The European Securities and Markets Authority has published a draft amendment to the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) Regulatory Technical Standard (RTS) to integrate the 2025 update of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) taxonomy. The update would make the 2025 taxonomy mandatory for annual financial reports covering financial years starting on or after 1 January 2026, with voluntary use for 2025 reports if the RTS is adopted in time. The revised taxonomy reflects recent IFRS developments, notably IFRS 18, which will replace IAS 1 and applies for annual reporting periods from 1 January 2027 with earlier application allowed, and IFRS 19, which ESMA notes has limited impact on listed companies but supports digitalised reporting for non-listed subsidiaries. To ease transition, the RTS would include both the existing IAS 1 taxonomy and the new IFRS 18 taxonomy, enabling issuers and software vendors to test the new tags ahead of mandatory use; taxonomy elements for IFRS 18 and IFRS 19 may only be used once those standards have been formally endorsed at EU level, with endorsement expected in early 2026. The draft RTS has been submitted to the European Commission for approval, and ESMA plans to publish the annual update of the ESEF Reporting Manual in 2025 with additional implementation guidance.
European Securities and Markets Authority 2025-09-11
European Securities and Markets Authority amends ESEF technical standard to incorporate the 2025 IFRS taxonomy including IFRS 18 and IFRS 19
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) proposed amending the European Single Electronic Format Regulatory Technical Standard to incorporate the 2025 International Financial Reporting Standards taxonomy. This mandates using the 2025 taxonomy for financial reports from 2026, with optional use for 2025 reports if adopted in time. The draft RTS, submitted to the European Commission, includes provisions for testing new tags and awaits EU endorsement of IFRS 18 and IFRS 19, expected in early 2026.