EU WHISTLEBLOWING DIRECTIVE: THE COUNTDOWN TO SOLVING THE PROBLEM OF HOW TO PROTECT WHISTLEBLOWERS HAS STARTED
Luxleaks, Panama Papers and Cambridge Analytica. These are some of the numerous scandals that led the European Union (EU) to approve ‘Directive (EU) 2019/1937 for the protection of persons reporting on breaches of Union law’ in October 2019. And now that the two-year period for transposition into national law is coming to an end, the clock is ticking for EU states to establish whistleblower protection measures. Needless to say, this will directly influence organisations’ regular business activities.
Whistleblowing has become an essential part of any compliance or risk management system in recent times. It is now considered a key element in the prevention of and fight against crime and wrongdoing, especially in fields such as public finance, privacy and personal data protection, anti-money laundering (AML) and environmental protection. However, until October 2019, there was little EU legislation that protected those who spoke up when they encountered work-related activity potentially detrimental to the public interest (by the time the EU passed the Whistleblower Directive, only a handful of countries had regulations in this regard).
In order to promote and guarantee effective whistleblowing throughout member states, the EU decided to take a step forward by passing the Whistleblower Directive, which sets out common minimum standards for the protection of persons reporting specific breaches of EU law.
Do organisations need to do something?
The Directive applies to member states and is being transposed into national law in piecemeal fashion. States will need to have completed this process by 17 December 2021 if they are to comply with the two-year implementation period.
Apr-Jun 2021 Issue
Garrigues