LUXEMBOURG Law and Practice Contributed by: Nathalie Prüm-Carré, Inès Goeminne and Georges Gratia, Elvinger Hoss Prussen
ral or legal person may request environmental infor- mation held by public authorities. However, the law specifies certain limitations. A request for information may be denied if it is mani- festly abusive or formulated in too general terms, or if it concerns documents being drafted, incomplete data or purely internal communications of no interest to the public. The following are considered public authorities within the meaning of this law: • the government or any other public agency, includ- ing public advisory bodies, at national, regional or local levels; • any natural or legal person performing public administrative functions, including specific tasks, activities or services related to the environment; and • entities providing public services in relation to the environment under the control of a body or person mentioned above. 16.3 Corporate Disclosure Requirement Please see 6.5 ESG Requirements . 16.4 Green Finance The EU regulation on sustainability-related disclo- sures in the financial services sector (SFDR) and the EU regulation on taxonomy apply to Luxembourg. The Taxonomy Regulation sets out a classification system that establishes the requirements for certain economic activities to be considered “environmentally sustainable”. The purpose of the SFDR is to improve transparency on the market for sustainable investment products, to prevent greenwashing and to improve transparency on sustainability statements by financial market participants. The Law of 25 February 2022, which implements the SFDR and the Taxonomy Regulation, gives the Com-
mission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) and the Commissariat aux Assurances (CAA) super- visory and investigative powers over financial market participants and financial advisers under their super- vision. These authorities are responsible for monitor- ing the application of the SFDR and the Taxonomy Regulation.
17. Transactions 17.1 Environmental Due Diligence
In Luxembourg, environmental due diligence is devel- oping as part of mergers and acquisitions and real estate transactions, but is not yet systematic. It is generally carried out when a potential risk has been identified or when there are indications of previous pollution. In general, due diligence takes the form of a real estate audit. Increasingly, it includes environmental audits, with an analysis of documentation and requirements for the communication of information from the seller to the purchaser. 17.2 Disclosure of Environmental Information Under Luxembourg law, there is no legal provision requiring a seller to disclose environmental informa- tion. Nevertheless, any seller who refrains from dis- closing environmental information, particularly in rela- tion to soil pollution, may face legal action at a later date by the purchaser, particularly on the grounds of latent defects or deceit (dolus). 17.3 Key Issues in Environmental Due Diligence The most common legal questions relating to the environment during a transaction generally relate to compliance with environmental authorisations, the ful- filment of environmental obligations and the assess- ment of liabilities relating to historical pollution.
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