With only two weeks before an important deadline, at least seven European countries including Germany and Italy likely will fail to pass a new whistleblower law to comply with new EU rules.
An EU Directive on whistleblower protection was passed in October 2019, providing the 27 member countries with more than two years to pass a new law before the December 17 cutoff. A vast majority of countries have taken a last-minute approach to drafting and debating proposed laws. Only one country – Denmark – has passed a law so far, and fewer than 10 countries have scheduled hearings in Parliament.
The seven countries that almost certainly will miss the deadline are Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Italy and Romania, according to a survey of Parliament members and justice ministries by the European Center for Whistleblower Rights and Whistleblowing International. Officials in several countries did not provide any information on their legislative progress, including Austria, Croatia and Hungary.
Perhaps not coincidentally, six of these ten countries have no existing whistleblower laws in place, meaning they have had no official practice in receiving reports and retaliation complaints from witnesses in the workplace. Parliament members and officials in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany and Romania recently told the European Center that they do not have sufficient knowledge or experience to set up a whistleblower protection system. Political will, they acknowledged,...
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