Where do we stand?
By tomorrow, 17 December 2021, the EU Whistleblower Directive No. 2019/1937 of 23 October 2019 (see Checklist preparation and implementation of procedure for whistleblowers | Lydian) must in principle be transposed into national legislation. Like many other member states, Belgium will not meet this deadline.
As of January 2022, government negotiations will start on two preliminary draft laws transposing the Whistleblower Directive, one for the private sector under the authority of Minister Dermagne and one for the public sector under the authority of Minister De Sutter. The aim is to adopt the preliminary drafts by the summer of 2022.
The texts of the preliminary drafts are currently not yet made public.
The National Labour Council (hereafter: NLC) and the Central Economic Council (hereafter: CEC) have already given their opinion on the preliminary draft for the private sector on 30 November 2021 (see (only available in Dutch and French)). We summarize below some points of attention. Of course, some things may still change, given the upcoming negotiations on the drafts texts.
What does the NLC’s advice teach us?
Material scope
Currently, the material scope in the preliminary draft would be defined more broadly than what is mentioned in the Whistleblower Directive. In addition to the breaches listed in the Directive (e.g. consumer protection, protection of personal data (GDPR), public contracts, public health,.... ), tax fraud and evasion would have...
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