EU Moving To XBRL for Listed Companies

Following is a communication from Piotr MADZIAR, Directorate General Internal Market and Services, European Commission:

The EU legislative process for transparency in financial reporting, to which XBRL amendments were introduced earlier in 2012, is going on. This week (18 September 2012) the Legal Committee (JURI) – leading committee for that legislation - adopted its reports on relevant draft directives:

In harmonisation of transparency requirements for listed companies JURI proposes:

1)    From 1 January 2018 all financial annual reports shall be prepared in a single electronic reporting format.
2)    European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) shall develop standards, such as XBRL by 31 December 2015.
3)    European Commission is empowered to adopt the standards.
4)    Before the adoption of the regulatory technical standards the Commission, together with ESMA, shall carry out an adequate assessment of possible electronic reporting formats and conduct appropriate tests in all Member States.'

In the recital of the directive for annual accounts/accounting regime for non-listed entities:

1)    The Member States are strongly encouraged to develop electronic publication systems that allow undertakings to file accounting data, including statutory financial statements, only once and in a form that allows multiple users to access and use the data easily.
2)    The Commission is encouraged to explore means for a harmonised electronic format for reporting such as preparing financial statements in XBRL, such systems should, however, not be burdensome to small and medium-sized undertakings.

You may search for the exact wording of the proposed amendments and their adoption status on the JURI web page:

Normally reports of the Committee are then negotiated with the Commission and the Council of the European Union, and subject to a vote in a plenary session.

Best regards from Brussels.
Piotr MADZIAR
European Commission
Directorate General Internal Market and Services