Compliance guides
The regulation database answers “what is this rule”. These answer the questions people ask before they know which rule they need — which is most people, most of the time.
Start here
Every figure in these guides is carried from a regulation page in the database, where it is cited to the gazette, official journal or authority it came from.
- Which sustainability regulations apply to my company?Most people start by asking which rules apply to their industry. Few sustainability regulations are industry-specific. They attach to where you are established, what you place on a market, what you operate, and how large you are — and those four tests give different answers.
- CSRD, CSDDD and EUDR: which is which, and which applies to youCSRD, CSDDD and EUDR are often confused. A common error is attributing a 5% of turnover penalty to CSRD — that figure belonged to CSDDD and has since changed. One is a reporting rule, one a conduct rule, one a market-access rule; each binds different entities for different reasons.
- Who must comply with EUDR?EUDR has no size threshold. It asks what you place on the EU market, not how large you are or where you are established — and that reaches a chocolate manufacturer, a furniture retailer, a tyre importer and a Brazilian soya exporter by different routes.
- How to prepare for CSRDThe first step is not a gap analysis but a scope check. Directive (EU) 2026/470 cut CSRD's reach by roughly 85–90%, and preparation work under way in 2026 may be being done by companies no longer in scope.
- CBAM or UK CBAM: which one applies to you?The EU and UK carbon border mechanisms share a name and a concept but differ in sectors, thresholds, dates and authorities. An importer into both markets runs two separate compliance exercises; reusing the EU scope assessment for the UK will get the answer wrong.
- What is a legal register, and does your company need one?A legal register lists the legal requirements binding your organisation, with an assessment of compliance for each. Building one is straightforward; keeping it current is not. An out-of-date register is worse than none, because it is relied upon.