A law proposal to comply with the 2014/95/ EU Directive has been drafted by the Office of the Registrar of Companies and Official Receiver, as an amendment to the Companies Law, which was voted by the House of Representatives on 19/05/2017. The new legislation comes into immediate effect, hence the preparation of the first non-financial report is expected by the companies and institutions concerned in 2018 on the basis of data / non-financial information for the year 2017.
On 2 June 2017 came into effect the Companies Law (Amendment) (No. 3) of 2017, the purpose of which is to harmonise national legislation with the European Directive 2014/95/EU as regards disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large undertakings and groups.
NFS/CNFS is required to be prepared by public interest entities which are:
(i) companies defined as large companies on the basis of the criteria in the legislation, and whose average number of employees during the financial year exceeds 500, or 151Α(1)
(ii) parent companies of a group which is defined as a large group on the basis of the criteria in the legislation, and whose average number of employees during the financial year, on a consolidated basis, exceeds 500.
The NFS/CNFS includes information for an understanding of the development, performance, position and impact of the activity of the company/group, relating to, as a minimum, the following matters:
(i) environmental, social and employee matters,
(ii) respect for human rights,
(iii) anti-corruption, and
(iv) bribery matters.
The legislation requires that the statutory auditor checks whether the NFS/CNFS has been provided and whether the NFS/CNFS has been prepared in accordance with the applicable legal requirements.
For informing the companies for the new legislation the Directorate General for European Programmes, Coordination and Development, organized a CSR Conference on “Reporting Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability” of June 12th 2017 falls within the context of promoting CSR and awareness on the provisions of the new law.
In the meantime, as anticipated, the European Commission has prepared and adopted on the 26th June 2017 a Guide with Non-Binding Guidelines on the methodology to be used for Reporting Non-Financial Information, as per Directive 2014/95/EU.
