Regulatory and compliance

People reporting breaches of EU and national law to have secure reporting channels, with sanctions to discourage retaliation against them.

The new rules aim to establish a high level of protection for persons who report breaches of EU and national law, to offer secure reporting channels within an organisation and to public authorities, and to impose proportional and dissuasive sanctions on anyone promoting retaliation, or retaliating, against whistleblowers.

Background

The new law, which transposes Directive (UE) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 23 October 2019, on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union Law (EU), also known as "whistleblowers", sets out in its Explanatory Memorandum many examples of civil actions warning of the existence of irregular and corrupt practices. These whistleblowing actions have enabled investigations ending with corresponding criminal sentences for the reported behaviours. However, there have sometimes also been painful consequences for those who have reported corrupt practices and other offences: including whistleblowers being pressured by the accused parties, isolated by colleagues, or unfairly dismissed.

As a result, the draft law, which regulates protection measures for anyone reporting law infringements or anticorruption violations, aims to defend whistleblowers and set out the minimum rules for the reporting channels that whistleblowers can use.

Prohibition on...

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