N/A
In force.
On 28 November 2022, the Belgian Parliament passed the Belgian Act on the Protection of Whistle-blowers, which was published at the Belgian Official Gazette on 15 December 2022.
Legislation passed / Directive implemented.
Entities with from 50 to 249 employees have until 17 December 2023 to establish proper internal reporting channels.
The Act on Whistleblowing was signed by the President of the Czech Republic on 7 June 2023 and was promulgated in the Collection of Laws on 20 June 2023. The Act is in force as of 1 August 2023.The Act on Whistleblowing was signed by the President of the Czech Republic on 7 June 2023 and was promulgated in the Collection of Laws on 20 June 2023. The Act is in force as of 1 August 2023.
Legislation passed / Directive implemented.
On 24 June 2021 the Danish Parliament passed the Danish Act on the Protection of Whistleblowers.
Legislation passed/Directive implemented.
The legislative process is on-going and the directive has not been implemented. The government was supposed, but failed, to implement the directive by 17 December 2021. A draft law was first introduced 10 August 2021 and the work on transposition of the directive is in progress. The first reading of the first draft law was finished at the end of January 2022 after which no updates came until 2023. On 15 February 2023, the European Commission referred Estonia to the Court of Justice for failure to transpose and notify the national measures transposing the Whistleblowing Directive.
In March 2023, a new Parliament was elected and on 30 May 2023, an updated draft law was introduced. The new law is intended to enter into force on 1 January 2024 and legal entities with 50 or more employees have until 1 June 2024 to establish internal systems and the internal reporting channels. On 24 August 2023, the Government submitted the draft law to Parliament where proceedings continue.
Implementation in progress.
In Finland, the national legislation implementing the Whistleblowing Directive entered into force on 1 January 2023.
However, there is a transition period for establishing an internal reporting channel. Private sector entities regularly employing at least 250 employees and public sector entities regularly employing at least 50 employees must set up an internal reporting channel by 1 April 2023. Private sector entities regularly employing at least 50 but less than 250 employees have until 17 December 2023 to establish an internal reporting channel. In addition, if entities with less than 50 employees have established a voluntary internal reporting channel, they have until 17 December 2023 to bring them into compliance with the new legislation.
Legislation passed / Directive implemented.
The French bill (act n° 2022-401) has been passed on 21 March 2022 and has been applicable since 1st September 2022. In addition, the decree of 3 October 2022 on the procedures for collecting and processing whistleblower alerts and establishing the list of external authorities set up by the law of 21 March 2022 was promulgated.
Legislation passed / Directive implemented.
On 12 May 2023 the German government has passed a new law to transpose the Whistleblower Directive into German law, named Hinweisgeberschutzgesetz. This will enter into force 4 weeks after its publication, likely in mid June 2023.
For companies with 50-249 employees, there is a grace period until 17 December 2023.
Already in January 2022, the EU initiated an infringement proceeding against Germany due to the delayed transposition of the Whistleblower Directive into German law. With the expiration of the deadline to transpose the Directive into local law in December 2021, the Directive is binding for companies in Germany until treplaced by the new German law.
Legislation passed / Directive implemented.
The Hungarian parliament accepted Act XXV of 2023 in May 2023, which implemented the rules of the Whistleblowing Directive. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) must comply with the obligations by 17 December 2023 and larger companies emyploying 50-249 employees must comply by 24 July 2023.
Legislation passed / Directive implemented.
The Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022 (the “Act”) gives effect to the Whistleblowing Directive and was signed into law on 21 July 2022. The Act amends the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, which is a prior piece of legislation in Irish law dealing with whistleblowing.
Legislation passed / Directive implemented. However, the internal reporting channel and procedural requirements will not come into effect for certain sized organisations until 17 December 2023.
Law No. 127 of August 4th, 2022, was published In the Official Journal (Gazzetta Ufficiale): 'Delegation to the Government for the transposition of European directives and the implementation of other normative acts of the European Union - European Delegation Law 2021'.
The law entered into force on September 10th, 2022.
Among the directives for the transposition of which the Government has been delegated to implement is - according to Article 13 - also Directive (EU) 2019/1937, concerning the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law (so-called Whistleblowing Directive).
Legislation passed / Directive implemented.
Private employers with fewer than 250 employees are required to establish the internal reporting channel as of 17 December 2023.
The Dutch Whistleblowing Protection Act (Wet Bescherming Klokkenluiders) (the "Act") gives effect to the Whistleblowing Directive and was signed into law on 25 January 2022. It replaces the Whistleblowers Authority Act, which is a prior piece of legislation in NL law, dealing with whistleblowing.
The Act partially entered into force on 18 February 2023. Clauses relating to anonymous reporting and enforcement will enter into force at a later date, which is still to be announced.
Entities with from 50 to 249 employees have until 17 December 2023 to establish proper internal reporting channels.
Entities with 250 employees or more and falling within the scope of Annex I.B and II to the Directive (such as organisations subject to the Wwft and/or operating in (i) financial services, products and markets, (ii) civil aviation, (iii) maritime labour and port state control, or (iv) offshore oil and gas activities), are obliged to set up an internal reporting channel, are also obliged to estblish an internal reporting channel before 17 December 2023.
The government has produced a third draft bill of 12 July 2023 which is currently at the opinion level of the legislative procedure. We do not have information on the timeline for completing the process.
Implementation in progress.
The implementation of Whistleblowing Directive has been made by the newly adopted Act No. 189/2023 Coll. which amends the effective Slovak Act No. 54/2019 Coll. on Protection of Persons Reporting Anti-Social Activity and on Amendment of Certain Acts ("the newly amended Whistleblowing Act" or “Act“), which became effective as of the 1st of July 2023 and some parts of the Act became effective as of the 1st of September 2023.
Already implemented.
The Congress of Deputies approved on February 16th 2023 the new whistleblowing law and was published on February 21st 2023 (Law 2/2023 of 20 February 23, regulating the protection of persons who report regulatory infringements and the fight against corruption) . Its content came into forcce on March 13th 2023
Legislation passed / Directive implemented.
In Sweden, the new Whistleblowing Act (2021:890) entered into force on 17 December 2021.
Legislation passed / Directive implemented.
As a result of the UK’s departure from the European Union, the UK government has confirmed that it does not propose to adopt the Directive into UK law. The UK government’s EU Scrutiny Committee was still looking at the Directive in February 2021 and may recommend amending UK legislation to include some of the protections/requirements in the Directive but this will not be for some time. For now UK legislation will remain in force and unchanged. However, the EU has noted that the UK already has comprehensive legislation in place to protect whistleblowers, namely the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.
No steps taken to amend existing legislation in line with the Directive.
