Implementation of the CSRD in Poland

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The adoption of the law on sustainability reporting in Poland is an important signal for Polish companies. Companies that have already implemented reporting systems will see their forward-looking measures confirmed. Companies that have not yet taken any steps in the area of sustainability are now receiving a clear call to quickly adapt their business activities to the new legal situation and the changed market conditions.

The CSRD was implemented by amending the law, in particular the Accounting Act. The Polish law adopts many of the requirements of the directive without significantly changing its meaning. Like the Directive, it stipulates that the sustainability report will be part of the management report and refers to the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) with regard to the detailed content and preparation of the report.

The sustainability reporting obligations apply primarily to limited liability companies and joint stock companies that meet the statutory criteria. In addition, limited partnerships limited by shares and certain general partnerships and limited partnerships are also subject to reporting requirements, depending on the composition of their shareholders. The last category of companies subject to reporting requirements includes insurance companies, reinsurance companies and national banks. 

The Polish Accounting Act specifies cases in which companies subject to reporting requirements can be exempted from the obligation to prepare their own sustainability report. This primarily concerns subsidiaries of companies based in the European Economic Area (EEA), provided that the Polish company is included in their reporting.  In addition, subsidiaries must disclose in their management report that they are making use of the exemption. They are also obliged to provide information about the parent company and the internet address where the sustainability report prepared by the parent company can be accessed.  In addition, there is an obligation to provide a translation of the management report into Polish and to state the internet address at which the translation is available. 

An exemption from the reporting obligation can also be claimed under similar conditions by capital groups subject to reporting requirements if their subsidiary is based in the EEA. Like the Directive, the Polish law also provides for an exemption for subsidiaries of companies based outside the EEA that are not legally obliged to apply the ESRS. 

The sustainability reports prepared must be audited and confirmed by auditors who are authorized to audit annual financial statements. They are obliged to issue a corresponding audit certificate. As long as auditors are entered in the official register, they may certify the sustainability reports. However, in order to retain this authori-zation, they must take part in mandatory further training by the end of 2026 at the latest.

​Under the previous provisions of the Accounting Act, many Polish companies were required to disclose non-financial information in their management report. Prior to the implementation of the CSRD, companies were required to disclose in this report the key non-financial performance indicators related to their operations, as well as information on employees and the environment. However, this information was not standardized and the way in which companies complied with this obligation was not specifically reviewed by the auditors.  

Therefore, although reporting on non-financial information is not completely new for Polish companies, in the first years of application of the ESRS it could pose a challenge for those companies that were not previously obliged to apply the mandatory sustainability reporting standards. It is to be expected that many reports will be a first attempt to put this new challenge into practice.

It is important to note that the reporting obligations will indirectly affect a large group of companies, including those that do not prepare their own sustainability report. Many Polish companies operate as part of international capital groups in which the reporting obligations are fulfilled at a central level. The need to prepare a consolidated report must be planned in good time and communicated to the companies belonging to the capital group. It is particularly important to communicate the results of the double materiality to the subsidiaries, together with a list of the data that the group wishes to collect for its own report. Smooth data collection in large capital groups may require the introduction of customized tools or the adaptation of internal procedures to enable the efficient transfer of data to the company responsible for consolidated sustainability reporting.​