COPENHAGEN
The EU's top court on Thursday fined Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Luxembourg, and Estonia for failing to implement whistleblower protections on time.
In a news release, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) stated that these countries had not fulfilled their obligation to enact the EU's whistleblower directive by the 2021 deadline. The European Commission filed a complaint in March 2023 over the delay.
Germany received the largest fine at 34 million ($36.7 million), followed by the Czech Republic with 2.3 million and Hungary with 1.75 million. Luxembourg and Estonia were fined up to 500,000 each.
The whistleblower directive, passed in December 2019, is designed to protect individuals in both the public and private sectors who report misconduct. It shields whistleblowers from retaliation, including dismissal, demotion, pay cuts, and legal action.
"By reporting breaches of Union law that are harmful to the public interest, such persons act as 'whistleblowers' and thereby play a key role in exposing and preventing such breaches and in safeguarding the welfare of society," the directive states.
The law followed major scandals such as Dieselgate, LuxLeaks, the Panama Papers, and Facebook's data misuse, all of which were exposed by whistleblowers.
While the EU set a 2021 deadline for member states to integrate the directive into national law, Germany’s Whistleblower Protection Act only came into effect in July 2023
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