On 25 August 2025, the European Commission opened a public consultation on its forthcoming Action Plan on Whistleblower Protection. This consultation forms part of the Commission’s broader evaluation of Directive (EU) 2019/1937, which sets out EU-wide minimum standards to protect whistleblowers.
The aim is to inform the public and stakeholders about the Commission’s work and invite them to provide feedback. Civil society organisations, trade unions, businesses, academics and individual whistleblowers are encouraged to share their perspectives on how the Directive is working in practice, whether gaps remain, and what new measures might be needed.
Read more: Call for Evidence – Evaluation on Directive EU 2019/1937
What the consultation covers
The evaluation will look at the Directive’s implementation across all EU Member States since its adoption in 2019. Specifically, it will assess:
- Effectiveness – has the Directive strengthened whistleblower protection and encouraged reporting?
- Efficiency – are the benefits proportionate to the costs?
- Relevance – does the Directive still meet today’s challenges and future needs?
- Coherence – is it aligned with other EU and international policy developments?
- EU added value – has the Directive achieved more than Member States could have done individually?
Background
The Directive was adopted in October 2019, following high-profile scandals such as LuxLeaks, the Panama Papers, the Paradise Papers and Cambridge Analytica. It was designed to protect people who report breaches of EU law in areas including public procurement, financial services, money laundering prevention, environmental protection, public health, consumer and data protection, nuclear safety, and transport safety.
Member States had until 17 December 2021 to transpose it into national law. On 3 July 2024, the Commission published its first report assessing Member State compliance. Under Article 27(3) of the Directive, the Commission is also obliged to report to the European Parliament and Council on the impact of national laws and whether the scope should be extended — for example, to cover broader workplace protections.
Consultation process
As part of its Better Regulation framework, the Commission will:
- run a 12-week online public consultation in all EU languages on the Have Your Say portal,
- organise targeted surveys, interviews and workshops,
- convene meetings of the Member State expert group on implementation.
Feedback can now be submitted through the Commission’s Have Your Say portal until 18 September 2025.
A report summarising these activities will be annexed to the Commission’s final evaluation report. The evaluation is due to be completed by Q4 2026.
Comments from the European Whistleblowing Institute (EWI)
Found in their blog ‘EWI warns that political pressure undermines institutions tasked with whistleblower protection‘ Dr Vigjilenca Abazi, EWI’s Executive Director and co-author of the model EU Directive that laid the foundation for the EU Whistleblower Directive states “In some cases, the very institutions tasked with protection have faced political interference that undermines their credibility” and “If whistleblowing is to become a reliable accountability mechanism, compliance cannot be left to the willingness and resources of individual whistleblowers to litigate. It requires independent authorities empowered to monitor, sanction, and enforce.“
“Equally troubling is the Directive’s silence on the human costs of whistleblowing. The Directive treats whistleblowers primarily as legal actors; it does not recognize them as human beings whose lives are profoundly disrupted by speaking out.” – Dr Vigjilenca Abazi
Have your say: