EU Whistleblowing Monitor – February 2022 Roundup

EU Whistleblowing Meter – February Roundup

This is the monthly roundup of updates provided by the EU Whistleblowing Monitor team of country editors detailing national developments in the transposition of the EU Directive on Whistleblowing during February 2022.

As of 01 March, it has been 10 weeks since the 17 December 2021 deadline for all Member States to have fully transposed Directive 2019/1937.

18 countries are now listed as delayed. 1 Member State is still listed as not started (Hungary).

No country can be yet considered fully transposed. The EU Commission has now started infringement proceedings.

8 Member States have adopted Transposition Laws:

• Denmark’s ‘Forslag til Lov om beskyttelse af whistleblowere’ was adopted 24 June 2021 and entered into force 17 December 2021.
• Sweden’s ‘Lagrådsremiss Genomförande av visselblåsardirektivet’ was adopted 29 September 2021 and entered into force on 17 December 2021.
• Portugal’s ‘Proposta de Lei n.º 91/XIV and others’ were adopted 26 November 2021, published 20 December 2021 and enters into force 6 months later.
• Lithuania’s ‘Lietuvos Respublikos Pranešėjų Apsaugos Įstatymas’ was adopted on 16 December 2021 and was due to enter into force on 15 February 2021.
• Malta’s ‘ATT sabiex jemenda l-Att dwar il-Protezzjoni ta’ Informatur, Kap. 527’ passed the third reading on 14 December 2021.
• Cyprus’s ‘O περι τησ προστασιασ προσωπων που αναφερουν παραβιασεισ του ενωσιακου και εθνικου δικαιου και αφορουν το δημοσιο συμφερον νομοσ’ was adopted on 20 January 2021.
• Latvia’s ‘Trauksmes celšanas likums’ was adopted on 20 January 2022 and was due to enter into force on 16 February 2022.
• France’s ’Proposition de Loi visant à améliorer la protection des lanceurs d’alert’ was adopted on 15 February 2022 and is due to enter into force six months later. ***NEW***

Transposition Bills are issued in 11 countries, including:

• Croatia: ‘Zakon O Zaštiti Prijavitelja Nepravilnosti’
• Estonia: ‘Rikkumisest teavitaja kaitse seaduse eelnõu’
• Luxembourg: Projet de loi 7945
• Poland: ‘Projekt ustawy o ochronie osób zgłaszających naruszenia prawa’
• Romania: ‘Propunere legislativă privind protecţia avertizorilor în interes public’
• Slovakia: ‘Návrh zákona, ktorým sa mení a dopĺňa zákon č. 54/2019’
• Slovenia: Predlog Predpisa: Zakon O Zaščiti Prijaviteljev’
• Netherlands: ‘Wijziging van de Wet Huis voor klokkenluiders en enige andere wetten’
• Ireland: ‘Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill 2022’ ***NEW***

There is also an important civil society led Law registered in Parliament in Spain available here.

Updates:

• France formally adopts new law
• Government in Romania adopts new Bill
• Bill published in Ireland
• Delayed transposition is under scrutiny in Austria
• Media reports on new Bill in Luxembourg
• In Hungary, NGO comments on transposition not started

Resources:

International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Guidelines on Whistleblowing have been published: ICC 2022 aims to provide practice guidelines to enterprise and revise original 2008 guidelines to reflect evolving best practices in the Directive and to complement ISO 37002.

The 02 February 2022 public hearing of Halet v. Luxembourg in the European Court of Human Rights, in which the Grand Chamber consider freedom of expression rights under the Convention and evolving standards on whistleblower protection, including the Directive can be watched in French and English via webcast.

All these and more can be found on the Monitor Resources and Roundup pages - please let us know if there is anything missing.