IESBA IESSA
International Ethics Standards for Sustainability Assurance (incl. Independence Standards), IESBA
Topic : ESG disclosure · Level : Sector-specific
Today
Issued Jan 2025 with ISSA 5000. Effective 15 Dec 2026; value-chain independence rules from 1 Jul 2028.
Summary
IESSA is the IESBA's ethics and independence code for sustainability assurance, issued with ISSA 5000 in January 2025. It applies to every assurance provider, auditor or not, from 15 December 2026. Rules on value-chain entities follow in July 2028.
Who is concerned
- Turnover
- not specified (voluntary standard)
- Employees
- non précisé
- Listed company
- non précisé
- Sectors
- All sectors
- Triggering activities
- Assurance of public or mandated sustainability reports
- Applies to all assurance providers
- Extraterritorial reach
- No
Group engagements that cover value-chain entities trigger independence checks from July 2028.
- Examples
- Audit firm assuring a CSRD statement
- Certifier assuring GHG data
What the law requires
- Ethics and independence for all sustainability assurers
- Same independence level as financial audit
- Limits on non-assurance services to the client
- Independence when assurance covers value-chain entities
Penalties
None from the IESBA; enforced by national ethics and oversight bodies that adopt it.
What this changes for a supplier in China
The assurer of a buyer must stay independent from the data it checks. It will rely on supplier evidence produced and verified by a third party, not on the buyer's own estimates.
Expected evidence
- Third-party verification record
- Clear split between preparer and checker
- Named contacts for assurer queries
Tiers : Tier 1