European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) – Scope & Reporting Requirements

Overview

The European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) is an EU reporting requirement that standardises the electronic format of annual financial reports published by issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on EU regulated markets.

ESEF aims to improve the accessibility, comparability, and transparency of financial information by requiring issuers to publish their annual financial reports in a machine-readable electronic format. This enables regulators, investors, and other stakeholders to analyse and compare financial statements more efficiently.

ESEF requirements apply to annual financial reports for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2020, with phased-in tagging requirements.

Legal Context

ESEF is established under the Transparency Directive (2004/109/EC) and implemented through Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/815.

The regulation is developed and maintained by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), which is responsible for:

• Defining the ESEF reporting format

• Publishing the ESEF taxonomy

• Issuing technical guidance and updates

Supervision and enforcement are carried out by national competent authorities in each EU Member State.

Applicability

ESEF applies to:

• Issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on EU regulated markets

• Companies required to publish annual financial reports under the Transparency Directive

This includes:

• Listed companies

• Banks and insurers with listed securities

• Other regulated issuers

Certain exemptions may apply, including:

• Issuers preparing financial statements under non-IFRS accounting frameworks

• Specific transitional or jurisdictional exemptions defined by national authorities

Obligations

Under ESEF, issuers are required to:

• Prepare annual financial reports in XHTML format

• Apply inline XBRL (iXBRL) tagging to consolidated IFRS financial statements

• Use the official ESEF taxonomy as published by ESMA

• Ensure consistency between human-readable and machine-readable disclosures

ESEF applies a phased tagging approach, with detailed tagging required primarily for primary financial statements and selected notes.

Reporting

ESEF introduces specific technical and data requirements, including:

• XHTML document structure compliance

• Inline XBRL tagging of IFRS consolidated financial statements

• Use of ESMA-defined taxonomy elements

• Application of anchoring and extension rules where necessary

• Technical validation and consistency checks

Annual financial reports must be submitted to:

• National filing mechanisms

• Officially appointed storage mechanisms

• Market operators, depending on jurisdiction

Errors or inconsistencies in ESEF filings may lead to:

• Regulatory scrutiny

• Required re-filings

• Delays in publication

Reporting

Issuers commonly face challenges such as:

• Manual or semi-manual iXBRL tagging processes

• Managing ESEF taxonomy updates

• Ensuring consistency between financial statements and tagged data

• Handling taxonomy extensions and anchoring rules

• Maintaining audit-ready documentation

These challenges increase reporting complexity and operational risk, particularly for issuers with limited internal XBRL expertise.

REGREP Solution

REGREP supports ESEF as a regulatory reporting infrastructure, enabling issuers to prepare and manage ESEF-compliant reports in a structured and controlled manner.

REGREP provides:

• Structured ingestion of financial statement data

• iXBRL tagging aligned with the ESMA ESEF taxonomy

• Validation against ESEF technical and taxonomy rules

• Controlled handling of extensions and anchoring

• Audit-ready, reproducible reporting outputs

• API-first integration with finance and consolidation systems

REGREP supports the technical preparation and validation of ESEF reports and does not replace accounting judgement, audit responsibilities, or regulatory approval.

• European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)

Links are provided for reference purposes only. REGREP is not affiliated with or endorsed by any regulatory authority.

• EBA XBRL Reporting

• Regulatory reporting infrastructure for banks