Minutes from the Second Meeting of the Experts Group on Non-Financial Disclosure by Companies

The European Commisssion's Expert Group on disclosure of non-financial information by EU companies held its second meeting on 12 September 2011. Minutes from that meeting are now available on the EC's website (PDF 57k).

The discussions of the expert group focused on whether a principles-based approach, rather than a detailed, rules-based one should be chosen; whether existing international frameworks are possible references for principles-based legislation, including the UN Global Compact, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Companies, the UN "Protect, Respect and Remedy" Framework for Business and Human Rights, as well as the ISO 26000 and the IASB Management Commentary; whether legislation should mandate a set of specific topics to be covered by non-financial reports; whether a disclosure requirement should take the form of a general reporting obligation; and whether an obligation to disclose non-financial information will have positive effects on business accountability, company performance and capital markets in general.

The discussions were based on two non-papers circulated to the mebers of the expert groupp ahead of the meeting and included as Annex 2 to the minutes.

The experts are now invited to submit written comments on the issues discussed. The next meeting is expected to take place on 30 September 2011. A legislative proposal on the disclosure of non-financial information by companies is planned for the first half of 2012.

More information on international developments in integrated reporting is available on our IAS Plus page on integrated and sustainability reporting.