03/12/2015 - EFRAG's Draft Comment Letter to the IFRS Foundation Trustees' Invitation to Comment IFRS Taxonomy Due Process

In November 2015, the Trustees of the IFRS Foundation published their Invitation to Comment IFRS Taxonomy Due Process with a comment deadline by 3 February 2016. The Invitation to Comment addresses the proposed enhanced due process for the development and maintenance of the IFRS Taxonomy. Proposed changes entail giving the IASB a role in reviewing and approving the content of the IFRS Taxonomy.

In July 2015, the IFRS Foundation Trustees published a request for views on their latest review of the structure and effectiveness of the IFRS Foundation. This request for views incorporates specific questions on the role of technology and the IFRS Taxonomy (see related EFRAG project page here).

EFRAG's draft comment letter on the Invitation to Comment IFRS Taxonomy Due Process acknowledges the importance of the IFRS Foundation itself in continuing to develop and maintain an IFRS Taxonomy in order to control the quality of the Taxonomy and the use of the 'IFRS' brand name.  EFRAG supports the IFRS Foundation's goal of having the IFRS Taxonomy recognised as the globally agreed standard to tag and intelligently structure IFRS financial information within a digital report. EFRAG is very much supportive of the Trustees' statement that Taxonomy considerations should not dictate the standard-setting process.

Our draft comment letter expresses concerns on the proposed role of the IASB Board in the approval of the IFRS Taxonomy and we welcome a discussion of the roles and responsibilities of the IASB Board in the IFRS Taxonomy process.

EFRAG seeks comments by 30 January 2016.

Our Draft Letter can be accessed here.