Directive (EU) 2022/2464 (CSRD): Legal Text, Consolidated Version after the Omnibus and the Acts It Amends

The Directive has eight articles and 84 recitals, and it is addressed to the Member States.

Directive (EU) 2022/2464 is an amending directive: Articles 1 to 4 write its rules into four other acts, above all the Accounting Directive 2013/34/EU, where the reporting duties now sit. What the reporting regime requires, from scope to the sustainability statement, is covered where the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is explained.

This page shows where each version of the text is held, what each of the eight articles does, which recitals explain them, how the act was adopted under procedure 2021/0104(COD), which delegated acts rest on its empowerments and what the Commission FAQ of 2024 still covers.

What Is Directive (EU) 2022/2464?

Directive (EU) 2022/2464 is the EU act that introduced sustainability reporting under the CSRD by amending the Accounting Directive, the Transparency Directive, the Audit Directive and the Audit Regulation, and it has itself been amended twice, by Directive (EU) 2025/794 and by Directive (EU) 2026/470 (Omnibus I). Its reporting duties live in Directive 2013/34/EU, so they are cited as articles of that act: "Article 19a(1) of Directive 2013/34/EU", never "Article 19a of the CSRD".

Directive (EU) 2025/794 of 14 April 2025 moved the application dates in Article 5(2) and has been in force since 17 April 2025. Directive (EU) 2026/470 of 24 February 2026 changed scope and content, has been in force since 18 March 2026 and must be transposed by 19 March 2027 (Article 5(1) of Directive (EU) 2026/470).

Full Title, Official Journal Reference and Legal Basis

The full title is "Directive (EU) 2022/2464 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 amending Regulation (EU) No 537/2014, Directive 2004/109/EC, Directive 2006/43/EC and Directive 2013/34/EU, as regards corporate sustainability reporting". The act is published in OJ L 322, 16.12.2022, p. 15, under CELEX number 32022L2464, and its European Legislation Identifier is http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2022/2464/oj.

The Directive was signed at Strasbourg on 14 December 2022. Its legal basis is Articles 50 and 114 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

Where to Read the CSRD on EUR-Lex

EUR-Lex holds three texts a reader of the CSRD needs: the act as published in the Official Journal (CELEX 32022L2464), its consolidated version of 18 March 2026 (02022L2464-20260318) and the consolidated Accounting Directive of the same date (02013L0034-20260318), where the reporting articles now sit. Table 1 lists these and five further records with their identifiers. The amending act behind the latest consolidated version is Directive (EU) 2026/470, and the changes it made are set out under what the Sustainability Omnibus changed in the CSRD.

The Original Text and the Consolidated Version of 18 March 2026

The consolidated version 02022L2464-20260318 (version 002.001) folds two amending acts into the 2022 text: M1, Directive (EU) 2025/794 (OJ L, 2025/794, 16.4.2025), and M2, Directive (EU) 2026/470 (OJ L, 2026/470, 26.2.2026). EUR-Lex holds two consolidated versions of the CSRD, dated 17 April 2025 (after the stop-the-clock directive) and 18 March 2026 (after Directive (EU) 2026/470); consolidated versions are documentation tools without legal effect, and only the texts published in the Official Journal are authentic.

The Accounting Directive is consolidated to the same date as 02013L0034-20260318 (version 007.001), with eight amending acts listed below in their consolidation order.

• M1 Directive 2014/95/EU and M2 Council Directive 2014/102/EU.
• M3 Directive (EU) 2021/2101 and M4 Directive (EU) 2022/2464, the CSRD itself.
• M5 Directive (EU) 2023/2864 and M6 Delegated Directive (EU) 2023/2775.
• M7 Directive (EU) 2024/1306 and M8 Directive (EU) 2026/470.

The Audit Directive is consolidated as 02006L0043-20260318, after its amendment by Article 3 of the CSRD and Article 1 of Directive (EU) 2026/470.

Who the Directive Binds: Member States, and Companies through National Law

Directive (EU) 2022/2464 is addressed to the Member States (Article 8), which had to transpose Articles 1 to 3 by 6 July 2024 (Article 5(1)); companies are bound by the national law that transposes it. The two amending acts carry their own deadlines: 31 December 2025 for Directive (EU) 2025/794 (Article 3(1)) and 19 March 2027 for Articles 1 to 3 of Directive (EU) 2026/470 (Article 5(1)).

Article 4 is the exception. It amends Regulation (EU) No 537/2014, is binding in its entirety and directly applicable, and applies from 1 January 2024 for financial years starting on or after 1 January 2024. The national laws and their dates are followed in the tracker of CSRD transposition into national law.

