The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is consulting on its regulatory technical standards on the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF). From 1 January 2020, issuers listed on regulated markets will be required to prepare their annual financial reports (AFR) in an ESEF. The idea is to make submissions easier for issuers and to facilitate accessibility, analysis and comparability for investors and regulators. ESMA is proposing that the AFR should be published in PDF format and the IFRS consolidated financial statements be reported as structured electronic data in XBRL or iXBRL. Until either taxonomies for all national GAAPs or a EU core taxonomy are available, individual financial statements should be allowed, but not required, to be made public in a structured format.
The consultation closes on 24 December 2015.