CSRD's 2027 Supplier Data Cap Does Not Cover CSDDD Requests
CSRD's 2027 cap limits which data EU customers can require from qualifying U.S. suppliers. CSDDD requests face a separate test of necessity and alternative sources.
Primary lensTrade policy
Sub-topicPolicy monitoring
Evidence base7 records used
Use casePolicy monitoring
The EU's new rules give U.S. suppliers a concrete way to review a European customer's 2027 sustainability questionnaire. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) value-chain cap limits the information a reporting company can require from qualifying suppliers. Its ceiling is the list in Annex II of the EU's new voluntary reporting regulation. Sending a supplier the entire reporting standard does not make every field compulsory.
That protection has a defined purpose. The expressly preserves requests made for other purposes, including EU due diligence. The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) applies a separate test to information needed for an in-depth assessment. A field beyond the reporting cap may therefore warrant a different response when it addresses a specific adverse impact.
For counsel at a U.S. supplier, the decision is which fields to contest in the customer's questionnaire. The answer turns on the requested information, its purpose and the relevant implementation date. These are adopted rules with different application schedules. They do not establish an immediate, universal right to disregard a contract signed in 2026.
September's regulation narrows the reporting checklist
Commission Delegated Regulation 2026/1560, published on September 21, separates the voluntary standard in Annex I from the information cap in Annex II. Article 3 says the cap comprises only the latter's datapoints. Its application begins with financial years starting on or after January 1, 2027.
The distinction changes how a supplier should review a template. Annex II includes estimated gross Scope 1 and location-based Scope 2 emissions for undertakings with more than ten employees. It does not include the supplier's own Scope 3 inventory or the standard's C3 disclosures on emissions-reduction targets and climate transition. A request for every item in the comprehensive module would exceed this reporting ceiling.
Nor does inclusion in Annex II create a duty for the supplier to report. The Commission's explanation of the cap distinguishes what a customer may request from what it may require for CSRD reporting. It also says customers should seek only the information they need, rather than automatically demanding the maximum.
U.S. suppliers can qualify for the protection
The amended Accounting Directive defines a protected undertaking by its place in a reporting company's value chain and an average employee count of no more than 1,000 during the preceding financial year, assessed at its balance-sheet date. The buyer may rely on a self-declaration unless it knows, or should reasonably know, that the declaration is manifestly incorrect.
The adopted revised ESRS, paragraph 66 of ESRS 1, expressly extend the limitation to non-EU undertakings in the reporting company's upstream and downstream value chain. That regulation enters into force on November 10, 2026 and generally applies from financial years beginning in 2027. Its overseas coverage is relevant to American suppliers even when they have no EU establishment.
Under the amended reporting provisions, excess information may still be requested, but the reporting company must identify it and inform the protected supplier of its right to decline. Contract terms requiring excess information for CSRD reporting are not binding under the prescribed regime. Enforcement against a particular customer depends on the applicable national implementation and contract law. Counsel should verify that position before advising a supplier to refuse performance.
CSDDD requires a reason for the extra information
The cap's due-diligence exception does not give a customer an unrestricted alternative route. Article 8 of the consolidated CSDDD distinguishes initial scoping based on reasonably available information from an in-depth assessment of areas where adverse impacts are most likely and most severe.
For the in-depth assessment, information requested from business partners must be necessary. Where the partner has fewer than 5,000 employees, it may be sought only when it cannot reasonably be obtained by other means. Those conditions govern the requesting company's assessment. They do not impose a general duty on every supplier to complete every questionnaire.
The thresholds also differ. A supplier with 1,500 employees would be outside the CSRD cap's headcount protection but below CSDDD's 5,000-employee information threshold. Neither figure alone determines whether the supplier is directly regulated under either directive.
For a smaller supplier, a blanket refusal based on Annex II could miss a legitimate request concerning an adverse impact. A customer invoking CSDDD should nevertheless be able to explain the assessment for which the information is necessary and why existing information is insufficient. Asking for that explanation is a practical response, not a new statutory disclosure procedure imposed on the customer.
One questionnaire can contain different requests
The comparison below assumes a U.S. supplier with 250 employees that qualifies for the reporting cap. It describes the adopted rules as of October 21, 2026, subject to their application dates and national implementation. The reporting entries follow Regulation 2026/1560, Annexes I and II. The assessment entry follows CSDDD Article 8.
Requested information
Relevant limit
Response to consider
Supplier's Scope 1 and location-based Scope 2 emissions for CSRD reporting
Within Annex II through B3 paragraph 33
Check the period and information needed. Inclusion does not itself compel disclosure
Supplier's own Scope 3 inventory for CSRD reporting
Outside Annex II
Ask the customer to identify the excess request and its voluntary status
C3 information on emissions targets and climate transition for CSRD reporting
Outside Annex II
Contest its treatment as compulsory reporting data
Site-specific evidence necessary for a CSDDD in-depth assessment
Necessary information that cannot reasonably be obtained by other means
Identify the unresolved adverse-impact question and the missing evidence
Calling the whole spreadsheet due diligence does not settle the legal basis of each request. Equally, a field's absence from Annex II does not dispose of a request under another law. A customer's own purchasing policy may raise a contractual question beyond both tests.
Guidance will be tested against actual supplier demands
The EU-U.S. framework's sustainability commitment calls for efforts to prevent undue restrictions on transatlantic trade. For suppliers, a useful measure of further relief will be whether buyers can resolve more assessments with information they already hold. CSDDD Article 19 gives guidance due by July 26, 2027 a role in risk factors, data sources and assessment methods. That can influence when more information is needed without erasing the reporting cap's due-diligence exception.
The calendar prevents those protections from being treated as one immediate remedy. Directive 2026/470 sets March 19, 2027 for transposition of its reporting amendments. CSDDD transposition is due July 26, 2028, with application from July 26, 2029. Existing national laws and commercial demands require their own assessment. Traverse's earlier analysis of Directive 2024/1760 and the three EU forums for Washington's CSDDD requests explains which changes require guidance, legislation or national action.
For the 2027 questionnaire, mark each disputed field against Annex II and ask the customer to identify any separate legal or commercial basis. When CSDDD guidance arrives, revisit the requests that turn on missing evidence and reasonable alternative sources. That is where implementation could reduce supplier work without changing which companies the directive covers.
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