The VS Standard replaces the VSME: what changes for suppliers?

What is the VS Standard?

On 3 July 2026, the European Commission adopted two delegated acts: one for the revised ESRS (the reporting standard for large companies) and one for the new Voluntary Standard (VS) — the official successor to the VSME.

The VS Standard is not a completely new standard. Changes compared to the VSME were deliberately kept to a minimum to ensure alignment with the revised ESRS. In practice, this means: if your company was already working with the VSME, you barely need to start over.

The VS Standard is now a delegated regulation — meaning it has the force of EU law once the scrutiny period by the European Parliament and Council (two months, extendable) has passed.

What changes concretely?

For most SME suppliers, little changes in substance. The seven themes of the VSME basic module (B1 to B7) remain the core of the VS Standard. The data points are largely the same; terminology has been slightly adjusted to better align with the revised ESRS.

What does change:

The name. The standard is now officially called "VS" or "Voluntary Standard", no longer VSME. You will increasingly encounter this term in search results and in communications from your clients.

The legal status. The VS Standard is no longer a recommendation but a delegated regulation. This makes it binding as the reference point for the value chain cap — large companies may legally not request more from suppliers with fewer than 1,000 employees than the VS Standard covers.

The timeline. The VS Standard applies to financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2027, with early adoption permitted from 1 January 2026 once the regulation enters into force.

What does this mean if you were already working with VSME?

Good news: you don't need to start over. The VS Standard is so close in substance to the VSME that an existing VSME profile can be presented as a VS Standard report without modifications.

verified.supply will update the platform terminology once the VS Standard officially enters into force. Your completed data points remain unchanged. As a user, you don't need to do anything.

For companies that haven't started yet: begin now with the VSME basic module. That's the fastest route to a fully VS Standard-compliant profile, and the data you collect is immediately usable once large clients request it — expected from the last quarter of 2026.

Are you a buyer? Here's what changes for your supplier process

As a CSRD-reporting company, the VS Standard has direct implications for how you can request data from your suppliers. The value chain cap — the legal limit on what you may ask from suppliers with fewer than 1,000 employees — is now anchored in a delegated act. That means less room for custom questionnaires, more need for a standardised incoming data process.

verified.supply gives you as a buyer an enterprise dashboard to invite your suppliers, track progress, and receive standardised VS Standard data directly importable into your CSRD reporting tool. Sign up as an enterprise buyer at verified.supply.