With the growing demand of major markets and investors around the world for non-financial information, in order to further strengthen the quality and ensure the accuracy of such information, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (the “TWSE”) has issued the “Directions for the Implementation of Assurance Institutions for the Sustainability Report of TWSE/TPEx Listed Companies(the “Directions”)” to regulate the qualifications of assurance agencies and their personnel as well as the quality of the opinions they issue, and for assurance agencies and personnel to abide by.

The application scope of the Directions is in accordance with Article 4 of the “Rules Governing the Preparation and Filing of Sustainability Reports by TWSE Listed Companies,” which states that for TWSE listed companies in the food industry, companies whose operating revenue is over 50% derived from food and beverage, as well as chemical or financial and insurance industry which are required to prepare a sustainability report, obtain an opinion from a certified public accountant regarding the industry-specific sustainability indicators, and conduct assurance within scopes I and II of greenhouse gases, relevant business experience, continuing education, and standards of assurance applicable to the opinion of the certified public accountant, the leading inspector and the agencies they belong to shall all comply with the requirements listed. The Directions will be implemented on January 1, 2023. An assurance agency may file an application to the TWSE and TPEx with required attachments; after obtaining the approval, the agency may issue an opinion within the aforementioned application scope starting in 2024 in accordance with Article 5 of the Rules.

The TWSE said that, for the release of the Directions, in addition to referring to international practices and relevant standards and bulletins, it also took into account domestic regulations, and prepared a Q&A set together to provide more specific explanations, with the goal to reduce any ambiguity of enterprises about the application. Information about the sustainability report and greenhouse gas related regulations, Q&A set, and application documents of assurance agencies is available at Corporate Governance Center/ ESG / ESG Related Rules (https://cgc.twse.com.tw/frontEN/index) for queries. The TWSE will continue to provide the latest information for external reference.