On December 16th, 2019, the EU Whistleblower Directive 2019/1937 into force. The directive will have a significant impact, especially for employers. The directive aims to introduce a uniform minimum EU-wide protection for so called whistleblowers and to improve the detection of violations of European law. The development of the directive has been driven, inter alia, by the ineffectiveness of existing reporting mechanisms in organizations, which discourage whistleblowers and stimulate them to remain silent, even though they are vital for maintaining an open and transparent society, as they expose misconduct or hidden threats. Employers and employees are well advised to inform themselves about the implications of the Whistleblower Directive.

In the following publication, we provide a practical overview of how and to what extent the Whistleblower Directive has been implemented in the individual European states of our practice group. In addition, we shed light on what employers and employees will have to observe in the future in the individual member states. Members of our practice group based outside the European Union provide an overview of whether and, if so, how whistleblower protection is provided in their countries.

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