Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2025L00107:front:0:p99
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2025L00107
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 318705–322182

in order to:

           * Be sufficiently prescriptive about the scope of the sustainability matters to be addressed in the sustainability information.

           * Address the entity's industry or jurisdictions in which the entity operates, or other factors pertinent to the sustainability information to be reported.

           * Avoid vague descriptions of expectations or judgements.

Characteristics of suitable criteria (Ref: Para. 78(c), 107)

 1.       Suitable criteria are required for reasonably consistent measurement or evaluation of the sustainability matters within the context of professional judgement. Without the frame of reference provided by suitable criteria, any conclusion is open to individual interpretation and misunderstanding. The suitability of criteria is context-sensitive, that is, it is determined in the context of the engagement circumstances. Even for the same sustainability matters there may be different criteria that will yield a different outcome. Suitable criteria exhibit the following characteristics:

         1.                 Relevance: Relevant criteria result in sustainability information that assists decision-making by the intended users;

         2.                 Completeness: Criteria are complete when sustainability information prepared in accordance with them does not omit relevant factors that could reasonably be expected to affect decisions of intended users made on the basis of that sustainability information. Complete criteria include, where relevant, benchmarks for presentation and disclosure;

         3.                 Reliability: Reliable criteria allow reasonably consistent measurement or evaluation of the sustainability matters, when used in similar circumstances by different practitioners;

         4.                 Neutrality: Neutral criteria result in sustainability information that is free from bias as appropriate in the engagement circumstances; and

         5.                 Understandability: Understandable criteria result in sustainability information that can be understood by the intended users.

 2.       The relative importance of each characteristic of the criteria to a particular engagement is a matter of professional judgement.

 3.       If the criteria are unsuitable, this cannot be overcome by changing the level of assurance. That is, if criteria are unsuitable for a reasonable assurance engagement, they are also unsuitable for a limited assurance engagement, and vice versa.

Availability of the criteria to users (Ref: Para. 78(d))

 1.       Criteria being available allows the intended users to understand how sustainability matters have been measured or evaluated. The intended users are unlikely to be able to base decisions on the sustainability information without access to both the framework criteria and any entity-developed criteria supplementing the framework criteria. In determining whether the criteria are available to the intended users, the practitioner may consider whether they will be available in writing, with sufficient detail, sufficiently clear, and including identification of the version of the criteria applied. Criteria may be made available:

         1.                 Publicly, for example, in published framework criteria or a general-purpose framework that is readily available, such as on a website.

         2.                 Through inclusion in the sustainability information, in particular for entity-developed