Source: justice.cz
The Government has announced the approval of a whistleblower protection Bill, which is being introduced to transpose the EU Directive on Whistleblowing (Dir(EU) 2019/1937) into national law.
The deadline for all 27 EU Member States to transpose the Directive was 17 December 2022. Due to delays, the EU Commission has initiated infringement proceedings.
The Bill (No. 1164/22), which was proposed by the Ministry of Justice, has been through an interdepartmental and consultation procedure and several comments were settled.
However, recommendations of the Government Council for the Coordination of the Fight against Corruption of the Czech Republic which met on 14 November to discuss the Bill, have not been heeded.
The Council recommended that the proposal, which has already been amended by comments from the Legislative Council, be further improved to extend its ‘material scope’ to protect reports of all misdemeanors (rather than just breaches of EU Law) and stipulate that competent authorities should accept reports made anonymously.
“…Efforts to legislate whistleblowing have repeatedly appeared in the Czech Republic. The proposal I have submitted to the Government today is a compromise proposal, i.e. approved by all the chairmen of the coalition groups in the Chamber of Deputies…”
The Bill now heads to the House of Commons. There it is still possible to influence the final form of the law.