In France, whistleblowing was governed by Law No, 2016-1691 on transparency, the fight against corruption and the modernisation of economic life, also known as Sapin II.
A few years later, the European Parliament adopted Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law.
The main objective of the EU Directive is to harmonise EU member states’ legislation about whistleblowing.
In France, the transposition laws of the EU Directive were definitively adopted and came into force on 21 March 2022:
an “ordinary” law aimed at improving the protection of whistleblowers; and
an “organic” law aimed at strengthening the role of the French Human Rights Defender in terms of whistleblowing.
These new local Laws comply perfectly with European standards and make numerous amendments to Sapin II.
The scope of the whistleblowing procedure is very broad. Companies with more than 50 employees, public-sector institutions, authorities and municipalities with 10,000 or more inhabitants must set up internal reporting channels for whistleblowers.
The procedure for collecting and processing alerts...
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