MSX ESG disclosure in Oman — the 30 metrics, Decision 77/2025 and the FSA's IFRS S1/S2 timetable

Oman’s ESG disclosure regime for listed companies is assembled from three documents: a Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) guideline that sets the content, an MSX administrative decision that makes disclosure binding and adds deadlines and sanctions, and a Financial Services Authority (FSA) decision that adopts the ISSB standards on a longer timetable.

What it is

The MSX ESG Disclosure Guideline supplies the content. It states that all companies publicly listed on MSX and registered as SAOG companies are required to disclose 30 metrics through the MSX ESG Disclosure platform and publish their sustainability reports; disclosures were voluntary in 2024, and from 2025 onwards reporting on activities from the 2024 fiscal year became mandatory.¹ Two types of information are involved: the 30 metrics, submitted through the platform, and a stand-alone sustainability report, published on the platform and on the company’s own website.¹ The metric set is regional rather than bespoke — it is aligned with the Unified GCC ESG Disclosure Metrics for Listed Companies, published in 2022, and with the GRI Standards, with 29 of the 30 metrics shared with the other GCC exchanges and Metric 30, on corporate social responsibility, specific to MSX.¹ MSX became a partner exchange of the UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative in 2022 and publishes both the guidance and the unified GCC metrics on its Sustainable Investments pages.²

The Guideline’s “required” was given legal form by Administrative Decision No. 77/2025 issuing the Requirements for Disclosure of Environmental, Social and Governance Practices, issued on 1 June 2025 with the approval of the FSA board and the MSX board and effective from its date of issue.³ Its preamble sits the Requirements inside the capital-market framework, citing the Commercial Companies Law issued by Royal Decree 18/2019, Royal Decree 5/2021 converting Muscat Securities Market into MSX SAOC, the Securities Law issued by Royal Decree 46/2022, Royal Decree 20/2024 establishing the Financial Services Authority, the Executive Regulation of the Capital Market Law (Decision 1/2009) and the Public Joint Stock Companies Regulation (Decision 27/2021).³ The Requirements oblige each company to disclose its ESG practices through the Exchange’s platform and on its own website, according to the attached form,³ and set quality conditions: adherence to the bases and standards in the form, accuracy, realism and clarity, and disclosure of negative information at the same level as positive information.³

The third instrument is FSA Decision No. E/7/2026, which adopts IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 for the preparation and assurance of financial reports or sustainability reports of listed public joint stock companies and financial institutions.⁴

Who it binds

Article 2 of the Requirements applies them to all public joint stock companies listed on the Exchange, and Article 1 defines “the Company” as the public joint stock company listed on the Exchange, “the Authority” as the FSA, “the Platform” as the disclosure platform on the Exchange’s website and “the Form” as the form prepared for disclosure of ESG practices.³ The Guideline addresses the same population — companies publicly listed on MSX and registered as SAOG companies.¹ The FSA decision reaches listed public joint stock companies and financial institutions and is directed at the accountancy and auditing profession, which applies the standards when preparing or assuring those reports.⁴ Unlisted Omani companies outside the financial sector are not named in either instrument.

Dates

Disclosure is due in the first quarter, within a period not exceeding 30 days from the end of the financial year and immediately upon approval by the board of directors, or 45 days for a company with subsidiaries, which must show consolidated and parent-company data separately.³ The first mandatory cycle was reporting from 2025 onwards on the 2024 fiscal year.¹

The FSA timetable runs much later. Decision E/7/2026 was issued on 17 March 2026,⁴ published in Official Gazette No. 1640 dated 24 March 2026,⁵ and by its Article Five came into force the day after publication.⁴ Full application of IFRS S1 is set for reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2029, and of IFRS S2 from the same date except Scope 3 greenhouse-gas emissions disclosures, which apply for reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2030.⁴ The gazetted Arabic text is terser, stating full application on 1 January 2029 and Scope 3 on 1 January 2030 without the “reporting periods beginning on or after” formula, and describing the adoption as for preparation and review.⁵ Whether the FSA has yet issued the guidelines, templates and implementation tools its Article Three provides for is not confirmed on a primary source here.

Thresholds

Neither MSX instrument sets a size, revenue or emissions threshold: listing is the trigger, and the Requirements apply to all listed public joint stock companies.³ The only graduation is inside the metric set. Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse-gas emissions (E1.1 and E1.2) are mandatory and Scope 3 (E1.3) is optional, calculated by reference to the WRI/WBCSD GHG Protocol; emissions and energy intensity, energy mix, water, board oversight of climate risk, gender pay, employee turnover, gender diversity, injury rate, human rights, board diversity and independence, supplier code of conduct, ethics and data privacy are also mandatory.¹ The company-size distinction that does appear is procedural: 45 rather than 30 days for a company with subsidiaries.³

Verification standard

The MSX regime names no assurance standard. The Guideline lists verifiability among its reporting principles — alongside accuracy, clarity, completeness, timeliness, balance, comparability and sustainability context — and its greenhouse-gas appendix defines the three scopes and a five-step calculation without stating an assurance requirement or a penalty.¹ Assurance enters only as a disclosure: metric G9, External Assurance, asks whether sustainability disclosures are assured or validated by a third party and which KPIs were verified.¹ The sustainability report is to be aligned with global frameworks such as GRI, TCFD and SASB, with fiscal-year boundaries and a materiality assessment.¹ Enforcement is exchange-level: on non-compliance the Exchange may, notifying the Authority, warn the company or refer the violation to the FSA to take the necessary procedures, and it may request additional clarifications after a disclosure.³

The FSA decision is what introduces a named standard, adopting IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 for both preparation and assurance and backing them with professional sanctions — a warning, suspension from the accountancy and auditing profession for up to two years, or removal from the register of accountants and auditors.⁴

What an organisation on ESGOS can do

A listed Omani company can find its listing in the directory and claim it from its profile page, or get listed and attach its MSX 30-metric disclosure, its sustainability report and any third-party assurance statement as evidence, so that the answer it gives under metric G9 is visible next to the document it rests on. Because the metric set is shared across the GCC exchanges, the same evidence supports profiles in neighbouring markets. The verifiers directory lists accredited verification bodies drawn from national accreditation registers, by standard.

Footnotes

1. MSX ESG Disclosure Guideline, Muscat Stock Exchange. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

2. Sustainable Investments — ESG, Muscat Stock Exchange. ↩

3. Administrative Decision No. 77/2025 issuing the Requirements for Disclosure of Environmental, Social and Governance Practices, Muscat Stock Exchange. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

4. Decision No. E/7/2026 On the Adoption of the International Sustainability Disclosure Standards, Financial Services Authority. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

5. Official Gazette No. 1640, Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs. ↩ ↩²