1613. (1) The statutory auditor or statutory audit firm shall present the results of the assurance of sustainability reporting in an assurance report on sustainability reporting (in this Part referred to as the "assurance report") which shall be prepared in accordance with the assurance standards referred to in section 1610.

(2) The assurance report shall be in writing and shall:

(a) identify the entities whose sustainability reporting or consolidated sustainability reporting is the subject of the assurance engagement;

(b) specify the sustainability reporting concerned and the date and period it covers;

(c) identify the sustainability reporting framework that has been applied in its preparation;

(d) include a description of the scope of the assurance of sustainability reporting which shall, as a minimum, identify the assurance standards in accordance with which the assurance of sustainability reporting was conducted.

(3) The assurance report shall state clearly the statutory auditors’ opinion, based on a limited assurance engagement, as regards the compliance of the sustainability reporting of the applicable company with the requirements of this Part, including –

(a) the compliance of the sustainability reporting with the sustainability reporting standards adopted by the Commission pursuant to Article 29b or Article 29c of the Accounting Directive,

(b) the process carried out by the applicable company to identify the information reported pursuant to those sustainability reporting standards,

(c) the compliance with the requirement to mark-up sustainability reporting in accordance with section 1600, and

(d) the compliance with the reporting requirements provided for in Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852.

(4) (a) Where the assurance of sustainability reporting was carried out by more than one statutory auditor or statutory audit firm, the statutory auditors or audit firms shall, subject to paragraph (b), agree on the results of the assurance of sustainability reporting and submit a joint assurance report and opinion.

(b) In the case of disagreement, each statutory auditor or statutory audit firm shall submit his, her or its opinion in a separate paragraph of the assurance report and shall state the reason for the disagreement.

(5) (a) The assurance report shall be signed and dated by the statutory auditor carrying out the assurance of sustainability reporting.

(b) Where a statutory audit firm carries out the assurance of sustainability reporting, the assurance report shall bear the signature of at least the statutory auditors carrying out the assurance of sustainability reporting on behalf of the audit firm.

(c) Where more than one statutory auditor or statutory audit firm have been simultaneously engaged, the assurance report shall be signed by all statutory auditors or at least by the statutory auditors carrying out the assurance of sustainability reporting on behalf of each audit firm.

(6) Where the same statutory auditor carries out the statutory audit of annual financial statements and the assurance of sustainability reporting of an applicable company, the assurance report may be included as a separate section of the statutory auditors’ report required by section 391.]