do we have independent board members question to fill in

Independence is usually only relevant to a supervisory board

For most SME structures with only a management board or board of directors, this question is straightforward to answer with "no" or "not applicable": without a supervisory board or separate overseers, there is nothing to test for independence. The question comes from the governance module of questionnaires and concerns whether there are directors or overseers without business or personal ties to the enterprise, management or shareholders — so no family, no supplier, no (former) employee.

If the enterprise does have a supervisory board or advisory board, the answer is only "yes" if you can demonstrate who holds that independent position and why. Supporting documentation is usually a list of the board with function, appointment date and a statement of independence, or simply the absence of a business relationship in the records. If you do not have that overview readily available, then "no" with an explanation ("no supervisory board") is the safest answer — a "yes" without underlying documentation cannot be justified once the client asks for it. This question is often in the same section as the question about who is on the board and how it is composed; it is efficient to answer both at the same time from the same source.

Where this comes from: the governance indicators of VSME

The question about independent board members does not come from a law, but from the voluntary VSME standard of EFRAG, the basic module for non-listed SME enterprises that banks and large clients use as the basis for their own sustainability questionnaires under the CSRD Directive (Directive (EU) 2022/2464). Because VSME is a voluntary framework, there is no legal threshold or percentage — the standard of "independent" is filled in by the client themselves for each questionnaire, so always read the explanation of the question in the client's portal. If that explanation is missing, it is advisable to use the standard definition: no business or family ties with management or shareholders. If there is also a question about a reporting procedure in the same list, then the explanation of the whistleblower procedure question helps to complete that governance section in one go.