Whistleblowing in Europe has been governed by country-specific regulations, some of which differed widely in terms of content. A number of Member States did not even have a dedicated generally applicable protection system in place. Some countries (e.g., Germany), stipulated sector-and topic-specific regulations (e.g., for the financial sector, anti-money laundering or general trade secret provisions), which, at least, indirectly provided for regulations for whistleblowers and the handling of whistleblower reports. Data protection authorities, in part, even took the standpoint that anonymous reporting was not permissible.
Corresponding to these divergent legal systems, there was also no uniform case law among the European countries. In general, there was (and to some extent still is) no level-playing field in Europe.
Against this background the European Union aimed to ensure a harmonized and improved protection of whistleblowers across Europe by the EU Whistleblower Directive 2019/1937. To ensure better enforcement of EU law, the EU Directive sets out comprehensive requirements for the establishment of reporting channels and a (minimum) protection for whistleblowers; however, national legislators are free to provide protection for whistleblowers that goes beyond the Directive, (e.g., with regard to the scope of application).
It was intended that the Member States would implement the Directive in December 2021. However, many Member States failed to do so on time. The...
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