European Commission Report on EU Whistleblowing Directive

The European Commission has published a report on the implementation and application of the EU Whistleblowing Directive. The Directive aims to guarantee a high level of balanced and effective protection for persons who report information on breaches of EU law in key policy areas where such breaches may cause harm to the public interest. Overall, there was a significant delay in the transposition of the Directive in EU Member States. Given the short time of application of the Directive and the absence of meaningful relevant information at the time of publication of the report, the report does not cover the application of the Directive. All Member States have transposed the Directive’s main provisions e.g. on the conditions for protection, on the requirements for the set up and the operation of the internal and external reporting channels, on the prohibition of retaliation and the measures of protection and support to reporting persons. A large majority of Member States have extended the Directive’s protection regime to other areas of national law. While the European Commission recognizes the efforts made by Member States so far, it regrets the overall very late transposition of the Directive. As recognized by the Court of Justice of the European Union, the lack of adoption of the provisions necessary to ensure the complete and precise transposition of this Directive is particularly serious, given its importance for safeguarding the public interest. In March 2023, the Commission referred six Member States to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failure to transpose the Directive. As of the date of the report, further to the five cases still pending before the Court of Justice of the European Union, infringement proceedings are ongoing for six Member States. The report shows that the transposition of the Directive needs to be improved on certain key areas, such as the material scope, the conditions for protection and the measures of protection against retaliation, in particular the exemptions from liability and the penalties. By 2026, the Commission will assess the functioning of the Directive and consider the need for additional measures, including amendments with a view to extending its scope to further EU acts or areas.

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