25 January 2019

Better protection of whistleblowers: Council adopts its position

The new rules will impose the creation of safe channels for reporting both within an organisation and to public authorities. It will also give a high level of protection against retaliation, and require national authorities to adequately inform on how to deal with whistleblowing.

The Council (at ambassadors level) adopted today its position on the directive on the protection of whistleblowers. It is now ready to start negotiations with the European Parliament with the aim of reaching an agreement before the end of the parliamentary term.

Main elements of the Council's position

Overall, the Council provided more clarity on some provisions of the text so as to increase legal certainty and better address the links between the new rules and existing legislation in some sectors.

Some of the elements of the position adopted by the Council compared to the initial proposal include:

• Reporting system: whistleblowers will first have to use internal channels within their organisation before calling on external ones (set up by public authorities) and, eventually, going for public disclosure. However, the principle of a three step system includes exceptions allowing a person to go directly for external or even public disclosures in some specific cases (e.g. in case of manifest or imminent danger for the public interest) ;
• Persons protected by the new rules: these elements of the Commission's proposal were kept, and include a large number of profiles who could acquire information on breaches in a work-related context. e.g. workers, including civil servants at national/local level, volunteers and trainees, non executive members, shareholders, etc.
• Feedback obligations for authorities and companies: they will have to respond and follow-up to the whistleblowers' reports within 3 months (with the possibility of extending to 6 months for external channels in duly justified cases);
• Public disclosures: the Council introduced an article setting out the conditions to be fulfilled for a person to be protected by the new rules in case he/she publicly discloses information;
• Scope of application: the Council's position retains the wide scope as proposed by the Commission and covers areas such as public procurement, financial services, prevention of money laundering, public health, etc.

Full press release

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