After over 12 months of legal uncertainty, the EU has finalised the Omnibus I reforms and there is certainty as to who will need to report under the EU Corporate Sustainability Directive (CSRD) and EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D).
To recap and in summary, CSRD required around 46,000 companies established in the EU, and non-EU entities with a large presence in the EU, to report in their annual accounts their ESG impacts and opportunities. Reporting created greater transparency but became very costly and burdensome due to uncertain obligations, information requests across global value chains and untested ESG reporting standards.
From autonomous-driving to ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems), to the potential for Artificial Intelligence (AI) to transform the aftermarket, AI is much-discussed as being transformational in the automotive sector; and there are numerous reported examples of AI being used already, for design, validation and performance management, connected with the manufacturing process.
However, automotive businesses developing, supplying and/or using AI tools now, or planning to do so in future, should be aware of emerging legislation that may impose mandatory legal obligations on parties involved in the AI system “life-cycle”.
California’s climate disclosure laws continue to present novel challenges and twists and turns to regulated businesses, and the past month is no exception. Since our last blog post on this topic, there have been significant developments regarding the implementation of SB 261 and SB 253. On November 18, 2025, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals enjoined the California Air Resources Board (CARB) from enforcing SB 261, which requires companies to disclose climate-related financial risks. Importantly, the injunction was issued prior to the January 1 deadline for companies to publish their climate-related financial risk report pursuant to SB 261. On December 1, 2025, CARB issued an Enforcement Advisory confirming it would not enforce against companies for failure to post a climate-related financial risk report on January 1, 2026. Then, on December 9, 2025, CARB posted proposed regulations applicable to SB 253 and SB 261. Further details and considerations are discussed in this blog post.
The highly anticipated ASA guidance on the advertising of less healthy food and drink products (Guidance) was published on 5 December 2025. This follows the ASA’s autumn 2025 consultation on the implementation of the less healthy food and drink advertising restrictions, and in particular how this would affect brand advertising.
Legal Context for the Guidance
From 5 January 2026, the Less Healthy Food Definitions and Exemptions Regulations 2024 will impose new restrictions banning ads for “identifiable” food and drinks that are high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) from being shown on Office of Communication (Ofcom)-regulated TV services, as well as Ofcom-regulated on-demand programme services between 5:30 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the UK, or at any time in online paid-for advertising.
The consultation was launched on 2 October, and is open until 24 December 2025.
This consultation applies to England, Northern Ireland (NI) and Wales, and the FSA is seeking views on a proposed ban on the use of:
Bisphenol A (BPA)
Other bisphenols (BPS, BPF)
Bisphenol derivatives
in FCMs (i.e. materials and articles that are intended to be, or can reasonably be expected to be, brought into contact with food and drink products).
In Scotland, Food Standards Scotland (FSS) launched an equivalent consultation on the 27 October, that is open until 16 January 2026. This is a UK four nation commitment working together to establish a Food and Feed Safety and Hygiene Common framework, as this is a devolved area of legislation.
The rationale for the ban is to reduce public exposure to these chemicals and protect public health from alleged impacts on the endocrine, reproductive and immune systems. The provisions could affect food-production equipment coming into contact with food and drink, as well as packaging and other FCMs (such as containers, kitchenware, varnishes and coatings) intended for consumer-use.
The UK modern slavery regime has faced scrutiny in recent years for failing to keep up with requirements in other jurisdictions. A recent UK government publication offers a timely and illustrative example of how UK modern slavery laws are being reviewed. The document outlines the Government’s response to various recommendations made by the Joint Committee on Human Rights (a Parliamentary body) in a July report titled Forced Labour in UK Supply Chains (Sixth Report of Session 2024–25 HC 633 / HL Paper 159).
As we reported in the last edition of newsBITE, the Advertising (Less Healthy Food and Drink) (Brand Advertising Exemption) Regulations 2025 (Brand Advertising Exemption Regulations) were published in September 2025.
