Guide

ESAP timeline: key dates 2023–2030 and what each one means

Published 29 October 2026 · Dates taken from Regulation (EU) 2023/2859 unless stated otherwise · Sources at the end

The European Single Access Point is built in phases. Some dates have passed, some are fixed in the regulation, and some can still move. This page keeps them in one place and says, for each, what it means for a company that files reports and for anyone who wants to use the data.

13 December 2023 Regulation (EU) 2023/2859 adopted; published in the Official Journal on 20 December 2023.
The legal basis. ESAP, the collection-body model, the phases and the voluntary route all come from this text.
9 January 2024 Regulation enters into force.
Nothing changes yet for filers; ESMA and the European Supervisory Authorities start drafting the technical standards.
29 October 2024 Joint Committee of the ESAs publishes its final report with draft implementing technical standards on collection-body tasks and ESAP functionalities.
First concrete view of the metadata, validations and submission deadlines collection bodies will apply.
July 2025 Commission adopts Implementing Regulations (EU) 2025/1338 (functionalities of ESAP) and 2025/1339 (tasks of collection bodies); published in the Official Journal on 11 July 2025.
The rulebook is final: machine-readable formats, metadata, a free public API, searchability and downloadability requirements.
10 July 2026 Phase 1 — collection bodies start making information available to ESAP: Transparency Directive information (including ESEF annual reports), prospectuses and short-selling disclosures.
If your company is listed on an EU regulated market, your filings since this date are already flowing into ESAP, together with the metadata you (or your filing agent) entered at submission. Nothing is visible to the public yet.
24 November 2026 ESMA Data Day, Paris — ESMA presents the ESAP project and a first prototype of the portal (source: ESMA agenda).
The first public look at how search, entity pages and the API will work. We will publish a plain-language summary.
10 July 2027 ESAP opens: public web portal and API.
From this day, phase-1 information is searchable by name, LEI, type, date, size, country, sector and collection body, and retrievable by machines. Errors and inconsistencies in filings become visible EU-wide.
10 January 2028 Phase 2 — a second group of EU acts is added. Same day: the ESAs must submit to the Commission the draft technical standards on metadata, formats and templates for voluntary submissions.
The first time anyone will know what a voluntary submission (possible from 2030) will actually look like. Expect a public consultation beforehand.
10 July 2028 Machine translation and the notification service must be available on ESAP.
A document filed in Polish, Italian or Finnish becomes readable to an investor in any EU language without the company doing anything; users can subscribe to new filings.
10 January 2029 Commission review report on ESAP due. The Commission may, by delegated act, postpone by up to 36 months the inclusion of information not yet covered if it finds severe and pervasive difficulties.
The main political checkpoint. In 2026 some issuer associations have argued for a critical reassessment of structured reporting and ESAP, while analyst associations have defended it. The review may change later phases; the phase-1 dates have already applied.
9 January 2030 Member States must have designated at least one collection body for voluntary submissions.
The door for unlisted companies is being built; one day later it opens.
10 January 2030 Phase 3 — full scope. Any entity governed by the law of a Member State may submit information to ESAP voluntarily, through the collection body of the country of its registered office.
The first day an unlisted company can present its data in the same place and format investors use for listed peers. Voluntary information is presented separately and flagged as possibly not meeting all requirements and not being updated.

What can still move: phase-2 and phase-3 content, and therefore the practical start of voluntary submissions, depend on the 2029 review and on sectoral legislation. Dates for individual acts may differ from the phase dates. We update this page when an official source changes a date and note the change here.

What to do when, if you are a listed issuer

Window	Practical step
Now	Check that your LEI is active and your entity data (name, country, sector, size) is consistent across filings — these are the fields ESAP searches on.
Before your next annual report (spring 2027)	Have the ESEF file checked for validation errors and warnings before it goes to the auditor and the collection body. The first portal release in July 2027 will show the 2026 annual reports.
July 2027	Look your company up in ESAP. Confirm the metadata and the documents shown are what you expect.
Spring 2028	First annual reports under IFRS 18 (presentation and disclosure), applicable in the EU for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027 — a new structure usually means a higher error rate in the first year.
2029–2030	Decide whether voluntary submissions beyond your obligations make sense for your company once the technical standards are known.

Sources

Regulation (EU) 2023/2859 — Art. 1 (operation by 10 July 2027), Art. 3 (voluntary submissions from 10 January 2030; draft ITS by 10 January 2028; collection bodies by 9 January 2030), Art. 7 (machine translation and notifications by 10 July 2028), Art. 13 (review by 10 January 2029).
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1339 and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1338 — Official Journal, 11 July 2025.
ESMA — European Single Access Point — project page and news on the start of data collection (10 July 2026).
ESMA Data Day 2026 — draft agenda (PDF) — "ESAP: preparing for the go-live", 24 November 2026.
ESAs finalise rules to facilitate access to financial and sustainability information on the ESAP — final report, 29 October 2024.
EFFAS — warning against weakening ESAP (June 2026) — on the 2026 debate about structured reporting.
DRSC — EU adoption of IFRS 18 — Regulation (EU) 2026/338, applicable for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2027.