Proposed changes to the EU ESG legislation: the first Omnibus package

Recently, the European Commission proposed to simplify certain Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) legislation in order to facilitate competitiveness and unlock additional investment capacity of the European Union. As part of the ESG legislation, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and the EU Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance Regulation (EU Taxonomy Regulation) were adopted between the years 2020 and 2024.

The (pre-trial) right of inspection: excludable?

The new law of evidence, which came into force in early 2025, has already been the subject of extensive discussion and debate. One of the most striking changes is the introduction of the pre-trial right of inspection. This allows a party to request data – such as written documents and electronic information – from a counterparty or third party, without court intervention. In principle, the counterparty and third party are obliged to comply. Under former law, a party had the right of inspection only when granted by the court in legal proceedings. An as of yet unanswered question is whether and to what extent the (pre-trial) right of inspection can be excluded. In other words: can parties agree that they are not obliged to comply with a (future) information request?

StaRUG proceeding of VARTA AG

Further to our WHOA specials (see the links below), we would like to draw your attention to a recent and interesting StaRUG proceeding in Germany.

VARTA AG, a German manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries operating worldwide, filed a start-of-procedure declaration regarding a StaRUG proceeding with the Stuttgart District Court on 21 July 2024. The company is in a state of financial distress and the restructuring of its debts is necessary to avoid an insolvency proceeding.