DPOC discusses shortened comment periods for exposure drafts the IASB might decide to publish

  • DPOC (Due Process Oversight Committee) (mid blue) Image
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16 Apr 2020

The Due Process Oversight Committee (DPOC) of the IFRS Foundation held a conference call today to discuss shortened comment letter periods for two exposure drafts the IASB might decide tomorrow to publish in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At tomorrow's meeting, the IASB will discuss a staff recommendation that the IASB delay by one year the effective date of Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current (Amendments to IAS 1) to annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2023. The delay would require publishing an exposure draft and the staff recommend the changed effective date be exposed with a 30 day comment period. The DPOC followed the staff's explanation that this is a simple amendment and that stakeholders would not be unduly burdened in responding on an accelerated timeframe and would benefit from clarity being available rather sooner than later. All DPOC members voted to approve the 30-day comment period should the IASB decide to move forward with an exposure draft.

The staff also recommend that the IASB amend IFRS 16 Leases to provide lessees with an exemption from assessing whether a COVID-19-related rent concession is a lease modification. The staff recommend that the Board ask the Trustees to approve a 14-day comment period for the proposed amendment. (A comment period of less than 30 days cannot be approved by the DPOC alone, it requires approval of 75% of Trustees.) As the amendment would need to be finalised quickly so that it would benefit a large number of entities and also be available for entities with March 2020 year-ends (the staff think it would be possible to finalise an amendment to IFRS 16 by the end of May 2020), the DPOC agreed unanimously to recommend to the Trustees to approve a 14-day comment period should the IASB decide to move forward with an exposure draft. There will be a non-public Trustee meeting tomorrow.

Note: On 17 April 2020, the IFRS Foundation published a written report of the meeting, which is available here.

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