The EU Whistleblower Protection Directive is perhaps the biggest event in the world of whistleblowing and set to have wide-reaching impact on both the public and private sectors. These EU wide laws that will give greater protection to whistleblowers in the EU are good news for all of us, citizens and organisations alike, who want to do the right thing. If your organisation has 50 employees or more and is based in the EU, then it will need to comply with the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive.

Like many people, however, you may not yet have had the chance to familiarise yourself with the in's and out's of the new law since the Directive was passed in April this year. With only some two years to go until the law becomes effective in all EU countries, it's time to delve into the Directive and start to understand how to prepare your organisation.

The Directive is now being translated into the various EU languages and will go into effect once approved by EU ministers, which is likely to take place already in July this year. If there is any hiccup before the summer break, approval will take place in September 2019. We hope for an announcement about the new Directive in the weeks to come as we are eager to start the countdown to transposition of the Directive into the Members States' national laws.

To help you prepare your organisation, WhistleB is delighted to release our white paper, EU Whistleblower Protection Directive – Countdown to Compliance. The white paper is an easy-to-read briefing on the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive and a how-to guide for compliance based on WhistleB's twenty years of experience in compliance, business ethics and whistleblowing. As a pdf, it is easy to print out if you prefer to read a paper document rather than a screen. We:

  • Summarise the main points of the Directive, what it means, for whom and by when.
  • Highlight the obligations that organisations will need to meet in terms of providing a whistleblowing channel.
  • Give advice on selecting, setting up and managing an organisational whistleblower channel that complies with the Directive, delivers real business benefit and protects long-term success.
  • Briefly outline upcoming new global ISO standards that will provide best practice guidance on organisational whistleblowing.

Download your copy of the white paper.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.