The Brand Advertising Exemption Regulations came into force on 31 October 2025. They provide that “brand” advertising that does not identify a specific, less healthy product, is outside the scope of highly anticipated restrictions, which will come into force in January 2026, under the Advertising (Less Healthy Food Definitions and Exemptions) Regulations 2024 (Advertising Regulations).
California is forging a path for climate disclosure with its series of related legal frameworks requiring covered entities to disclose climate-related information, supporting documentation for certain net zero claims and financial risk frameworks.
In October 2023, California became the first state to enact such broad climate disclosure legislation, with the passage of the:
Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253),
Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (SB 261), and
California’s Voluntary Carbon Market Disclosures Act (AB 1305).
Entities covered by these three programs generally include those that do business in the state of California and either (1) make certain climate related claims about the business, its products, etc.; (2) market and/or purchase certain voluntary carbon offsets; and/or (3) meet certain monetary thresholds (for purposes of SB 253 and SB 261).
California is forging a path for climate disclosure with its series of related legal frameworks requiring covered entities to disclose climate-related information, supporting documentation for certain net zero claims and financial risk frameworks.
In October 2023, California became the first state to enact such broad climate disclosure legislation, with the passage of the:
Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (SB 261),
Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253), and
California’s Voluntary Carbon Market Disclosures Act (AB 1305).
Entities covered by these three programs generally include those that do business in the state of California and either (1) make certain climate related claims about the business, its products, etc.; (2) market and/or purchase certain voluntary carbon offsets; and/or (3) meet certain monetary thresholds (for purposes of SB 253 and SB 261).
With compliance deadlines already in place or approaching quickly, implementation has been challenging for industry. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is responsible for promulgating regulations associated with the three statutory programs, but has yet to do so. AB 1305 has already gone into effect, with its first deadline occurring as of January 1, 2025. SB 253 and SB 261 have deadlines starting in 2026. Like AB 1305, SB 261’s climate-related financial risk disclosure requirement does not depend on CARB completing its rulemaking prior to when the first reports are due on January 1, 2026. However, SB 253 differs from the other two in that no reporting obligations are imposed without CARB’s adoption of implementing regulations. Regulated entities needs to be prepared to comply while remaining flexible given pending publication of regulations in December.
To assist, this three part series provides a high-level guide on the three programs, including the applicability, the program’s coverage, steps for compliance, timing and other miscellaneous information based on current regulatory guidance. Here we focus on disclosure under California’s Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253), which has an anticipated reporting deadline of July 30, 2026 (pending promulgation of implementing regulations).
California is forging a path for climate disclosure with its series of related legal frameworks requiring covered entities to disclose climate-related information, supporting documentation for certain net zero claims and financial risk frameworks.
In October 2023, California became the first state to enact such broad climate disclosure legislation, with the passage of the:
Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (SB 261),
Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253), and
California’s Voluntary Carbon Market Disclosures Act (AB 1305).
Entities covered by these three programs generally include those that do business in the state of California and either (1) make certain climate related claims about the business, its products, etc.; (2) market and/or purchase certain voluntary carbon offsets; and/or (3) meet certain monetary thresholds (for purposes of SB 253 and SB 261).
With compliance deadlines already in place or approaching quickly, implementation has been challenging for industry. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is responsible for promulgating regulations associated with the three statutory programs, but has yet to do so. AB 1305 has already gone into effect, with its first deadline occurring as of January 1, 2025. SB 253 and SB 261 have deadlines starting in 2026. Like AB 1305, SB 261’s climate-related financial risk disclosure requirement does not depend on CARB completing its rulemaking prior to when the first reports are due on January 1, 2026. However, SB 253 differs from the other two in that no reporting obligations are imposed without CARB’s adoption of implementing regulations. Regulated entities needs to be prepared to comply while remaining flexible given pending publication of regulations in December.
To assist, this three part series provides a high-level guide on the three programs, including the applicability, the program’s coverage, steps for compliance, timing and other miscellaneous information based on current regulatory guidance. Here we focus on disclosure under California’s Climate-Related Financial Risks Act, SB 261, which has an initial compliance deadline of January 1, 2026.
