EU Whistleblowing Directive

EU Member States had a deadline of 17 December 2021 to transpose the EU Whistleblowing Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/1937 on the Protection of Persons Who Report Breaches of Union Law) into their national laws, but many missed the deadline and are still in the process of bringing national legislation into force. The European Commission initiated infringement procedures in January 2022 and meaningful progress now appears to be being made. For example, new whistleblowing legislation has now been passed in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Ireland and Spain, with legislation in progress in Germany and several other Member States. As the Member States make progress on implementation, we continue to monitor their progress on the transposition of this Directive across our European network.

All legal entities (with 50 or more workers) must establish internal reporting channels under the Directive. However, the minimum threshold (of 50+) does not apply to regulated entities in the financial services sector or those vulnerable to money laundering or terrorist financing, which are required to have reporting channels regardless of their size. Many regulated firms in the financial services sector are already subject to obligations which require them to have a whistleblowing system in place. Whilst the Directive is not explicit, we believe that smaller financial services companies (with 1-249 workers) benefit from the extended deadline until 2023 for compliance with the more detailed procedural requirements for internal reporting channels set out in the Directive.

The Directive aims to provide common minimum standards of protection across the EU to whistleblowers who raise breaches of EU law with their employer. The new rules will require the creation of safe channels for reporting both within an organisation - private or public - and to public authorities. It will also provide protection to whistleblowers against retaliation and require national authorities to adequately inform citizens and train public officials on how to deal with whistleblowing.

Whilst the Directive aims to create a level of minimum harmonisation, some Member States may go further and so there remains scope for divergence across regimes. Most countries have not yet published draft legislation, but we will compare approaches as the situation evolves.

In this Feature we will keep you abreast of the current implementation status across our European network, as Member States introduce draft legislation, or strengthen existing protections to transpose the Directive.

We also consider the impact of the Directive on the UK now that it no longer forms part of the EU.