This is the monthly roundup of updates provided by the EU Whistleblowing Monitor team of country editors detailing national developments in the transposition of the EU Directive on Whistleblowing during April 2021.
Transposition remains underway in at least 22 countries with 5 Member States still listed as ‘not started’ – Austria, Cyprus, Hungary, Luxembourg, and Malta.
Country Updates:
29/04/2021 – In Germany, a civil society coalition of NGOs have criticised the failure of the new draft whistleblowing law presented in December, which means the opportunity to enshrine more comprehensive provisions prior to the end current elective and legislative period has been missed.
29/04/2021 – The Government in Portugal has begun transposition of the Directive by approving a new national strategy against corruption which introduces a whistleblower protection framework.
14/04/2021 – Despite having made substantive progress, the Government in Czechia has failed to support the whistleblowing draft law, which means it is now unclear whether it can be passed prior to the Autumn elections.
14/04/2021 – Officials in Ireland also now fear transposition of the Directive will be unlikely before the deadline.
02/04/2021 – In Italy after transposition of the Directive was periodically suspended, the Government can finally begin the process after approving a law giving the mandate to legislate.
Resources
Read the WIN’s third briefing paper as part of it’s series on transposition: “Implementing the EU Directive on Whistleblowing: Burden of proof for whistleblower claims must be fully reversed” – downloadable here.
Watch UK whistleblowing charity Protect and other experts online webinar ‘Let’s Fix Whistleblowing Law.’ Held on 29 April 2021, key experts and whistleblowers discuss the Public Interest Disclosure Act – Europe’s first whistleblowing law and the urgent need for reform.
Watch Human Rights House online conference session on the transposition of the EU Directive into Croatian national law held on 20 April 2021 here.
WIN have published this Spotlight on WIN Member Oživení discussing the role of empirical research into cultural attitudes to whistleblowing and implications for the transposition of the EU Directive in the Czech Republic.