ESMA Updates Manual for European Single Electronic Format in EU

The guidelines defined in this manual are intended to facilitate the analysis and comparison of the XBRL data contained in Inline XBRL documents by computer applications and human readers. The manual provides guidance on the expected syntax and structure of Inline XBRL documents and issuers’ XBRL extension taxonomies. It contains parts that are of a highly technical nature and are intended for a technical audience. It is assumed that the reader has a working knowledge of the XBRL 2.1, Inline XBRL 1.0, and the XBRL Dimensions 1.0 Specifications; is familiar with the IFRS Taxonomy; and has a basic understanding of XML, Namespaces, and XML Schema. 

ESMA had originally published this manual in December 2017. Following feedback from market participants, ESMA decided to publish a revised version of the manual to expand existing guidance and update the guidance included in the original publication. ESMA will continue to monitor relevant markets developments and gather feedback on issues frequently encountered. Where relevant and/or necessary, ESMA will provide further guidance to the public.

The regulatory technical standards on ESEF, which were published on May 2019 in the Official Journal of the European Union, specify that all issuers that are subject to the requirements in the Transparency Directive to make public Annual Financial Reports shall prepare annual financial reports in the Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML) format. Where an issuer prepares IFRS consolidated financial statements, it shall mark up these IFRS consolidated financial statements using the XBRL markup language. The markups shall be embedded in the XHTML document version of the annual financial report using the Inline XBRL format.

Related Links

• Press Release
• ESEF Reporting Manual (PDF)
• Technical Standards on ESEF

Keywords: Europe, EU, Accounting, Banking, Insurance, Securities, Reporting, IFRS, Inline XBRL, ESEF Regulation, ESEF