Mapping VSME

It's a wrap!

Today, 16. December 2025, DIN published the mapping and accompanying paper. We are extremely grateful for all expert contributions. We have posted the press release on the DIN website. https://www.din.de/de/din-und-seine-partner/presse/mitteilungen/nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung-normen-mapping-kmu-1254398 

 Seasons greetings from the DIN and EFRAG team!


European Commission Issues Recommendation for VSME

The Commission has today adopted a recommendation on voluntary sustainability reporting for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs). The standard adopted in the recommendation will reduce administrative burden on SMEs by making it easier for them to respond to requests for sustainability information from large companies and financial institutions which are subject to mandatory reporting under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and which have such SMEs in their value chains.

The voluntary standard for SMEs (VSME) was developed by EFRAG, the Commission’s technical advisory body for sustainability reporting. The Commission encourages large companies and financial institutions that seek sustainability information from SMEs to base their requests on the voluntary standard as far as possible. SMEs may also wish to voluntarily report sustainability information to improve their access to sustainable finance and better understand and monitor their own sustainability performance, thereby improving their resilience and competitiveness.

The recommendation includes official translations of VSME to German and French.


Expert input phase closed

DIN and EFRAG thank all experts for their contributions delivered during the meetings and through their deliverables! 
Your voluntary contributions are highly appreciated and help to improve the mapping.

DIN and EFRAG technical staff is now working on consolidating and integrating expert input and produce the peer-reviewed mapping. Subject to change if needed the peer-reviewed mapping is expected to be published in October 2025.

Stay updated for news here!


The involvement of experts for the joint mapping initiative by DIN and EFRAG concluded on the 8th of July 2025.

DIN and EFRAG are now awaiting final expert contributions and will start consolidating the feedback received from July 14th onwards. 



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Background 

In November 2024, a project to map EN/ISO standards with ESRS/VSME was initiated. Initially involving CEN, CENELEC, national standards bodies and EFRAG, this initiative is now led solely by DIN and EFRAG.

The mapping is coordinated by secondees in kind from DIN and EFRAG, with involvement of sustainability reporting professionals.

The VSME is a deliverable of the European Commission's SME Relief Package (September 2023) tasking EFRAG to develop a simple and standardised framework for SMEs to report on ESG issues, creating better opportunities to obtain green financing and thus facilitating the transition to a sustainable economy. In particular, in Action 14 of the SMEs Relief Package it is mentioned that the 'Commission will ensure that SMEs have a simple and standardized framework to report on ESG issues … ensuring the rapid delivery of voluntary standards for non-listed SMEs.'

Objectives Mapping

  • Serve as recommendation and Supporting Guide (SG) for the use of EN/ISO standards in operational practice and for VSME reporting 
  • Optimize resources and leverage the efforts made by organizations to develop and comply with technical standards
  • Support clarity on VSME disclosures and general reporting practice, enhance comparability and drive VSME implementation practice


Based on the objectives of VSME and ISO standards.

Objectives VSME

(BC4.) The purpose of the VSME is to support SMEs in: 

(a) providing information that will help satisfy the data needs of large undertakings requesting sustainability information from their suppliers; 
(b) providing information that will help satisfy data needs from lenders/credit providers and investors, to improve SMEs’ access to finance;  
(c) improving the management of their sustainability issues. This will support their competitive growth and enhance their resilience in the short-, medium-, and long-term, and the VSME can be used as an internal management tool; and 
(d) contributing to a more sustainable and inclusive economy. 

Objectives ISO standards

Standardization is a regulated activity, based on Regulation (EU) 1025/2012 at the European level.  The open, transparent, and consensus-based process among stakeholders at the basis of standards development ensures quality technical content that is widely accepted among companies and organizations and generates confidence among users.

  • Technical standards(CEN, ISO, CENELEC, IEC) facilitate organizations’  progress on ESG objectives  while enabling them to improve the robustness of their reporting
  • Technical standards provide support for sustainability which is highly relevant in all three aspects (environmental, social and governance)
  • Sustainability reporting based on technical standards has a reliable basis
  • Conformity assessment system can significantly simplify the verification of sustainability information. This is a differentiating element of the standardization system