CSDDD versus VS Standard: what is the difference and what do you need to provide?

Two European regulations, both aimed at sustainability, both relevant for SME suppliers. But they ask for different data and have different deadlines. This article sets them side by side.

The VS Standard (Voluntary Standard)

The VS was adopted on 3 July 2026 as a delegated regulation. It is the official successor to the VSME recommendation. The VS defines the maximum sustainability data an SME supplier has to provide to its CSRD-reporting clients. The focus is on quantitative environmental and social data: energy use, emissions, water, waste, workforce data.

The CSDDD (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive)

The CSDDD requires large companies to actively identify, prevent and address human rights and environmental risks in their supply chain. For suppliers this means: you may be asked for declarations on forced labour, child labour, and your due diligence policy. This is qualitative compliance data, not a quantitative sustainability measurement.

Where they overlap

VS Standard B8 (workforce characteristics) and B10 (pay and collective bargaining) partly overlap with what the CSDDD wants to know about employees. But the CSDDD goes further: declarations, policy documents, and an analysis of your own supply chain.

Where they do not overlap

The CSDDD asks for things that are not in the VS Standard: a Modern Slavery Statement, a formal declaration free of forced labour, and a risk analysis of the countries raw materials come from. Those fall outside the VS value chain cap.

That cap is precisely why the distinction matters. For VS data points you can rely on Annex II: a client may not ask for more than it lists. For a CSDDD declaration that cap does not apply — the question comes from a different directive and follows its own rules.

How verified.supply covers both

The VS profile covers the quantitative sustainability data (B1–B11). The CSDDD module covers the qualitative declarations (HR1–HR8). Together they form your complete compliance profile as a supplier.