The German Federal Ministry of Justice recently followed up on the announcements made in the "traffic light" coalition agreement by reissuing the overdue draft of a whistleblower protection law. We answer the most important questions in connection with this draft law, which has been updated in its second version, and highlight in particular the main changes compared to the previous version - from the now stricter sanctions to new possibilities for flexibility.
What is the status quo?
The draft of the Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG) has been prepared by the Federal Department of Justice and is now being coordinated by the government departments. Last year, a draft was presented under the Grand Coalition, which we have already presented to you in detail(see blog: The EU Whistleblowing Directive). However, due to various discrepancies, it was not possible to finally implement the bill by the end of the last legislative period in the fall of 2021 (see blog: Is your company adequately prepared for the EU Whistleblowing Directive?).
The HinSchG is intended to transpose the requirements of EU Directive 2019/1937 into national law and thus establish a uniform level of protection for whistleblowers. As this should already have been done within an implementation deadline of December 17, 2021 provided for in the Directive, the EU Commission even initiated infringement proceedings against Germany at the beginning of the year.
What remains the same?
In addition to core elements...
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