How Directive (EU) 2022/2464 Is Built: Eight Articles

Directive (EU) 2022/2464 has eight articles: Articles 1 to 4 amend four existing acts, Article 5 sets transposition and application, Article 6 the review, Article 7 entry into force and application and Article 8 the addressees. Table 2 gives each article's official heading, its content and the act that amended it since 2022.

The Four Acts Amended by Articles 1 to 4

Article 1 amends Directive 2013/34/EU, the Accounting Directive (OJ L 182, 29.6.2013, p. 19), and inserts Articles 19a, 29a, 29b, 29c, 29d, 40a to 40d and 48i, which hold the reporting duties. It also amends Articles 1, 2, 19, 20, 30, 33, 34 and 49 of that Directive. Directive (EU) 2026/470 later inserted Articles 29ca (Article 2(8)), 29e and 29f (Article 2(10)) and deleted Article 29c (Article 2(7)).

Article 2 amends the Transparency Directive 2004/109/EC (OJ L 390, 31.12.2004, p. 38): a definition of sustainability reporting in Article 2(1)(r), the responsibility statement in Article 4(2)(c), the assurance opinion and management report in Article 4(4) and (5), the equivalence of third-country standards in Article 23(4), and a new Article 28d on ESMA guidelines. Article 3 extends the Audit Directive 2006/43/EC (OJ L 157, 9.6.2006, p. 87) to the assurance of annual and consolidated sustainability reporting, including Articles 1, 25c, 25d, 26a, 27a and 28a. What the assurance opinion covers is set out under assurance of CSRD reporting under the amended acts.

Article 4 amends Regulation (EU) No 537/2014 (OJ L 158, 27.5.2014, p. 77) on three points. Article 4(2) of that Regulation limits fees for permitted non-audit services provided for three or more consecutive financial years to no more than 70 % of the average statutory audit fees of the last three consecutive financial years, and the CSRD excludes sustainability assurance from that cap. Preparing sustainability reporting becomes a prohibited non-audit service under Article 5(1), and audit committee approval under Article 5(4) is not needed for sustainability assurance.

What Article 5 Provides after the Two Amending Directives

Article 5(2) of Directive (EU) 2022/2464 now applies the rules in two steps: point (a) to large public-interest entities and public-interest parents of large groups with an average of more than 500 employees for financial years starting from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2026, and point (b), from financial years starting on or after 1 January 2027, to undertakings and groups with a net turnover of more than EUR 450 million and an average of more than 1,000 employees, groups on a consolidated basis. Point (a) is amended by Article 3(1)(a)(i) of Directive (EU) 2026/470; point (b) by Article 1(a)(i) of Directive (EU) 2025/794 and Article 3(1)(a)(ii) of Directive (EU) 2026/470. Point (c), which covered listed SMEs, small and non-complex institutions and captive insurance and reinsurance undertakings from financial year 2026 and was moved to financial year 2028 by Article 1(a)(ii) of Directive (EU) 2025/794, was deleted by Article 3(1)(a)(iii) of Directive (EU) 2026/470.

The second subparagraph keeps Article 1 point (14), the rules for third-country undertakings in Articles 40a to 40d, at financial years starting on or after 1 January 2028. The third subparagraph applies the same two values to issuers under the Transparency Directive (Article 3(1)(b)), and Article 3 of the CSRD (audit) applies for financial years starting on or after 1 January 2024. The last subparagraph, added by Article 3(1)(c), lets Member States exempt wave-1 undertakings or issuers "not exceeding" EUR 450 million net turnover "or" 1,000 employees, on a consolidated basis where applicable, for financial years starting between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2026, with the Article 40a obligations excepted. How both values are counted is set out under CSRD thresholds in Article 5(2)(b).

Review, Entry into Force and Addressees (Articles 6 to 8)

Article 6, as amended by Article 3(2) of Directive (EU) 2026/470, requires Commission review reports by 30 April 2029 on points (a), (b), (d) and (e) and by 30 April 2031 on point (c), a possible extension of scope, then every three years. Article 6(2) adds a review of the concentration of the sustainability assurance market, due by 31 December 2028.

Article 7 sets entry into force on the twentieth day following publication in the Official Journal, which put it at 5 January 2023. Article 8 addresses the Directive to the Member States.

The reporting steps are set out under CSRD compliance after the Omnibus.

Recitals That Explain the Articles

The recitals of Directive (EU) 2022/2464 give the reasons behind its articles, and five of them are the ones readers look up most for the reporting rules: recital 29 on double materiality, recital 39 on EFRAG, recital 43 on other frameworks, recital 55 on the digital taxonomy and recital 78 on consulting services. The CSRD has 84 recitals. The five are summarised below in the order of the Directive.

