The voluntary sustainability standard for SMEs (VSME)
The EU-endorsed standard a smaller company can report with, and the ceiling for what larger buyers may ask of it.
Commission Recommendation (EU) 2025/1710; Directive (EU) 2026/470 (Omnibus I), value-chain cap
Recommended by the Commission in July 2025. A delegated act for the value-chain cap standard was adopted in July 2026, subject to scrutiny. Voluntary.
The VSME is the sustainability reporting standard EFRAG wrote for companies that are not obliged to report, recommended by the Commission in July 2025. Nobody has to use it. Its weight comes from the other side: Omnibus I makes it the ceiling for what an in-scope company may ask of a smaller partner, so a buyer questionnaire that follows it is one you can answer once and reuse.
What the standard contains
- A Basic Module, disclosures B1 to B11: general information, energy and emissions, pollution, water, biodiversity and waste, the workforce, and business conduct.
- A Comprehensive Module on top, for companies whose buyers or lenders ask for more: targets, transition plans, human rights in the value chain and a closer look at risks.
- Both describe the company, not a product. Product facts enter as the supply chain and materials behind the business.
Why it matters even if you never report
- The cap: an in-scope buyer may not ask a smaller partner for more than the voluntary standard covers, with narrow exceptions.
- Questionnaires that map to it can be answered from one record; those that do not are worth a question back.
- Banks and insurers increasingly ask for the same disclosures when they assess a smaller company.
- One format for every buyer beats a bespoke answer per account.
The standard sets no passport field. But its supplier and origin disclosures describe the same chain the passports map product by product, so what a brand reports can be compared with what its passports show. Consistency between the two is the point; a gap is the first thing a reader notices.
What to prepare
- Read the Basic Module once and note which disclosures your product record already answers.
- Keep weights, fibre breakdowns and origins per style and period, so quantity questions are a filter rather than a project.
- Ask a buyer which module they want before filling in a bespoke form.
One record
What the Seamdex record already carries
- The supply chain by tier with countries, facilities, fibre origin and certificates per style: the product facts behind the supplier and origin disclosures a report may carry.
- Garment and packaging weights and the fibre breakdown per style, size and purchase order, exportable per period.
The record carries the product data a report or an answer to an authority rests on. Not a compliance claim: reporting and due diligence duties sit with the company.
FAQ
Questions on this rule
Sources
- Commission Recommendation (EU) 2025/1710 (EUR-Lex) checked October 2026
- EFRAG, the voluntary sustainability reporting standard for non-listed SMEs checked October 2026
- European Commission, corporate sustainability reporting checked October 2026
Related rules
Regulatory dates last reviewed October 2026. Future dates are expectations, not law. This guide describes the rules; it is not legal advice.
