what is VSME and why do I have to complete it

Basic module of VSME covers most customer questions

VSME stands for Voluntary SME standard: the voluntary reporting standard established by EFRAG for non-listed SME undertakings. You are not receiving the list because you yourself fall under the CSRD, but because your customer does — Directive (EU) 2022/2464 requires large and listed companies to also collect sustainability data from their suppliers, and VSME is the format they use to pass this on to SMEs. The basic module is the part that virtually every customer uses: general company data, energy and emissions data, and a number of policy questions about personnel and governance.

The questions that come back are largely the same as in any other supply chain list: legal form and place of establishment, number of employees, and whether there are policies for example on working conditions or anti-corruption. Where there is no source document for it — an emissions figure you have not had calculated, a policy text that does not exist — you enter nothing and do not confirm that answer with yes. Basic data such as the establishment address of the company and annual turnover are usually already established in the supply chain file and do not need to be researched again.

Why this is separate from a mark or certificate

VSME is not a certification and not a mark: EFRAG establishes the standard, but there is no body that checks whether your answers are correct. This is different from a framework such as ISO/IEC 27001, where Annex A describes concrete control measures that an auditor can verify. With VSME, only you, as the person completing it, confirm that an answer is correct — the customer who sends out the list in turn uses those answers to comply with their own obligation under Directive (EU) 2022/2464.