The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (“CS3D”) was provisionally agreed at a political level in December 2023, and confirmed by COREPER in a revised version in March 2024. Once formally approved, this new law will have significant impacts on many EU companies and non-EU companies active in the EU, as well as on their value chains throughout the world. In this first installment of our new “CS3D Explainer Series”, we answer the following four key questions: “Which companies are covered?,” “What will be their new obligations?,” “Why should they comply?” and “When will this start to apply?”

The proliferation of sustainability-related disclosures is a key trend in the prevailing socio-economic and legislative landscape. Tax – an increasingly important metric in the sustainability agenda – is starting to follow suit. In recent years, global, regional, and domestic measures have emerged with a view to increasing tax transparency, and this trend shows no sign of abating.
In this article, which is part of our ESG & Tax series, we outline the evolving tax transparency landscape and identify some of the key trends for businesses to get to grips with.

On 17 August 2023, the EU Commission adopted the implementing regulation regarding the reporting rules applicable during the transitional phase of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
The CBAM formally entered into force on 17 May 2023. It requires importers to report the so-called ’embedded emissions’ of certain (mostly industrial) products and of electricity imported into the EU in order to ensure equivalent carbon pricing for imports and domestic (i.e., EU) products and electricity.

On 18 July 2023, the Dutch government published draft legislation to implement the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which was adopted on 14 December 2022 by the EU. The government has invited stakeholders and other interested parties to provide feedback on the draft bill before 10 September 2023. The draft bill requires certain companies to report on sustainability issues and addresses the audit requirements for auditors and accounting firms for the corporate sustainability report. It also expands the reporting obligations for listed companies.

As rapid transformation and changing legislation carve the future business landscape, tax considerations increasingly intersect with your most strategic business decisions. At Baker & McKenzie, we look at tax from every angle. Against this backdrop, we are eager to share our highly anticipated program “Unlocking the intersection between ESG and Tax” with you, which we were proud to launch at our 18th Annual Global Tax Planning & Transactional Workshop “Embracing the Changing World of Tax”.