The status of whistleblowers in Germany is primarily governed by European law. The relevant legislation is Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of persons reporting infringements of Union law (EU Whistleblower-Directive).
The EU Whistleblower-Directive should have been implemented into German law by 17 December 2021 at the latest. After initial draft legislation failed for political reasons, the Federal Ministry of Justice has recently presented a new draft bill for a Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG-E) on 13 April 2022. The legislative process is pending. The consultations on the draft bill in the German Bundestag and Bundesrat are expected to take place in the summer of 2022, so the bill can be expected to enter into force in the second half of the calendar year 2022.
The following responses are therefore based on the current draft bill legislation of the Federal Ministry of Justice. At this point, it also remains to be seen whether the government draft will make further amendments to the draft bill of the Federal Ministry of Justice.
If the draft bill should meet specific concerns under European law, this will be pointed out separately in the following.
Last updated on 29/07/2022
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