Law 93/2021 establishing the general whistleblower protection framework (“RPDI”) and transposing Directive (EU) 2019/1937, of 23 October 2019, on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law (“Directive”), was published December 20, 2021.

The RPDI defines whistleblower as any natural person who reports or discloses information obtained in the course of their professional duties on the following offenses:

1. Breaches of European Union law on certain matters (e.g. public procurement, anti-money laundering and terrorist financing, environmental protection, data protection, competition rules); and
2. Violent, highly organized, and economic and financial crimes.

The RPDI protects whistleblowing in respect of a larger range of infractions than the Directive.

To be legally protected, the report must be made in good faith, i.e., the whistleblower must have serious reason to believe that the information is true at the time it is provided.

As for the types of report, the RPDI foresees internal whistleblowing, external whistleblowing, and public disclosure, and establishes the criteria for their sequential prevalence.

Internal whistleblowing is prioritized from the outset through the creation of a legal obligation to implement whistleblowing channels for all entities employing 50 or more workers.

Such channels must be configured in a way that allows meeting several requirements, including:

1. the completeness, integrity and preservation of the report;
2. compliance with the...

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