Legal Regulation of Public Non-Financial Reporting in Foreign Countries

Nowadays, the issues of sustainable development, environmental corporate social responsibility are increasingly reflected in the agenda of international fora and national development strategies. However, the implementation of such strategies and achievement of the indicators set eventually depend on the actions of particular companies.

In this regard, states, as well as international governmental and non-governmental organizations, are actively developing standards on public non-financial reporting, submission or publication of which, depending on jurisdiction, may be mandatory or voluntary. The submission of such reports may often be a criterion for obtaining certain benefits or a condition for the listing of securities at the stock exchange.

The purpose of this research is to analyze how individual states approach the regulation of public non-financial reporting. In particular, the research addresses the following issues:

• whether the submission of non-financial reports is mandatory;
• which economic actors are subject to the disclosure requirements;
• what is the information to be disclosed;
• what is the procedure for information disclosure;
• whether there are any incentives for disclosure of information or sanctions for failure to comply with reporting requirements.

The subject-matter of this research was the legislation of the four BRICS countries (Brazil, India, China, and the RSA), as well as the USA, the EU and Germany in particular.