Supporters of transparent rules in Europe criticised the lack of rules on legal protection for those acting as whistleblowers, or signallers. The main reason for the change was that the Luxembourg State wanted to punish the whistleblowers of the recent LuxLeaks scandal.
two accountants in 2016 were convicted of stealing confidential documents, breaking professional secrecy and spreading the classified details of the commercial contracts they had access to during their work. They received judgments accordingly 12 and 9 months in prison. In March 2017 However, after the appeal process, former accountants were reduced penalties and in 2018 Luxembourg Court of Cassation overturned the sentence one of them giving him the status of ‘signalist’.
Protection against retaliation
In April 2018 The European Commission has proposed a directive to protect whistleblowers, citing scandals such as Dieselgate, Panama Papers or the breach of Cambridge Analytics data that have been detected by whistleblowers. The directive is called protection against retaliation.
The Commission considered that the applicants for the infringement deserved support and protection from the moment they decided to notify it. Legal issues concerning signallers in the European Union are currently being dealt with within the national judicial system.
The aim is to create an EU standard, setting safe reporting channels for both organisations and public authorities. Signallers are also believed to be the main source of information about irregularities in companies and workplaces in Poland.
Protection of signallers
The adopted directive will protect whistleblowers reporting issues such as corporate tax evasion or power and fraud. one Germany was the main countries supporting the new legislation.
The Directive is intended to establish a three-step reporting system, including internal reporting channels, reporting information to competent authorities and channels through which fraud can be reported to media in the absence of appropriate steps, including in the event of a threat to the public interest.
According to French Member Virginia Roziere, negotiations are necessary to "fight for the final text of the bill and thus meet citizens' expectations".
In the course of negotiations, the details of the law, such as Luxembourg, Ireland, Hungary and Ireland, have proposed that tax issues be exempted from the whistleblower protection system, but Germany, France and Italy have insisted that they be taken into account.
The Act is also intended to prohibit any form of retaliation against persons reporting infringements and to provide them with free advice and appropriate remedies.
Following the publication of the bill, the organization Whistleblowing International Network, which is a coalition of organizations with experience in advising and protecting whistleblowers from courts, press and national legislation, said that "signalists in Europe have a chance to survive when they speak in the name of business and for our democracy."
It is worth mentioning that in 2016 the EULeaks platform was launched, i.e. a platform for whistleblowers in European Union countries. Documents relating to the decision-making processes of the European Union, which showed the incorrect implementation of EU law or maladministration or other activities, are particularly interesting for EULeaks.
The new rules, including the Act protecting signallers, are intended to prevent the EU's tendency to keep certain illegal situations secret and to introduce transparency, which is of the utmost importance.
The aim of the new regulation is also to ensure that the European Union rules function and are not circumvented by other organisations. To prevent this, they also have information disclosed by signalers.
Members believe that they must encourage people who know about illegal activity to take the initiative, because public interest is a key word.
source: https://www.forbes.pl/opinie/sygnalisci-i-ich-ochrona-nowa-dyrektywa-ue/ttnrszv
Author:
Andrzej Dmowski
Lawyer and Doctor of Legal Sciences of the University of Warsaw. From 2011 one from Managing Partners in Russell Bedford Poland. Previously on the BDO advisory network, as well as Deloitte & Touche. Author of the book “Transfer Prices”, co-author of the commentary “The Corporate Income Tax Act”, author of many publications on tax law.