Standpunt Pensioenfederatie: duidelijkheid nodig over werkingssfeer duurzaamheidsrapportage

The Dutch Pension Federation has published a letter to the outgoing Minister of Finance regarding the implementation of Directive (EU) 2022/2464 on sustainability reporting by companies.
The CSRD is intended to establish a comprehensive sustainability reporting system, connecting information flows between the real economy (under the CSRD) and the financial sector (under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation or SFDR) through the European Single Access Point (ESAP).
The CSRD primarily applies to businesses and does not impose reporting requirements on pension funds, as they are foundations. The Pension Federation emphasizes that pension funds have been subject to the SFDR since 2021 and therefore should not be additionally burdened with CSRD reporting requirements.
While CSRD clearly exempts pension funds, there’s currently confusion stemming from the presence of two distinct PIE (Public Interest Entity) definitions.
Accountants are already engaging with pension funds regarding CSRD compliance. According to the interpretation of the Dutch Pension Federation, neither the CSRD itself nor the draft version of the Dutch implementation includes any pension fund, regardless of its PIE status, within its scope; only large undertakings and small and medium-sized undertakings with Public Interest Entity (PIE) status are covered.
The Pension Federation is seeking a clear and unambiguous explanation in the Explanatory Memorandum, requesting that it specify that pension funds are explicitly not subject to CSRD. This would help prevent misunderstandings and unwarranted implementation.
Furthermore, The implementation of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) in the Netherlands has caused confusion about whether pension funds should adhere to its obligations. The complexity arises from the presence of two different European definitions for Public Interest Entities (PIE). This confusion occurred because large pension funds were labeled as PIEs based on the broader definition from the Audit Directive.
Clarity is needed in the implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) to avoid further confusion, especially since the CSRD has lower quantitative thresholds that may affect some pension funds with PIE status.
As a consequence, the Pension Federation requests that the Implementation Act explicitly state that the PIE definition in the CSRD does not apply to large pension funds.