As of 7 September 2026, Spain still has not transposed the CSRD. The draft Sustainability Reporting Law (Proyecto de Ley de Información Empresarial sobre Sostenibilidad), approved by the Council of Ministers on 29 October 2024 and sent to Congress, has not completed its parliamentary passage. Until it does, the binding Spanish rule is Ley 11/2018 and its non-financial statement, while the European clock is the one set by Directive (EU) 2026/470: transposition due in March 2027 and first reports covering financial years starting on or after 1 January 2027.
That leaves companies in an awkward but workable position: a Spanish obligation that falls due every year, and a European obligation whose scope is already known. This article keeps the two apart.
What Directive (EU) 2026/470 fixed
The directive known as Omnibus I was published in the Official Journal on 26 February 2026 and entered into force on 18 March 2026. It reorganises both the CSRD and the CSDDD, and it is what starts the clock on the Spanish transposition.
- Transposition deadline: March 2027. That is the window Spain has to pass its law.
- Scope: EU companies with more than 1,000 employees and more than €450 million in net turnover. Both tests, not either one.
- Non-EU parents: €450 million of EU turnover plus an EU subsidiary or branch above €200 million.
- First reporting year: financial years starting on or after 1 January 2027, published in 2028. For non-EU parents, financial years from 2028.
- Assurance: it stays at limited assurance. The directive removed the planned move to reasonable assurance, and the European limited assurance standard must be adopted before 1 July 2027.
In practice, the CSRD no longer reaches companies with 250 employees. If your project plan was written around the three original waves of the 2022 directive, it is out of date. The full set of changes is covered in our analysis of the Omnibus I Directive and what it changes for CSRD and CSDDD.
Where the Spanish bill stands
The documented sequence:
- 29 October 2024. The Council of Ministers approves the Sustainability Reporting Bill. It amends the Commercial Code, the Companies Act and the Audit Act, and creates the figure of the sustainability information verifier supervised by the ICAC, Spain's accounting and audit institute.
- From November 2024. The bill reaches Congress and the amendment period opens, then is extended repeatedly.
- 13 November 2025. The CNMV, Spain's securities regulator, and the ICAC publish their second joint statement and confirm in writing that the bill transposing the CSRD in Spain is still awaiting parliamentary approval.
- 2026. Directive (EU) 2026/470 arrives and changes the thresholds the bill was built on, which means much of its text has to be reworked before it can be passed.
We have found no publication in the Spanish Official Gazette enacting this law. If it is approved in the coming weeks, what changes is the Spanish reference rule, not the European timetable, which the directive has already fixed.
What applies today and what is coming
| Item | In force today (Ley 11/2018) | What is coming (Directive 2026/470) |
|---|---|---|
| Document | Non-financial statement, inside the management report or as a separate report | Sustainability report, in an identified section of the management report |
| Scope | More than 250 employees plus either public-interest entity status or two of the three size tests over two consecutive years | More than 1,000 employees and more than €450m net turnover |
| Size tests | Assets above €20m, turnover above €40m, average headcount above 250 | Not applicable: both thresholds are cumulative |
| Content framework | Ley 11/2018, referencing frameworks such as GRI | Revised ESRS, adopted on 3 July 2026 |
| Assurance | Independent verification services provider | Limited assurance, with a European standard due before 1 July 2027 |
| First financial year | Already in force, every year | Financial years starting on or after 1 January 2027 |
Ley 11/2018 is not on hold
This is where most teams get it wrong. A pending transposition suspends nothing. Article 49 of the Spanish Commercial Code still requires the non-financial statement from companies above the thresholds, and article 49.6 still requires that the information be verified by an independent verification services provider.
The original wording set the threshold at more than 500 employees, but a transitional provision lowered it to more than 250 from the third year after the law entered into force. That is the threshold that applies today, alongside the condition of being a public-interest entity or meeting two of the three size tests over two consecutive financial years.
The statement is filed with the Commercial Registry together with the annual accounts and must be published on the company website, free of charge and easily accessible, for five years. For a refresher on mandatory content, see our guide to who must file the EINF and what it must contain.
What the CNMV and the ICAC say in the meantime
Both supervisors have issued joint statements precisely to cover this gap. The points worth keeping:
- From 1 January 2025, and while the transposing rule is not in force, they consider it acceptable to present non-financial information using the ESRS, subject to certain conditions.
- Using the ESRS does not release you from Ley 11/2018. Companies must still meet every requirement of the Spanish law.
- Some content required by Ley 11/2018 is not expressly required by the ESRS: country-by-country tax information, including profits, taxes paid and public subsidies received, and certain workforce indicators broken down by sex, age and contract type. Move to an ESRS format without adding these and you are non-compliant.
- On assurance, they recommend taking into account the technical verification standard the ICAC published in December 2024 and the international standard ISSA 5000.
The ICAC itself warns on its sustainability portal that the verification information it publishes is conditional on approval of the bill transposing Directive (EU) 2022/2464.
What to do over the next twelve months
It depends which group you are in.
If Ley 11/2018 applies to you and you stay below the new thresholds
You keep filing the non-financial statement every year. The useful work now is to stop treating it as an annual writing exercise and build data traceability: which invoice supports each consumption figure, which system produces each workforce indicator, who signs off each number. That is what cuts next year's cost and what any verifier will ask for.
If you will exceed 1,000 employees and €450m
Your first reporting year is the one starting on or after 1 January 2027. That makes 2026 your baseline year, and it means collection systems have to be running before 2027 begins, not when the report is due in 2028. The recommended sequence is in our CSRD compliance guide for 2026, and the materiality work is covered in the article on EINF verification and materiality analysis.
If you supply a company in scope
You will receive questionnaires even though you do not report. The ceiling on what can be asked of you is the voluntary standard based on the VSME, adopted on 3 July 2026 in a separate delegated act. Worth knowing before the first questionnaire lands: we cover it in the article on the VSME voluntary standard for SMEs.
Frequently asked questions
Has the Spanish sustainability reporting law been approved?
We have found no record of approval or publication in the Official Gazette. The bill was approved by the Council of Ministers on 29 October 2024 and, according to the CNMV and ICAC joint statement of November 2025, was still awaiting parliamentary approval.
Do I still have to file the EINF if the CSRD no longer applies to me?
Yes, if you exceed the Ley 11/2018 thresholds. That law is in force and its obligation is independent of the CSRD raising its own thresholds.
Can I use the ESRS to prepare my EINF?
The CNMV and the ICAC consider it acceptable, but you have to add the content Ley 11/2018 requires and the ESRS do not expressly ask for, such as country-by-country tax information.
When will the final content of the Spanish law be known?
When it is approved and published in the Official Gazette. The European transposition deadline falls in March 2027, so that is the natural window.
Will assurance move to reasonable at some point?
No. Directive (EU) 2026/470 removed that plan. The level is and will remain limited assurance.
What about first-wave companies that now fall below the thresholds?
They keep reporting financial years 2025 and 2026 unless their member state expressly exempts them. They are not exempt by default.
What neither rule changes is that everything starts with a well-built emissions figure that can be traced back to its source document. Our carbon footprint solution is designed so that work serves today's EINF and the 2028 sustainability report without being redone.
