The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has sentenced Germany to pay a fine of 34 million euros for inadequate implementation of whistleblower* protection. The EU requirements were not implemented on time.
Luxembourg. Germany must pay a high fine for inadequate protection of whistleblowers The Czech Republic and Estonia received a significantly lower fine. The European Court of Justice ruled that Germany had not fully transposed the EU directives on the protection of whistleblowers into national law on time. The judgement stipulates a fine of 34 million euros for Germany.
The background to this is a complaint by the EU Commission (Case C-149/23), which points out that all member states are obliged to provide secure and confidential reporting channels for whistleblowers. The aim of these requirements is to provide effective protection against reprisals for people who report breaches of EU law.
Originally, the EU member states had until the end of 2021 to transpose the directive into national law. In Germany, however, the corresponding Whistleblower Protection Act only came into force in July 2023 - almost a year and a half too late.
In 2019, the EU adopted stricter rules to protect whistleblowers in response to scandals such as the Facebook data leak and the Panama Papers. These relate to offences in areas such as money laundering, corporate taxation, data protection, food and product safety, environmental protection and nuclear safety.
A key aspect of the directive is that whistleblowers are free to decide how they report offences. They are not obliged to contact an internal office within their company first.
* Whistleblowers are people who disclose confidential or illegal processes in companies or public authorities. They are often employees with access to sensitive information. They uncover grievances, such as corruption or environmental offences, and expose themselves to considerable personal risk.
Source: www.onlinehaendler News