Law 11/2018 

Although it is up to your legal advisor to answer this question, you should be aware that for the financial years 2018 to 2020, companies or groups of companies that together have more than 500 employees and meet other requirements will be obliged to do so. From 2021 onwards, the number of employees will be reduced to 250. If your organisation is in this range of employees, we recommend that you make this consultation in order to confirm whether you are subject to Non-Financial Reporting obligations. 

If the organisation is required to prepare Non-Financial Reporting Statements, then these must be verified by an independent service provider. EQA is an independent verifier of NFIs in accordance with article 49.6 of the Commercial Code. 

We solve your doubts about the verification of Non-Financial Information Statements.

Law 11/2018 establishes the need for the verification of Non-Financial Information Statements by an independent service provider. Although the Law does not establish further regulation in relation to that independent service provider, we consider that it should be: 

• Independent from the organisation obliged to present the Non-Financial Information Statement (Obliged Entity). 
• Independent of the firm assisting the organisation in the preparation of the Non-Financial Reporting Statement (Consulting Firm). 
• Independent of the company’s auditor or auditing firm, since the law states that ‘the auditor must only verify that the aforementioned statement of non-financial information is included in the management report or, where appropriate, that the reference to the separate report has been included in the latter’. 

In this sense, the Law itself already refers to the role of verification and certification entities by stating, for example, that EMAS verification (carried out by this type of entity) can serve as evidence of compliance with the Law on environmental matters. 

We solve your doubts about who can verify your Non-Financial Information Statements.

EQA is an inspection, verification and certification body and does not provide advisory or consultancy services in its areas of activity. Our work consists of auditing and, where appropriate, verifying that your organisation’s Non-Financial Information Statements – NFS are in accordance with Law 11/2018 on Non-Financial Information. However, the technicians of each of the Departments offer webinars, courses and guides, most of them free of charge, to help you prepare your Non-Financial Information Statements. 

We solve your doubts about the preparation of Non-Financial Information Statements.

Certainly, many of the elements that should make up the Non-Financial Information Statement are those that have traditionally formed part of the CSR/Sustainability Report, so the information requested by Law 11/2018 can be completed through these Reports. In any case, the organisation must ensure that it complies with the legal requirements established in the Law and, in addition, it must have evidence and other records of compliance insofar as the independent verifier will request that what is included in the Statement of Non-Financial Information corresponds to the reality of the organisation, whether or not it originates from the CSR/Sustainability Report. 

We solve your doubts about the Non-Financial Information Statements in your organisation.