAs would be mandated to systematically assess existing reporting requirements and remove redundant and obsolete ones, which would promote a more efficient collection of data and avoid double reporting.

• Proposal for a Decision amending Directive 2013/34/EU on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings (Accounting Directive)

The Accounting Directive as amended by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive ((EU) 2022/2464) requires in-scope companies to disclose information on a broad range of sustainability matters relevant to their businesses. This information must be reported in accordance with European sustainability reporting standards (ESRS). The Commission adopted the first set of sector agnostic ESRS in July 2023. This new proposal for a Decision seeks to delay the adoption date for sector-specific ESRS and standards for non-EU companies from 30 June 2024 to 30 June 2026. In-scope companies would have two more years during which it can focus on the implementation of the first set of ESRS as a consequence.