After a long legislative process, the German Whistleblower Protection Act (“the Act” or HinSchG) came into force on July 2. As Hogan Lovells reported several months ago (see article in German here), Germany has, albeit belatedly, thus implemented the EU Whistleblower Directive. The new regulations also have an impact on antitrust compliance. There is a tension between the activities of anonymous whistleblowers as individuals and the possibility of leniency applications by companies. Smooth internal compliance processes are essential to resolve these tensions.
The Act regulates the protection of all persons who, in connection with their professional activities or in the run-up to their professional activities, become aware of legal violations and pass these on to so-called “reporting channels” (Hinweisgeberstellen). The Act is intended to protect such whistleblowers from discrimination and reprisals (Section 36 HinSchG). The goal is to make it easier for such persons to expose misconduct and thus contribute to overall compliance, including and in particular by companies that employ them. This is noteworthy in that there has been no comprehensive and uniform whistleblower protection system in Germany before. At the same time, it certainly fits into the trend toward increasing compliance efforts in companies that has been underway for several years.
In contrast to the underlying EU Directive, not only reports and disclosures of violations of EU law are...
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