On World Whistleblower Day 23 June 2024,
Transparency International Italia celebrated its efforts in supporting whistleblowers and their rights, with the announcement that it has sent a
letter to the EU Commission analysing Italy's transposition of the 2019 EU Directive on the Protection of Whistleblowers.
The analysis highlights inconsistencies and violations in the Italian implementation of the Directive and areas where the new law is weaker – or “regressive” – compared with Italy’s pre-existing whistleblower protection law. The letter highlights the following key issues:
- Personal Scope: The Directive aims to protect a wide range of workers across both public and private sectors, including employees, volunteers, and others closely related to the whistleblower. However, the Italian transposition law does not uniformly apply these protections across the public and private sectors, creating disparities.
- External Reporting Channels: The Directive protects whistleblowers who use external reporting channels in the first instance. The Italian transposition law, however, imposes conditions on when external reporting can be used, limiting the whistleblower's choice and contradicting the EU provisions.
- Sanctions: The Directive mandates effective, proportionate, and dissuasive sanctions for retaliation against whistleblowers and for hindering reports. The Italian transposition law provides for sanctions, but they are criticized for being ineffective and not serving as a sufficient deterrent.
The letter also concludes that the Italian transposition results in a less favourable regime for whistleblowers as it reduces the level of protection previously granted by the pre-existing Italian whistleblowing legislation. If so, this could breach the Directive’s Article 25 “non-regression clause.” Key areas stated to be regressive include:
- Material Scope: The Directive applies to breaches of Union law and other significant areas. Italian law, however, excludes certain types of violations such as administrative irregularities and issues related to national defence and judiciary, reducing the protection scope compared to previous national legislation.
- Conditions for Whistleblower Protection: The Directive protects whistleblowers who report based on reasonable belief that the information is true. Italian law subjects this to a discretionary evaluation, which was not provided for under the previous law.
Giorgio Fraschini – Whistleblower Protection Lead at Transparency International Italia – said:
“Unfortunately, the transposition process did not involve participation from interested stakeholders and failed to consider the experiences of previous legislation, which had many flaws with implementation. Our fear is that this new law could still prove difficult with its implementation, with direct, negative consequences for whistleblowers. Given the track-record, government and parliament is unlikely to reform the law, unless forced by the European legislator; we hope that this letter will help the European Commission to step up to protect whistleblowers in Italy.”
Further analysis by Transparency International Italia on Legislative Decree No.24/2023 can be read HERE.
For more on the transposition of the 2019 EU Directive on the Protection of Whistleblowers, visit the EU Whistleblower Monitor Today.