[author: Jan Stappers]
This first EU Whistleblower Directive webinar of 2023 featured NAVEX whistleblowing expert Jan Stappers and Susan Battye, Partner at Walkers (Ireland) LLP. The session focused on the latest developments in whistleblowing, key steps organizations should take to ensure effective whistleblowing practices are in place, and updates specific to the Irish transposition of the Directive.
By December 17, 2021, EU Member States were required to transpose the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive into their national law. Now, over one year past the deadline, there are still several countries within the EU that still need to transpose the Directive into their national whistleblowing laws.
At the time of writing, these include Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia and Spain.
In Ireland, national whistleblowing regulations were amended at the end of December 2022. While Ireland’s whistleblowing regulations were fairly developed compared to some EU countries, these new amendments built on the existing legislation confirmed in 2014 – namely, the Protected Disclosures Act. The newly-updated Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022 commenced in January 2023, which added the requirements outlined in the EU Whistleblowing Directive.
With these changes, public sector employers with 250+ staff and employers subject to EU laws regardless of headcount are now in the scope of the Directive. In December 2023, other...
stage at the Ninth Circuit, where pharmaceutical companies say a momentous new ruling "illustrates perfectly" the constitutional concerns of U. S. Supreme Court justices regarding FCA enforcement. ...