29/05/2019 (Agence Europe) – On Wednesday 29 May, the European Commission adopted the technical regulatory standards developed by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) provided for by the Transparency Directive. The ESEF is the format in which all companies listed on a regulated market in the European Union will be required to prepare their annual financial reports for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2020. Companies will be required to finalise their annual financial reports using the up-to-date digitalised business reporting system XHTML ('eXtensible HyperText Markup Language'). Where annual financial reports contain consolidated financial statements in IFRS, they must be marked up in accordance with XBRL ('eXtensible Business Reporting Language') in accordance with IFRS taxonomy. The data thus labelled will make companies' financial documents more readable and accessible, according to the Commission. (MF)