UKEB publishes comment letter on proposed amendments to the IFRS Foundation Constitution

  • UK Endorsement Board (UKEB) Image

06 Aug, 2021

The UK Endorsement Board (UKEB) has published its comment letter on the amendments to the IFRS Foundation Constitution that the Trustees of the IFRS Foundation have proposed in order to enable the creation of a new sustainability standards board under the governance of the Foundation.

The UKEB 'broadly supports' the proposed constitutional amendments.  However the UKEB makes some detailed observations where it believes that further development of the exposure draft is required:

  • It encourages the Foundation to define the scope, mandate and working relationships of the two boards further highlighting that "this will be critical where there will be 'common ownership' of key elements to avoid any potential duplication and confusion".
  • It recommends that the Foundation take the initial steps to ensure that an Interpretations Committee is mobilised as a priority.
  • It does not support the proposal in paragraph 54 of the Constitution that a simple majority is required to publish an Exposure Draft or a final Standard. In the absence of an explanation for the lower threshold, the UKEB recommends equivalence with the IASB voting framework per paragraph 35 of the Constitution.
  • It proposes that the International Sustainability Standard Board's (ISSB's) associated standards should be called "International Corporate Sustainability Reporting Standards’ (ICSRS)".  The UKEB indicates that "this would make the ‘corporate’ or ‘reporting’ nature of the new standards clear and avoid stakeholder confusion on the mandate and scope of the standards".
  • The UKEB agrees with the proposed consequential amendment that the Foundation’s Executive Director shall engage with both the IASB and ISSB Chairs regarding operational decisions of the Foundation and its staff.

The full comment letter is available on the UKEB website.

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