Evaluation of the Whistleblower Protection Directive

In the following NFU concentrates on remaining gaps and areas where our member unions see room for stronger protections through further-going harmonisation. Overall NFU concludes that the standard has been raised compared to the pre-Directive situation.

1. To improve coherence between EU and member state level, the whistleblower directive should be expanded to state that all competent bodies, including EU-level bodies, follow the standards for external reporting channels laid out in Chapter III of the whistleblowing directive.

Please see the attached file for the full response and supporting documentation. Thank you for this opportunity to provide feedback on compliance with the 2019 EU Whistleblower Directive. Working with Whistleblowing International Network (WIN) we analysed twenty criteria for Member compliance with transposition laws.

The Defence Forces Justice Alliance (DFJA) represents both serving members of the Irish Defence Forces who have experienced abuse and former members who have been constructively dismissed. Since the implementation of the EU Whistleblower Directive (2019/1937), members of the DFJA have submitted approximately fifty (50) reports of wrongdoing.

Large French companies that have implemented whistleblowing procedures within their entities worldwide are not seeking a comprehensive overhaul of European legislation. However, the following improvements would be welcome: Corporate groups: The Directive's entity-based approach limits pooling mechanisms and rigidifies internal procedures, affecting the quality of internal enquiry.

The adoption of the EU Whistleblowing Directive was hailed as a breakthrough. For the first time, the Union created a baseline of rights and obligations in this field, recognising whistleblowing not as a marginal employment matter but as a cornerstone of accountability within the internal market and democratic governance. Yet a Directives transformative promise depends on implementation.

1) The definition of follow-up seems too broad for the directive to function effectively, even in conjunction with the definition of feedback. Virtually any procedure following the receipt of a report is considered a follow-up.

Please find below the feedback from the BDA, the Federal Confederation of German Employers’ Associations: There is no need to further strengthen the Whistleblower Directive. In Germany, the Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG) has already transposed the Directive comprehensively and partly beyond the EU requirements. The HinSchG covers reports of infringements of national rules on penalties and fines.

Filed in German · English published by the European Commission

For full response, please see the attached file We welcome the Commission's initiative to evaluate and potentially add ambition to the Whistleblowing Directive EU 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law. EPSU notes that in general the Directive has been a welcome addition. However, its current limited scope falls on providing necessary protection for the whistleblowers.

As a whistle-blower network, which provides advice to affected persons from all over Germany and has closely accompanied the legislative process, we will focus in particular on the German Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG). Lack of full reparation and support The HinSchG does not provide for full reparation for whistle-blowers. There is no legal right to compensation for non-material damage (damage).

Filed in German · English published by the European Commission

Dear all, we would like to submit several initial remarks regarding how the Directive(EU) 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law (further as Whistleblowing directive) was transposed to the Czech law. Please find some initial remarks bellow and further developed arguments attached. 1.

Public Interest Whistleblowers Association in Romania (Asociația Avertizorilor în interes public din Romania) (www.avertizorii.ro | e-mail: [email removed] | tel. [phone removed] ---- Part 2 ---- Legal and Institutional Challenges To date, no improvements have been observed regarding protection from employer retaliation following the adoption of Law 361/2022.

Public Interest Whistleblowers Association in Romania (Asociația Avertizorilor în interes public din Romania) (www.avertizorii.ro | e-mail: [email removed] | tel. [phone removed] ---- Part 1 ---- The Public Interest Whistleblowers Association was established out of the need to defend and promote the rights of integrity whistleblowers, to prevent their exposure to retaliation from employers, and to ensure a balanced…

The Federal Chamber of Tax Consultants (BStBK) welcomes the opportunity to comment and supports in principle the aim of the Whistleblower Directive to improve the protection of whistle-blowers. However, in the course of the evaluation, the BStBK proposes two main changes in order to preserve the professional secrecy of all legal professions and reduce red tape.

Filed in German · English published by the European Commission

For full response, please see the attached file. Effectiveness: While the Directive in general has been a positive addition to European Professionals and Managers and a credible deterrent to eradicate wrongdoings. However, the main limitation of the Directive, which is its limited scope, is greatly hindering its effectiveness.

In the view of the Deutscher Steuerberaterverband e.V. (DStV), a general uniform translation of the legal concept of legal professional privilege into German is urgently needed for reasons of legal clarity and legal certainty. This would also have a positive impact on the case-law of the CJEU.

Filed in German · English published by the European Commission

According to long experience in dealing with the EU Whistleblower Directive, I consider it to be, at least for large companies and groups, a red tape mechanism that has led to unnecessary additional costs and, due to legal requirements, has, at the same time, weakened whistleblower protection and the efficiency of whistleblowing in practice.

Filed in German · English published by the European Commission

The implementation of the EU Whistleblowing Directive 2019/1937 was transposed into Spanish national law (Ley 2/2023) on February 20, 2023, violating the established limit date of December 17, 2021. For this reason, the EU Commission opened an infringement procedure against Spain.