On 26 March 2025, the Council of the EU announced that Member States’ representatives (Coreper) approved its position on the so-called ‘Stop-the-clock’ directive which forms part of the Omnibus I package that the European Commission adopted at the end of February to simplify EU legislation in the field of sustainability. The proposed directive postpones the application dates of certain corporate sustainability reporting and due diligence requirements, as well as the transposition deadline of the due diligence provisions.

Our briefing note on the Omnibus I package is here.

Next steps

Following approval of the Council’s negotiating mandate by Coreper, the presidency may now enter interinstitutional negotiations with a view to reaching a provisional agreement with the European Parliament on this proposal. For its part, the European Parliament has scheduled on 1 April a vote on request for urgent procedure on this proposal.

Adam Szłapka, Minister for the European Union of Poland stated “Simplification is one of the priorities of the Polish presidency. Today’s agreement is a first step on our decisive path to cut red tape and make the EU more competitive.”