• Recital 29: the risks to the undertaking and the impacts of the undertaking each represent one materiality perspective, and undertakings consider each perspective in its own right.
• Recital 39: EFRAG is an association under Belgian law that provides technical advice on the standards.
• Recital 43: the standards take account of GRI, SASB, IIRC, IASB, TCFD, CDSB and CDP, and integrate the ISSB baseline content to the extent consistent with the Union legal framework and the Green Deal.
• Recital 55: "A digital taxonomy for the Union sustainability reporting standards will be necessary to allow the reported information to be tagged".
• Recital 78: services related to preparing sustainability reporting, including consulting services, should be considered prohibited services.

The definitions sit in the articles, not the recitals: Article 2 of Directive 2013/34/EU defines sustainability matters in point (17), sustainability reporting in point (18), key intangible resources in point (19) and independent assurance services provider in point (20), and there is no point (21). These defined terms the articles rely on are collected in one glossary.

How the Directive Was Adopted: Procedure 2021/0104(COD)

Directive (EU) 2022/2464 went through procedure 2021/0104(COD): the Commission proposal COM(2021) 189 of 21 April 2021, a political agreement on 22 June 2022, Parliament's first-reading vote on 10 November 2022, Council adoption on 28 November 2022 and signature on 14 December 2022. The Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) of the European Parliament was the committee responsible, and the first-reading vote is recorded as T9-0380/2022. The proposal came with the staff documents SEC(2021) 164, SWD(2021) 150 and SWD(2021) 151. The eight dated steps are listed in Table 3.

The procedure file is held in the European Parliament's Legislative Observatory, and the date of the political agreement comes from the Commission's CSRD page.

The 2021 proposal estimated that about 49,000 companies, accounting for 75 % of the turnover of all limited liability companies, would be covered (COM(2021) 189, explanatory memorandum). That figure is the proposal's estimate for the regime as proposed, not the scope after Directive (EU) 2026/470, for which no official count of companies exists.

Delegated Acts Built on the Empowerments

Five delegated acts rest on empowerments in Directive 2013/34/EU: the ESRS in Delegated Regulations (EU) 2023/2772, 2025/1416 and 2026/1563 under Article 29b, the voluntary standard (VS, formerly VSME) in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1560 under Article 29ca(1) and the size criteria in Delegated Directive (EU) 2023/2775 under Article 3(13). The four delegated regulations apply directly, without transposition. Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563 replaces Annexes I and II of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772 and does not repeal it. Table 4 gives each act with its empowerment and dates.

The empowerments run for different periods under Article 49 of Directive 2013/34/EU. Article 49(2) confers the power for five years from 5 January 2023 for Articles 1(2), 3(13)(a), 29b, 40b and 46(2), tacitly extended. Article 49(2a), inserted by Directive (EU) 2026/470, confers it for an indeterminate period from 18 March 2026 for Article 3(13)(b) and (c) and Article 29ca.

The Commission FAQ on the CSRD (Notice C/2024/6792)

The Commission's frequently asked questions on the CSRD are Notice C/2024/6792, published in the Official Journal C series on 13 November 2024 (CELEX 52024XC06792) after appearing on the Commission's timeline on 7 August 2024.

Notice C/2024/6792 predates Directive (EU) 2026/470. Its answers on listed SMEs and on the size thresholds are therefore not current law: listed SMEs left the CSRD regime and the size test changed to the two values of Article 19a(1) of Directive 2013/34/EU as replaced by Article 2(4)(a) of Directive (EU) 2026/470.

Directive (EU) 2022/2464 in Depth: Three Detailed Pages

Three parts of the CSRD legal text have their own pages here: the dates the Directive sets for each group of companies, the articles it inserted into the Accounting Directive, and the Non-Financial Reporting Directive it replaced. Table 5 lists each page with the question it answers.

What the Legal Text Does Not Tell You

The text of Directive (EU) 2022/2464 does not say which companies in a given Member State report today, because that depends on national law, and it does not contain the reporting standards themselves, which sit in delegated regulations. The two questions below separate the Directive from the acts that complete it.

Directive or Regulation: Which Legal Form?

The CSRD is a directive, not a regulation: it binds the Member States as to the result and reaches companies through national law. Its Article 4 is the exception, because it amends a regulation, Regulation (EU) No 537/2014, and is directly applicable. The ESRS and the voluntary standard follow the other model: they are delegated regulations and apply directly in every Member State, without a national act.

Where Are the ESRS Published on EUR-Lex?

The ESRS are not in the text of the CSRD: they are Annex I of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2772 (CELEX 32023R2772) and, for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2027, the annexes of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1563 (CELEX 32026R1563). Both sets have 12 standards, and each standard is explained under the 12 ESRS standards.