New bill on protection of whistleblowers
On 11 January, another bill was published on the Government Legislation Centre’s website. It is intended to implement Directive 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law (Whistleblowing Directive).
The main assumptions of the new bill are:
- the tasks of receiving and processing external applications will be assigned to the Ombudsman;
- implementation of internal whistleblowing procedures will be mandatory for all legal entities that hires or using the services of at least 50 persons (this threshold will not apply to entities rendering activities, among others, in providing financial services, products and markets, and anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism);
- respective entities will adopt internal whistleblowing procedures after consultations with company trade unions, and where no trade unions operate at a given legal entity, with representatives of persons working for the given entity, selected in accordance with the procedure adopted at that entity;
- the deadline for establishing an internal notifications procedure at respective entities is extended to one month from the entry into force of the law
According to information published in the Council of Ministers' legislative and programmatic work list, the bill is expected to be adopted as a matter of urgency by the end of the first quarter of 2024, while the law is expected to take effect one month after its promulgation.
The bill is available on the Government Legislation Centre’s website: >>>
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