Germany's Whistleblower Protection Act took effect on July 2 after a long period of deliberation.

"One of the main intentions [of the Whistleblower Protection Act] is to help companies become aware of things that go wrong within the company, and then to address these matters, and then at the same time to protect these persons if they do notify the company or external parties about such violations, that they will not be subject to repercussions for doing so," said Nils Neumann, an attorney with K&L Gates in Berlin.

The European Union's (EU's) Whistleblower Directive inspired the Whistleblower Protection Act in Germany, but the policies differ in important ways.

"In Germany, we didn't really have any kind of whistleblowing protection in the past, whereas other countries might have had," Neumann said. "The idea of the European directive is to provide for a base level of harmonization where things will be the same or very similar throughout Europe. The most important differences in Germany are that the material scope of the law is much broader."

The German law currently applies to companies with more than 250 employees, and by the end of the year, it will expand to include companies with more than 50 employees.

Anonymous Whistleblowing Harder in Germany

While the EU directive allows for anonymous whistleblowing, the German law makes it harder for whistleblowers to stay anonymous.

"The European directive has an intention, or wants to facilitate, the possibility of making...

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